Jiggery-bespokery

By Luke Leitch

During 20 years spent as creative director of Jimmy Choo, Sandra Choi has become used to having the final say. Whether it’s the pile of the carpet in Choo’s network of stores, or the models booked in its advertising campaigns, or – naturally – every tiny detail in the hundreds of styles of shoes and bags that the company releases each year, her job has always been to assume ultimate aesthetic responsibility for every aspect of the business. Until now.

This November, Choi and Choo are introducing a capsule collection that hands that responsibility over to their customers. Informally, Choi calls it “Pick and Mix” – the above-the-line title is, less irreverently, “cruise capsule jewel collection” – and the idea is to let clients partially produce the shoes they choose to buy. The process begins with selecting your shoe style (from a choice of six), its height and its colour. To these you can attach whatever you like, however you like, from a 24-variation selection of seven sparkling Swarovski buttons or 20 variations of seven “brooches” – some of which double up as straps or tongues.