3 AMANAH 2010: Jimmy Choo

JIMMY CHOO
by:
Aida
Wafa
Naveena

Jannani

Most of us know Datuk Jimmy Choo as a very famous shoe designer based in London. Certain people ( included us) think Jimmy Choo is master in designing weird looking foot wears. Many also believed that his career as a shoe maker has been glitter all along. The blantant truth about what we know about him is that he is freaking rich and successful. Few, however, are aware of Jimmy Choo's humble beginning who studied only until Year 6 and worked his way up partly by cleaning the toilet at a shoe factory and surviving with instant noodles.

Jimmy Choo was born in Penang, Malaysia in 1961 into a family of shoe maker, where his late father, Choo Kee Yin owned a shoe making shop in one of the streets in Penang. He went to Shih Chung primary school and studied until Year 6. He stopped to help his father in the shoe making business where he made his very own first shoe at the age of 11. The skills he learned made him fell in love with the shoe making bussiness and from there he decided to pursue studying in the field of shoe designing in Cortwainers Collegein London ( Now part of London College of Fashion). The course took him 4 years to complete.

After persuading his father Kee Yin to pay for his fees studying in London, his father agreed to pay for his first year of his studies and Jimmy agreed to pay for the remaining 3 years by himself. In order for him to cover his fees and living expenses, Jimmy worked part time in a restaurant and in a shoe factory. He had to do the odd jobs at both places like cleaning the toilets and sweeping the floors.

After graduating in London, Jimmy Choo went back for a while to Malaysia before deciding to try making a living in London. He set up his very first factoryin 1968 by renting an old hospital building in London. His sales were poor and Jimmy had to endure the worst 4 years of his life.

After 2 years his designs were spotted by the popular Vogue magazines that featured his designs in a record 8 full pages.

Jimmy thought his break had come but sadly it did not happen so. His appearance made him more famous but did not pour many sales. He was having a ver small number of clients. Often times he had to resort to taking instant noodles and lived frugally.

2 years later, his designs were spotted by the late Princess Diana, who immediately fell in love with them. She had since become Jimmy Choo's regular customers. After the media covered Diana's story wearing Jimmy Choo's shoe design, sales started pourong in, and Jimmy has never looked back since.

Today, Jimmy Choo is the footwear's leading brand even though he is no longer part of his own company, Jimmy Choo Ltd (He retired and sold all his shares for over GB100 million a few years back). The company's brand has huge followers and hordes of fans including celebrities and poloticians. Jimmy Choo's designs are also spotted in popular movies such as The Devils Wear Prada (Meryl Streep) and In My Shoes (Cameron Diaz).

Jimmy Choo was conferred the OBE (Order of British Empire) award by the Queen Of England, Queen Elizabeth II which put his status at the same level with other recipients like David Beckham,Rod Steward,JK Rowling (author of Harry Potter series) and Pierce Brosnan ( James Bond). The OBE award was given to Jimmy due to his huge contribution in making London a world center for foot wear fashion.

Awards

2000: Bestowed a state award carrying the title of Dato' by the Sultan of Pahang state in Malaysia for his achievements

2002: Conferred an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his services to the shoe and fashion industry in the United Kingdom

2004: Awarded the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri (Governor) of his home state of Penang, which also carries the title Dato' [3]

Awarded a fellowship by the University of the Arts London, conferring the use of the title Professor

HIS DESIGNS