Jimmy Choo creative director Sandra Choi takes inspiration from extraordinary examples of one of a kind beauty found in nature for the Spring/Summer collection. The season’s motifs, once contemplated, undergo metamorphosis in a fusion of materials.
“I started by thinking about these staggeringly beautiful phenomena of nature, whose only designer is evolution—mind-bogglingly gorgeous things. The 21st century has become so fast-paced we often forget to be still enough to look around and marvel at the wonders we co-exist with. I considered the sensibility it takes to be attuned to this kind of beauty: what it takes to have the perspective both to see it, and in a way also to be it.”
Choi considered Falling Gardens, the immersive botanical installation by artists Gerda Steiner and Jorg Lenzlinger—a man-made work of art to aid the contemplation of such natural wonder. Then she looked at the attitude of spontaneously audacious expression displayed by style-ciphers such as Frida Kahlo and David Bowie.
From this creative petri dish has sprung a collection that combines magnificent handiwork, bold experiments in form, and powerfully potent color and decoration. Stiletto heels are broadened to add substance to their inherent sensuality. A shoe-boot is sliced by cutouts whose shapes recall flexed feathers bent back by flight. Hand stitched iris-petal panels adorn sculpted sandals. Tinted Perspex inlays and paneling combine with tiered metallic palette sequins in an ode to nature’s architecture.
Key styles and new silhouettes include:
Leather, square-joined tassels attract with movement play counterpoint to the delicate sheen of satin strapping in the Diamond sandal with delicacy and toughness in perfect balance atop a tapering heel. Duchess echoes the hand-made tassels with a 30mm block heel in three complementary color palettes, Black or Mocha with Honey Gold and Tea Rose with Anthracite.
Celebrating the fragile beauty of translucent petals with a sun lit backdrop, floral shaped Perspex panels in eye catching color combinations are the center of attention on the Lumia block heel sling back and the Light mule. Both open-toed styles come in combinations of raw and finished leather fabrication juxtaposed with layered leather petals in shades of Anthracite and Yellow, Honey Gold and Iris, and Pop Orange against Tan
Layered hand-stitched panels that meander with the same natural grace of an iris decorate the
Lolita heel and flat sandal. Delicate straps entwine the foot and ankle with an intricate arrangement of layered leather petals becoming a decorative corsage for the foot.
The Moscow open toe sandal with single sole finish is an innovatively light design with a wide Perspex ankle strap in attention grabbing shades of Gold, Jazzberry and Pop Orange glitter lurex.
Gleaming plumages of golden and iris colored iridescent layered pailletes encase the ankle and foot in these audaciously decorated styles. The Klara is a flat open toe sandal with combinations of clear or solid straps. The Kimrov plays mirrored leather piping against suede or vachetta leather with feathered details moving to the ankle strap.
The Isabella envelope clutch echoes the beauty in nature theme with two tightly fluted arcs of ruffle. Simultaneously signifying both wings and petals, they come in a broad array of fabrication ranging from gleaming-finish black to iridescent glittered lilac and gold.
The Artie hobo bag charms with a minimal design in color pop suede finishes. The Clover blends the casual functionality of the backpack with elegance. Its single strap is anchored by a gleaming metal circlet whose eye-catching proportion is complemented by its tasselled, tied closure and tactile organic texture.
In the Philippines, Jimmy Choo is in Rustan’s Makati and Shangri-La Plaza East Wing. Follow @ssilifeph on Instagram for more information.