June, 2022
Jimmy Choo is a high fashion maison from the United Kingdom. Accredited to Jimmy Choo:
Jimmy Choo is a 21st century luxury accessories brand, with shoes at its heart, offering an empowered sense of glamour and a playfully daring spirit.
The brand traces its roots to a bespoke shoemaker named Jimmy Choo, based in the East End of London in the early 1990s, who catered to the global jet set, including Princess Diana. The Jimmy Choo company was founded in 1996, with Mr Choo’s niece, Sandra Choi, who had been heading up design in the East End atelier, coming on board as Creative Director, a position she holds to this day. Mr Choo departed the company in 2001.
The sexy cut, fashionable design, and exceptional Italian craftsmanship struck a chord with a sophisticated clientele, and the first collection enjoyed immediate success. With a goal of creating a global luxury business, Jimmy Choo attracted outside investment and the company embarked on a significant expansion across product categories, channels and geographies.
This review covers "Emily" pumps (heels), in 85mm configuration.
Link to product:
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/834080793459682068/ (no direct link exists from Jimmy Choo, as these are a discontinued model as of last year)
Emily 85
1. Brand & Aesthetics
Jimmy Choo is a well known manufacturer that competes with other top fashion brands. Their shoes, pumps (heels) especially, have garnered a reputation of being among the most comfortable to wear for prolonged periods of time. This is a huge departure from most haute fashion maisons, where one is often forced to sacrifice comfort in the name of design.
From an aesthetics perspective, the Emily 85 is essentially the embodiment of "chique". Fun, yet elegant. Attractive, yet charming. These are the perfect pair of summer sandal heels for an evening out on the town, or anytime you want to be comfortable, yet still stylish and cute.
2. Construction
This particular reference features pink suede outer material, with beige leather soles.
The suede is soft, supple, and perfectly stitched, as one would expect from a high fashion maison. The sandal is tightly constructed, with no slack or overhang of any material anywhere.
These sandals are listed as "Made in Italy". Now, it's worth noting that it doesn't specifically state if they are hand made or machine made. Even a quick internet search (including a quick search of Jimmy Choo's own website) doesn't clarify this question. Regardless, it is obvious that plenty of care and attention has been taken during manufacturing. So whether they are made by hand or by machine, it can reasonably be said that the quality and finishing are of high standards.
Made in Italy
3. Ordering Experience
While you can order directly from Jimmy Choo's website, along with numerous other Authorized Dealers online, this particular reference was purchased from the Jimmy Choo Outlet store in Vancouver, British Columbia. Jimmy Choo's Outlet locations are generally where one can find discontinued references (models), or "last year's stock". These are, none the less and without question, absolutely authentic. The benefit of shopping at the Outlet is that pricing is generally substantially lower. As well, the Outlet doesn't sell online, so you have to physically go there in person, which drastically reduces the amount of potential buyers you are competing with for sizes, which can always be a pain when shopping limited quantity, discontinued products.
Despite purchasing from the Outlet, you still get all the standard Jimmy Choo packaging, including box, dust bag, and handled shopping bag.
Handled shopping bag
Shoe box
Upon opening the shoe box, one is greeted with the Jimmy Choo branded dust bag.
Dust bag
Below the dust bag is white tissue paper. Once that is lifted away, we are presented with the shoes. This particular pair were not only brand new (which, of course, was completely expected), but they had not even had their sealed shipping plastic removed. This means that since leaving the manufacturing facility, no one has physically handled or tried these specific sandals on.
Completely sealed
It's important to take note of all these "inclusions", especially the packaging, right down to the tissue paper. There are countless "fake", "knock off", "rip off" and otherwise non-genuine Jimmy Choos out there. This type of problem is something that all premier brands (fashion and otherwise) unfortunately have to contend with. The last thing you want to do is to spend your hard earned money on a non-genuine item, so make sure you pay attention to everything - right down to the packaging itself, when you receive your new shoes.
4. Comfort
As noted above, Jimmy Choo shoes, especially their pump (heels), are known for being among the most comfortable in the haute fashion space. After some time spent researching this, it seems fairly clear that there is no real consensus on specifically why Jimmy Choo shoes have a reputation of being comfortable. Anecdotal evidence mentions better arch support, good sole cushioning, and a lighter weight compared to other similar shoes. Regardless, it only takes a few minutes to find glowing reviews regarding the comfort level of Jimmy Choo shoes, so this does not appear to be an urban myth.
Sizing is, for the most part, "true to size". I did not have to up-size or down-size.
5. Cost
These shoes came in at $650.00 CDN. Again, this is a reduced pricing only available at the Outlet location. Retail list price for these sandals was $995.00 CDN. This is a savings of almost 35%, which is fairly substantial. Normally, these types of savings are found in secondary markets, such as non-Authorized Dealers. Rarely is such a discount found from the manufacturer themselves. At this price point, it's really hard to go wrong with these shoes. The value proposition is fantastic, and it's really quite difficult to find a deal that beats this one.
While certainly still expensive for a sandal heeled pair of shoes, shopping Jimmy Choo's Outlet location can yield significant savings. One doesn't have to be an elitist to afford a pair of these.
Jimmy Choo Emily 85
6. Final Thoughts
The Jimmy Choo Emily 85 in pink suede is an amazing pair of summer sandal heels. As long as you don't mind wearing "last year's model", these are a relatively affordable shoe that will undoubtedly be fashionable, fun and charming.
Overall, LuxuryReview.ca highly
RECOMMENDS Jimmy Choo as a brand that should find its way into every lady's (dedicated) shoe closet.
