SUPER HOLLYWOOD: Designer Footwear

Friday 20 July 2012

Designer Footwear

Jimmy Choo, OBE, born Choo Yeang Keat, (Chinese: 周仰杰; pinyin: Zhōu Yǎngjié)is a Malaysian fashion designer based in London, United Kingdom. He is best known for founding Jimmy Choo Ltd that became known for its handmade women's shoes.
Choo was born in Penang, Malaysia, into a family of shoemakers, who are of Chinese Hakka descent. His family name is Chow but was misspelled on his birth certificate as Choo. He made his first shoe when he was 11 years old. He is perhaps the most notable of students of Cordwainers Technical College in Hackney, England, from which he graduated in 1983. (The college is now part of the London College of Fashion at University of the Arts London.) Choo has divulged that he worked part time at restaurants and as a cleaner at a shoe factory to help fund his college education.
Jimmy Choo traced his beginnings back to his workshop in Hackney, North London, which he opened in 1986 by renting an old hospital building. His craftsmanship and designs were soon noticed and he came to the verge of international notability when his creations were featured in a record eight pages in a 1988 issue of Vogue. Patronage from Diana, Princess of Wales, from 1990 further boosted his image.