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Jimmy Choo Revives its Archival Designs

Shoe addicts, consider yourselves warned . That clickity-clack you hear? It's the unmistakable sound of the hot heels you'll be chasing down very soon. To mark its 30th anniversary, Jimmy Choo has reissued eight iconic styles from its archives — masterpieces born in the late '90s and early 2000s. It was a heady time when fashion was feral, unapologetic and very high-heeled. Now, three decades later, curated by Jimmy Choo's Creative Director Sandra Choi, London-based designer Conner Ives, and fashion journalist Alexander Fury, they're back — and they've lost none of their original bite. Its a line-up that reads like a capsule of fashion's wild at heart - exciting and pulsating with potential action: The Boot. The Thong. The Slide. The Strappy. Each one a distilled archetype of early-aughts glamour, engineered to ignite a frenzy of flashbacks, and probably a few frantic add-to-cart moments. But, firstly, we need to talk about the Leo. An animal-print, strappy heeled sandal, first immortalised by Carrie Bradshaw in the opening credits of the era defining Sex and the City, twirling in her pink tutu on the streets of NYC. That tutu and those heels came to define the chaotic chic of every twenty-something's vision of downtown dressing. Blink and you might miss it, but that's the moment Jimmy Choo walked right into pop culture – and never left. The Leo, released in 1998 Photo: Jimmy Choo Then came the oddly named 72138 — a delicate lilac suede sandal, its toe strap festooned with a band of wispy feathers. Worn by Carrie Bradshaw once again as she scurried through the city, it helped set the stage for one of Sex and the City 's most iconic moments. In an episode titled Where There's Smoke , Carrie's racing to catch a ferry back to Manhattan, chasing down those elusive cabs — only to lose one, and with it, a single shoe. The perfect cue for the perfect line 'I lost my Choo!' she cries as the ferry pulls away. Off-screen, the moment ignited a frenzy. The 72138 quickly sold out and became a shorthand for the brand's mix of whimsy and desirability. It marked a turning point: no longer just a luxury label, Jimmy Choo became the name in aspirational footwear. Women weren't just buying heels, they were buying into a lifestyle, a TV fantasy, a character's closet. 'That was the moment I discovered Jimmy Choo,' shares Duha Bukadi, the shoe designer behind her eponymous label. 'I was still an architecture student and couldn't afford any Choos, but they made me dream, the way fashion still does.' 'I think the feather sandal 72138 has a lot to answer for,' reflects Choi, the niece of the original creator, Jimmy Choo, who founded the brand in 1996. 'It anchored a point of view in what was then regarded as outstanding fashion, establishing the importance of cultural connection from the very early days.' Now, with the original series resurfacing on Netflix and the reboot ( And Just Like That ) pulling in a whole new generation of acolytes, the Carrie/Choo relationship is being reintroduced — and with it, a renewed interest. 'What's nostalgia for some is discovery for others,' Choi adds. The iconic 72138 established in 1998, re-issued for the first time Photo: Jimmy Choo Speaking of throwbacks, there's the aptly named Thong heel — a disco ball of a shoe, featuring a slinky, silvered chainmail triangle that channels the Y2K obsession with handkerchief tops. Ill-fated as a piece of clothing, perhaps, yet ever so scintillating as a shoe. There's also the Flower, one of the best-selling styles from S/S 2001, with a silk corsage-like purple bud perched delicately atop a barely-there metallic gold sandal. An impossible shoe, the flower seemingly floating, ushering in yet another frenzy, this time round for groomed heels and glossy pedicures. Back then, a salon in NYC was offering high-end 'Choo-Choo' pedicures, where scraps of paisley and floral prints from Jimmy Choo's summer collection were affixed to nails and sealed with high-gloss polish. An article in Elle magazine in the early aughts even reported a rise in cosmetic foot surgeries across North America, all in pursuit of toes worthy of a pair of Choos. The obsession was real. The Thong circa early 2000 Photo: Jimmy Choo Photo: Jimmy Choo 'Personally, I love the first Strappy design as a thong sandal on an 85mm heel" writes Choi, with such gusto you can practically hear the enthusiasm in her voice. "Those fine straps casing around the toes and the curve of the arch push just enough sexiness that you forget you're wearing a thong sandal on a high heel, because you're going to have fun looking so fabulous!'