- Tamara Mellon
Tamara Mellon is the President and Founder of a line of designer shoes, Jimmy Choo.
Early life
Mellon was born in London, on
7 July 1967 , the daughter of Tom Yeardye, a successful entrepreneur and Ann (Davis) Yeardye, a formerChanel model. She was educated inBerkshire atHeathfield St Mary's School , inBeverly Hills and inSwitzerland .Career
Mellon began her career at Phyllis Walters Public Relations,
Mirabella , and followed as accessories editor for British "Vogue" in 1990.Recognizing the potential for development of high-end designer accessories, Mellon approached bespoke shoe-maker
Mr Jimmy Choo with the idea of launching a ready-to-wear shoe company.As founder of the Jimmy Choo Company, Tamara secured funding for the creation of her business, and sourced factories inItaly . In addition, she set up an office inItaly to handle production, quality control and shipping. By 2001, Jimmy Choo had over 100 wholesale clients includingHarrods ,Harvey Nichols ,Saks Fifth Avenue andBergdorf Goodman , and the collections accounted for over 50% of the production of several of these factories.The design collaboration between Tamara and creative director,
Sandra Choi led to an immediate demand from other top stores.The Motcombe Street store was followed by stores in New York, Las Vegas and Beverly Hills.In April 2001, the expansion of Jimmy Choo took a step forward with the announcement of a new partnership with Equinox Luxury Holdings Ltd. Acquiring Mr Choo’s share of the ready to wear business; Equinox’s Chief ExecutiveRobert Bensoussan becameCEO of Jimmy Choo. This transaction enabled Jimmy Choo to achieve outstanding results, with the introduction of handbag and small leather goods collections. In November 2004, with the company valued at £101 million, Hicks Muse announced the majority acquisition of Jimmy Choo — yet another significant move for the future development of the company.Jimmy Choo shoes have been sung about by starlets such as
Beyoncé Knowles and the shoes are well-known as the shoes of choice for Hollywood red carpet events.From the first boutique opened in London’s
Knightsbridge in 1996, Jimmy Choo now has a total of 39 stores including London (Sloane Street &New Bond Street ),New York ,Beverly Hills , Washington D.C.,Boston ,Dallas ,Moscow ,Milan andHong Kong and is distributed by select stores worldwide.The brand continues to have strong ambitions and plans to open a total of 50 stores worldwide by 2008. In 2007, Mellon made another appearance on the Sunday Times Rich List where she is ranked as the 751st richest person in the U.K with an estimated wealth of £99 million. [" [http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/specials/rich_list/rich_list_search/?urllink=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/richlist/person/0,,47698,00.html Rich List search] " — timesonline.co.uk.] She is also ranked as the 64th richest woman in Britain. [" [http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/specials/rich_list/rich_list_search/?urllink=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/richlist/person/0,,48265,00.html Women's rich list] " — timesonline.co.uk]Personal life
In May 2000 she married Matthew Taylor Mellon, III, an heir to the fortune, with whom she had one daughter, Araminta. The couple divorced in 2005. She currently resides in Chelsea and is dating American actor
Christian Slater .She has also dated Detroit Rocker Kid Rock.References
*Freeman, Hadley. " [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1343788,00.html The Guardian profile: Tamara Mellon] ", "The Guardian",
5 November 2004
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6591981.stm BBC news]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
