IN MY SHOES: A MEMOIR
Tamara Mellon with Patrick William
Penguin
275 pages; Rs 550
Call me a fashion ignoramus but I really can't tell the difference between any shoe and Jimmy Choo. Of course, one is aware that anyone who is rich, famous, or is a fan of the show Sex and the City either has many pairs or wants many pairs. Apparently you can't refer to them as "just" shoes, but you have to say Jimmy Choo. While I couldn't care less about Jimmy Choo the shoe, the memoir of its co-founder, Tamara Mellon, In My Shoes, makes for a fascinating read.
The script of Ms Mellon's life is straight out of a soap opera. She often refers to herself as the quintessential Danielle Steel heroine. "The basic Danielle Steel conceit is to take a plucky heroine, set her on a quest, and then subject her to every villain and viper and obstacle imaginable. Which, I suppose, is not an entirely bad summary of my life so far," she writes.
Ms Mellon's quest has everything: a narcissistic mother, a tempestuous marriage to Matthew Mellon followed by a high-profile divorce, drug addiction, rehab stints, dating actors, Hollywood studio heads and dealing with private equity "vultures".
Her father, Tommy Yeardye, the man behind the Vidal Sassoon empire, gets maximum praise, and one can sense the genuine bond between father and daughter. Her mother, Ann, a former model for Chanel, is a different story. Ms Mellon writes that she bore the brunt of her mother's raging alcoholism. She went to the best of schools in England, the US and Switzerland, but academia was never her strength.
She worked at the British Vogue, and got fired, but the fashion fuse had already been lit. While in rehab, she came up with the idea of starting something of her own. Her father lent her $150,000 to start a luxury shoe brand along with a London-based cobbler of Malaysian descent, Jimmy Choo. Now, cobbler might sound a bit strange, but according to Ms Mellon, Mr Choo was just that - a "cobbler" who had no idea about fashion, design, creativity or luxury.
In My Shoes is a remarkable story about how Ms Mellon, who did a "kitchen MBA" with her father, built a million-dollar luxury brand that went on to become a household name. What makes it even more remarkable is that Ms Mellon actually never got along with pretty much anyone. She fell out with her mother, husband, brothers, Jimmy Choo, his niece Sandra Choi, private equity investors … the list is pretty long. According to Ms Mellon, in almost all cases, it was never her fault.
It would have been hard to feel sorry for a privileged, rich daddy's poor little girl who hobnobs with Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley and the who's who of the fashion world. But - and this is where credit should go to co-author Patrick William - somehow In My Shoes manages to do that by using the narrative in a clever and intriguing way.
It also helps that Ms Mellon's life is so eventful that In My Shoes rarely has any dull moments. True, the tone and narrative are a bit self-pitying and there is a strong sense of victimhood. But that is overridden by the fact that Ms Mellon pulls no punches and puts the boot - rather stilettos - in with great panache.
Her mother comes across the worst - narcissist, sociopath, evil - and is clearly a viper in the life of Mr Steel's heroine. Ms Mellon and her mother were involved in a high-profile legal case and Ms Mellon says that everything that was psychologically wrong with her was her mother's fault. "I had my share of demons. One of them was, of course, my mother and the enigma of why she'd always despised me," Ms Mellon writes.
Robert Bensoussan, former CEO of Jimmy Choo, too comes in for scathing criticism. Mr Bensoussan once told Ms Mellon that she was doing everything for the brand because she wanted to be a celebrity. "I found that incredibly misogynistic and disparaging to women." Ms Mellon is clear: that it was her drive, vision and creativity that has made Jimmy Choo what it is today. She went to flea markets all over the world to seek inspiration; she visited manufacturers to see how the shoes were being made; and she set up stalls at international luxury bazaars.
She may have a point. In fact, it's not hard to believe that the men in Ms Mellon's life - both personal and professional - didn't like the attention she was getting. After all, Ms Mellon had this steely resolve to make her brand one of the biggest in the world, for which she received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) from the Queen of England and became a trade envoy for the British government. Her contempt for private equity investors is a recurring theme in the book.
Towards the end, she admits being happy and having learnt life's lessons the hard way. But just to twist the old adage, "money can't buy you happiness. But you would rather cry in a Ferrari" is quite true of the book and of Ms Mellon. The crying happens in Ferraris, on red carpets, while vacationing in exotic islands, and while wearing Valentino and, of course, a pair of Jimmy Choo.
Tamara Mellon with Patrick William
Penguin
275 pages; Rs 550
Call me a fashion ignoramus but I really can't tell the difference between any shoe and Jimmy Choo. Of course, one is aware that anyone who is rich, famous, or is a fan of the show Sex and the City either has many pairs or wants many pairs. Apparently you can't refer to them as "just" shoes, but you have to say Jimmy Choo. While I couldn't care less about Jimmy Choo the shoe, the memoir of its co-founder, Tamara Mellon, In My Shoes, makes for a fascinating read.
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Ms Mellon's quest has everything: a narcissistic mother, a tempestuous marriage to Matthew Mellon followed by a high-profile divorce, drug addiction, rehab stints, dating actors, Hollywood studio heads and dealing with private equity "vultures".
Her father, Tommy Yeardye, the man behind the Vidal Sassoon empire, gets maximum praise, and one can sense the genuine bond between father and daughter. Her mother, Ann, a former model for Chanel, is a different story. Ms Mellon writes that she bore the brunt of her mother's raging alcoholism. She went to the best of schools in England, the US and Switzerland, but academia was never her strength.
She worked at the British Vogue, and got fired, but the fashion fuse had already been lit. While in rehab, she came up with the idea of starting something of her own. Her father lent her $150,000 to start a luxury shoe brand along with a London-based cobbler of Malaysian descent, Jimmy Choo. Now, cobbler might sound a bit strange, but according to Ms Mellon, Mr Choo was just that - a "cobbler" who had no idea about fashion, design, creativity or luxury.
In My Shoes is a remarkable story about how Ms Mellon, who did a "kitchen MBA" with her father, built a million-dollar luxury brand that went on to become a household name. What makes it even more remarkable is that Ms Mellon actually never got along with pretty much anyone. She fell out with her mother, husband, brothers, Jimmy Choo, his niece Sandra Choi, private equity investors … the list is pretty long. According to Ms Mellon, in almost all cases, it was never her fault.
It would have been hard to feel sorry for a privileged, rich daddy's poor little girl who hobnobs with Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley and the who's who of the fashion world. But - and this is where credit should go to co-author Patrick William - somehow In My Shoes manages to do that by using the narrative in a clever and intriguing way.
It also helps that Ms Mellon's life is so eventful that In My Shoes rarely has any dull moments. True, the tone and narrative are a bit self-pitying and there is a strong sense of victimhood. But that is overridden by the fact that Ms Mellon pulls no punches and puts the boot - rather stilettos - in with great panache.
Her mother comes across the worst - narcissist, sociopath, evil - and is clearly a viper in the life of Mr Steel's heroine. Ms Mellon and her mother were involved in a high-profile legal case and Ms Mellon says that everything that was psychologically wrong with her was her mother's fault. "I had my share of demons. One of them was, of course, my mother and the enigma of why she'd always despised me," Ms Mellon writes.
Robert Bensoussan, former CEO of Jimmy Choo, too comes in for scathing criticism. Mr Bensoussan once told Ms Mellon that she was doing everything for the brand because she wanted to be a celebrity. "I found that incredibly misogynistic and disparaging to women." Ms Mellon is clear: that it was her drive, vision and creativity that has made Jimmy Choo what it is today. She went to flea markets all over the world to seek inspiration; she visited manufacturers to see how the shoes were being made; and she set up stalls at international luxury bazaars.
She may have a point. In fact, it's not hard to believe that the men in Ms Mellon's life - both personal and professional - didn't like the attention she was getting. After all, Ms Mellon had this steely resolve to make her brand one of the biggest in the world, for which she received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) from the Queen of England and became a trade envoy for the British government. Her contempt for private equity investors is a recurring theme in the book.
Towards the end, she admits being happy and having learnt life's lessons the hard way. But just to twist the old adage, "money can't buy you happiness. But you would rather cry in a Ferrari" is quite true of the book and of Ms Mellon. The crying happens in Ferraris, on red carpets, while vacationing in exotic islands, and while wearing Valentino and, of course, a pair of Jimmy Choo.