Tamara Mellon

Tamara Mellon is the President & Founder of the world famous Jimmy Choo lines of designer shoes.

Mellon was born in London, the daughter of Tom Yeardye, a successful entrepreneur & Ann Yeardye, a former Chanel model. She was internationally educated in England, Beverly Hills and Switzerland and with a strong eye for fashion began her career at Phyllis Walters Public Relations, Mirabella, and followed as accessories editor for British Vogue in 1990. Recognizing the potential for development in an accessories market, which lacked both style and variety, Mellon took her idea to launch a ready-to-wear company to couture shoe-maker Mr Jimmy Choo, a skilled craftsman, recognised for his talent to produce made to order shoes in the East End of London. As founder of the Jimmy Choo Company, Tamara secured funding for the creation of her business, & sourced factories in Italy; In addition, she set up an office in Italy handle production, quality control and shipping. By 2001, Jimmy Choo had over 100 wholesale clients including Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Harrods and Harvey Nichols and the collections accounted for over 50% of the production of several of these factories. The unique design & collaboration between Tamara and her creative director, Sandra Choi led to an immediate demand throughout the fashion capitals of the world. Motcombe Street was swiftly followed by the opening of a further three stores in New York, Las Vegas and Beverly Hills. In April 2001, the expansion of Jimmy Choo took a step forward with the announcement of a new partnership with Equinox Luxury Holdings Ltd. Acquiring Mr Choo’s share of the ready to wear business; Equinox’s Chief Executive Robert Bensoussan became CEO of Jimmy Choo. This transaction enabled Jimmy Choo to achieve outstanding results, with the introduction of handbag & small leather goods collections. In November 2004, with the company valued at £101 million, Hicks Muse announced the majority acquisition of Jimmy Choo — yet another significant move for the future development of the company.

With starlets such as Beyonce Knowles singing of her love of vertiginous heels to Hollywood’s Oscar winners walking the red carpet — Tamara was the first to take accessories to the stars of both television and film who have contributed significantly towards making the profile as large as it is today. From the first boutique opened in London’s exclusive Knightsbridge in 1996, Jimmy Choo now has a total of 39 stores including London (Sloane Street & New Bond Street), New York, Beverly Hills, Miami, Dallas, Moscow, Milan and Hong Kong and is distributed by select stores worldwide. With the continued success of the brand, Jimmy Choo has plans to open a total of 50 stores worldwide by 2008.

In 2000 she married Matthew Mellon II, an heir to the Mellon family fortune, with whom she had one child. The couple divorced in 2005. She currently resides in Chelsea.

And caught a Hot ONE from KID ROCk in 2006! What was she thinking.

References

• Freeman, Hadley. "The Guardian profile: Tamara Mellon," The Guardian, 5 November 2004