Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
“Sexy, flirty, fun,” says the London-based designer Conner Ives, when asked to describe the essence of a Jimmy Choo shoe. And “always about glamour”, adds fashion writer Alexander Fury. “There is a sense of occasion with every piece.” As the luxury footwear brand best known for its sparkly stilettos approaches its 30th anniversary, the duo have been invited by Choo’s longstanding creative director Sandra Choi, niece of the eponymous founder, to revisit the archive and co-curate a selection for re-edition. “Almost like an exhibition of greatest hits,” says Fury, whose earliest Choo memory dates back to a 1996 issue of British Vogue, for which he spoke to Choi about a pair of boots from the winter collection. Ives, meanwhile, recalls an immaculate pair of ’90s black ankle boots that he spotted in his mother’s closet as a child.
The resulting edit, launching tomorrow, comprises eight styles drawn from the brand’s first five years. From “The Strappy”, a thong satin sandal recovered from the brand’s debut SS97 collection, to “The Leo” and “The Bow”, which explore Choo’s flair for animal prints, and the more abstractly named “72138” – a delicate suede lilac slingback made famous on the foot of Carrie Bradshaw in season three of Sex and the City – they are “faithful recreations”, says Fury. To mark the year a total of 2,025 pairs will be produced in the brand’s Italian factories, now run by successive generations, with only minor modifications to the materials to make them more responsible: ie, “The Boot” was originally made in python but the re-edition uses a printed leather.
How did they select the final styles? “It was mostly about defining the fashion moment at the time – how these styles have shaped the design aesthetic for the brand. High heels that provoke femininity and glamour, the fantasy of pretty but simple details, the soft, sensual touches,” says Choi. “These are pieces new generations are paying attention to via vintage references, and ‘just like that’” – as Bradshaw would say – “it feels new again.”
Jimmy Choo The Archive: 1997-2001 is available from 20 May, from £595, jimmychoo.com
Read the full article here