10 things you should know about Jimmy Choo

By Ashley Kowalewski

Jimmy Choo Flash, the brand’s second fragrance, launches now. It comes inspired by glitz and glam, and the exhilaration of dressing for a night out. Flash’s disco-ball-like flask pays homage to the flashing lights of nightclubs and paparazzi.
Flash is a white floral fragrance with notes of pink pepper, strawberry, tuberose, jasmine, white lily, heliotrope and white woods, and was crafted by perfumer Christine Nagel. (Olivier Polge and Veronique Nyberg created the first Jimmy Choo Eau de Parfum.)
The brand’s creative director and designer Sandra Choi—and reported visionary for the new scent, Flash—is actually the niece of Jimmy Choo’s wife.
The ad campaign for Flash features model Natasha Poly laying on the floor in a club, a magnet for the paparazzi’s attention. See the video by clicking here.
Jimmy Choo (born Choo Yeang Keat) followed his Malaysian-Chinese family’s legacy of shoemaking by creating his first pair of shoes at the age of 11. He created the Jimmy Choo brand in 1996 at the age of 44.
In the beginning, Choo teamed up with former British Vogue accessories editor, Tamara Mellon, to create his manufacturing and design company. The focus: fabulous fashion-savvy shoes, bags and clothing. He sold his share of the company in 2001 to focus on other projects, such as opening a shoemaking institute in Malaysia. Mellon left the company in 2011. The brand rocketed to fame in part due to gushing endorsements on the now iconic TV series, Sex And The City.
The bottle and packaging of the original Jimmy Choo Eau de Parfum (launched in 2011) were inspired by jewels and snakeskin, each an integral part of the brand’s design DNA; the bottle was designed by Mellon.
In 2012 a lighter, fruitier eau de toilette version of the original Jimmy Choo spritz was launched, incorporating juicy notes of pear into the scent’s original oriental core of tiger orchid, patchouli and toffee.
The brand enjoys an impressive fan base: Madonna, for example, wore a pair of Jimmy Choo heels on her wedding day and Princess Diana owned numerous pairs of Choo shoes designed just for her.
Jimmy Choo Flash hits fragrance counters this month; EDT, $99 (100 ml), www.jimmychoo.com; at The Bay, Holt Renfrew, Sephora and Murale