At Jimmy Choo, Sandra Choi reignites the imagination with a spring/summer collection that distils the magic of nature into covetable shoes and bags.
At Jimmy Choo, Sandra Choi reignites the imagination with a spring/summer collection that distils the magic of nature into covetable shoes and bags.
Whenever the weekend rolls around (and if her schedule allows), Sandra Choi escapes with her family to a country cottage just two hours away from London’s city centre. “We drive down the M4 and get off at Junction 18,” the Creative Director of Jimmy Choo told Harper’s BAZAAR. “We’ll go for walks. It’s all about the outdoors and the greenery. I love this whole indoor-outdoor thing. I like to bring the outdoors inside and that’s always important.”
Clearly, nature is always at the back of Choi’s mind. At work, it informs her designs for the footwear brand. “It’s a recurring influence for me,” she added. With the natural world presenting Choi with an infinite number of possibilities, it’s no wonder she chose to let Mother Nature’s beauty take shape on finely detailed heels and bags for Jimmy Choo’s newest collection.
“I started by thinking about these staggeringly beautiful phenomena of nature, whose only designer is evolution—mind-bogglingly gorgeous things,” Choi explained. “The 21st century has become so fastpaced that 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 be this kind of beauty; what it takes to have the perspective both to see it, and in a way, also to be it.”
Her train of thought led to the fruition of a collection that is essentially a bold experiment in form, colour and decoration, with quality handiwork forming the core of sensual stilettos, strappy sandals, flats and elegant bags. Cut-outs on a shoe-boot envelop the feet like feathers caressed by the wind while in flight; a sexy heel is given bold plumage akin to those found on a hummingbird. Taking nature’s theme further, Choi decorated an envelope clutch with glittery lilac or gold ruffles to symbolise the lightness of wings and petals. She also studied “Falling Gardens,” a breathtaking installation conceptualised by artists Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger, as she put pen to paper. Traces of the artwork’s displays of flora and fauna, which hung from the ceiling of a 17th century Venetian church, blossomed as delicate flower paillettes encircling towering heels, each exquisite petal as if carried by a gentle breeze.
