Website: www.jimmychoo.com

Jimmy Choo was born in Penang, Malaysia in 1961 into a family of shoe makers. He made his first shoe when he was only 11 years old. He attended Cordwainers's Technical College in London and the London College of Fashion.

All Choo shoes are hand-made, his perfectionist craftsmanship is displayed in their simple details. They are never overtly fashionable yet are equal in elegance to the designer clothes they are usually worn with.

His style is elegant, feminine, maybe sexy. They were favoured by the Princess of Wales, who would buy one style in several colours for evening wear and to coordinate with her day suits. Choo lost count of the number of shoes he made for Princess Diana. After the separation she could frequently be seen in his delicate high-heeled shoes, a style that she could not wear when walking with her shorter husband.

In addition to delicate high-heels, Jimmy Choo also makes boots which allow designers room for play. This one is from 1992.

Jimmy Choo himself is no longer connected with the shoe designing house which he founded. In 1996, he had sold 50 % interest in his company to Tamara Yeardye Mellon, former UK Vogue accessories editor. She and Choo's niece Sandra Choi then launched the ready-to-wear line. Jimmy Choo was then a partner but was not involved in running the business.

Tamara Mellon has led the company to grow in size and reputation. In 2001 she bought out Jimmy Choo completely, for about $ 30 million. The company has expanded from 1 shop in London to 4 stand alone stores in London, New York, Beverley Hills and Los Angeles as well as about 80 retail outlets. Then in November 2004 it was announced that Tamara had sold the whole concern to Phoenix Equity Partners for around 101 million pounds.

Awarded OBE

Jimmy Choo was awarded an OBE by the Queen in London in June 2003, for his services to making London the design centre of the world for the fashion industry, and particularly footwear design.

2004