Today I would like to share with you this amazing book, the personal memoir of Tamara Mellon – the creative behind the brand Jimmy Choo. Head on my comfy pillow, engulfed in blankets with a hot lemon tea in hand and one of my favorite read in the other. This is the little reader’s paradise, when you want to re-discover a book.
I bought ‘In My Shoes’ back in 2014, when I was looking for a book that described the branding experience and process. I was immediately attracted to the book cover: a strong and confident women looking straight at you in a gorgeous white suit. I flipped in randomly to a page to see if the content was as satisfying as the cover (that’s a fun flick of mine, getting randomly to a page and see what it talks about – if it is good I take it, if it isn’t, that book wasn’t destined for me – I know, totally random!).
As I opened the book I came to this line: ‘The few times that Jimmy had anything to say about design, it was with a complaint that I was making the heels too high or in some other way violating the cordwainers’ code. But what he saw as heresy, the rest of us saw as innovation, style and fun’. 3 hours later that day, the book was in my bag, heading to the beach for the weekend.
What I love about this memoir, is that it is rawly true, spontaneous and revealing. We are drawn into the world of entrepreneurship, showing the good and the bad side of glory and the constraints of business in a men’s world. She shares her passion and her fight for making Jimmy Choo the luxury brand it is today. Even though family ties was knotted, wedding and stressful events were chaotic, she showed up everyday at work for herself.
‘I’m better at standing my ground, only beacause I fought my way through the rites of passage until the monsters that tormented me were slain. It may have seemed that now and then I needed a rescuer, but over time I learned to rescue myself’.
Her words are inspiring and motivating. We should all believe in ourselves. If you feel that it isn’t right, you should trust it. Tamara Mellon created a fashion line with the concept of ‘Buy now, wear now. She dropped the fashion sacred concept of having seasonal collections, as she didn’t want to buy sweaters in summer or have to see the sales on the winter collection and not wearing it before 2 months (as we all do). So she created a brand, taking into consideration the demands of women, even though it was wrongly seen in the fashion industry.
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| © Moodboard Illustration by Lovely Brunette |
This Post Has 2 Comments
Also inspired by Tamara, what an awesome woman who not only defied the odds but persevered with hard work and her passion. I really like the moodboard you made – serious talent here, Tasha xxx
She is indeed a passionate woman! Just had a look on her interviews on youtube, that was so uplifting! Thank you Béatrice for your lovely feedback on the moodboard 🙂 That's my new add on to the blog posts, moodboards to sum up visually the look & feel of the content 🙂 Muuaahhhh