The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Jimmy Choo finds right fit with sole couture line Posted: 21 Apr 2014 12:56 AM PDT The London-based designer revealed he is on good terms with the people in charge of the pret-a-porter label and occasionally meets with the chief executive. "We have an agreement. I still carry on my couture, they still carry on the Jimmy Choo ready to wear," he said in an interview with AFP. "Now and then when I am in London, I will call the CEO (Pierre Denis) and have a tea with him and talk about what we're doing. "I think that's why it's an important friendship. You know we still carry on, still support each other." Having earlier established himself as a bespoke shoemaker in London, Malaysia-born Choo founded the brand in 1996 with British socialite Tamara Mellon. It became a household name after repeatedly featuring on high profile TV shows including "Sex and the City", and was worn by celebrities and royalty, including Britain's Princess Diana. Jimmy Choo has since developed into a luxury fashion brand encompassing shoes, handbags, leather goods, scarves, eye wear and fragrances. In 2001, with ties between him and Mellon souring, Choo sold his stake in Jimmy Choo Ltd, which now straddles the globe, with operations in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australia. The company's present owner, Swiss-based luxury goods group Labelux, is reportedly looking at raising capital for the group, with a London listing being considered that could value the business at US$1.7 billion, according to the Financial Times. Mellon told American television last year that she had been the creative brains behind the partnership and claimed that Choo – who she dismissed as merely "a cobbler" - had never even lifted a pencil to design a shoe. Her former business partner did not comment on her claims, but said profit could not be the sole driving force behind a successful business. "Knowing how to respect people, that's what is very important... If you love each other, you will be successful. It may not make a lot of money but it will make a lot of love, and that's very important to the world, to society. Choo said any enterprise needed to involve teamwork if it was to succeed. "Imagine, if you and I start a partnership... if you don't make a team and don't know to love each other to promote the company, it wouldn't be successful." Since parting ways, Choo has forged ahead with an exclusive couture line catering to deep-pocketed clients, including Madonna and US First Lady Michelle Obama. He said he is happy with the way things are because it allows him to focus on quality and on creating a legacy he believes matters. "I have no worries about finance, but what I want to do for the rest of my life is that I want to give back to students," Choo said. "I would like people to remember me, how I was the student learning from the father, learning from the school. I am working in the industry and giving back to the industry." Choo was speaking to AFP in Fukushima at the launch of a one-off range of shoes made using materials and techniques native to the area, which is still suffering the effects of the tsunami-sparked nuclear disaster of 2011, in a bid to boost the profile of local artisans. He said he had been entranced by the level of local craftsmanship and was inspired to create six pairs of shoes using Aizu cotton and lacquerware, as well as the super-fine Kawamata silk, all of which have been made by hand for hundreds of years. Choo said such skills had the power to help turn around the fortunes of a place where tens of thousands of people remain displaced because of radiation released from the crippled nuclear plant. "Anyone can design, but could they be a craftsman?" he said. – AFP, April 21, 2014. |
| London looks to give voice to muted buskers Posted: 20 Apr 2014 09:12 PM PDT Camden Town in north London, with its punks and a high street bristling with 'alternative' shops, has long been a favoured destination for young visitors. But several months ago, buskers were ordered to silence their instruments by 9.00 pm. Some fear that in bowing to the residents' complaints about noise, Camden has surrendered a slice of its identity. The borough of Camden was the last to allow artists to perform freely, but has now introduced a system of paid licences for street musicians. Amplifiers and percussion and wind instruments have been banned, but compared with other more draconian districts, Camden is still a haven for buskers. "I fear some parts of the capital could become no-go areas for buskers," Mayor Johnson warned this month as he launched the #BackBusking campaign to support street musicians. "Rather than shackling our musicians with unnecessary bureaucracy, we should treasure the spontaneity they bring to our high streets and town centres," Johnson said, before pledging to re-establish London's status as the capital of live music. At the same time, Johnson kicked off the this year's "Gigs Busking Competition" contest, which in 2013 saw 200 young British musicians compete in a series of concerts in public places to win a sought-after licence to perform in London's Underground train system. "Buskers still love coming to London but they're finding it quite difficult to deal with the very different regulations," Munira Mirza, the Deputy Mayor for Education and Culture, told AFP. "We have 32 boroughs and each one has a different system, and what we're trying to do is make it much simpler for buskers." Musicians playing second fiddle Although London boasts the world's busiest concert venue, the O2 Arena, but on the street, musicians accuse the authorities of handing out the majority of their licences to mime artists and magicians as they are quieter and more discreet. It is they who rule the streets around bustling Covent Garden, the capital's number one public showcase, with musicians playing second fiddle. Despite the constraints, on a recent weekday one singer strumming a guitar cheerfully rattled his way through Bob Marley's "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" opposite the famous covered market. Behind him, a blond woman in a red dress took over after two more songs – but she too relinquished the coveted pitch at the end of the allotted 30-minute time limit. "Spontaneity" seems to have become a dirty word for the authorities. Some 280 musicians must audition for spots in Covent Garden in a process organised by Capital and Counties, the property firm that acquired the market for £421 million (RM2.3 billion) in 2006. Three sessions will be held this year, with each artist given three minutes to impress the jury. Five hundred yards away in Trafalgar Square, a trio play tunes with a gypsy tinge, impressively flanked by a group of levitating mime artists. "Here, we don't need authorisation," said the Fabio Cascio, the leader of the band Madame Madness, who moved to London from the Italian city of Turin five years ago, an electric bass guitar packed in his luggage. He admitted that the rules surrounding busking in London were "confusing", but it was still the place to be. "London is the best place if you want to be a musician," he said. "Here you can make a living. That's not true everywhere." – AFP, April 21, 2014. |
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