The World’s Most Famous Shoe Designers
By Sarah Stefanson December 15, 2009
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
It is a rare fashionista who doesn’t absolutely adore shoes. A 2007 poll found that the average woman owns 19 pairs of shoes. While many women cannot afford shoes by the likes of famous designers such as Manolo Blahnik or Jimmy Choo, they still covet them. How did these designers’ creations reach such heights of desirability? Let’s take a look at a few of the best and most famous shoe designers in the world.
Jimmy Choo
Malaysian born Jimmy Choo constructed his first pair of shoes at the age of 11. As a young man, he paid his way through studies at Cordwainers Technical College by working at restaurants and as a cleaner at a shoe factory. In 1986, after completing his schooling, Choo began creating shoe designs that soon caught the attention of celebrities and fashion industry figures alike. Vogue magazine featured his hand-made shoes on a record eight pages in a 1988 issue and his star continued to rise when Princess Diana became a fan of his work.
Choo teamed up with British Vogue accessories editor, Tamara Mellon, in 1996 and together the two co-founded Jimmy Choo Ltd. The company grew at an exponential rate, but the story did not have a happy ending. Conflict arose between Choo and Mellon. After Choo’s niece, who had worked for him for years, chose to side with Mellon, Choo left the company, selling his 50% for only £10 million. Since then, Choo has focused on designing his exclusive Jimmy Choo Couture line. One of his goals is to establish a shoemaking institute in his native Malaysia.
Manolo Blahnik
Any Sex and the City fan knows that Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) is a huge fan of Manolo Blahnik, sometimes spending her rent money on his shoes. The world famous shoe designer was born and raised in the Canary Islands. He attended the University of Geneva and studied art in Paris. By 1968 he was living in London where he worked at a fashion boutique called Zapata. It was during this time that he began to write for Vogue Italia and showed his designs to iconic Vogue editor, Diana Vreeland, who told him that he should only be designing footwear. Blahnik designed shoes for Ossie Clark’s runway show in 1972 and soon after purchased Zapata in order to open his own boutique. The flagship Manolo Blahnik store still exists today in the same location.
These days, Blahnik has boutiques in a dozen cities around the world and his line can be found at Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Steve Madden
American shoe designer Steve Madden has enjoyed great success and suffered considerable lows over the course of his career. Madden went from personally visiting boutiques trying to convince them to buy his first shoe designs to being the CEO and founder of Steve Madden Ltd., a company that was enjoying dominance over the teenage girl demographic in the world of shoes in the 1990s.
The good times ended in 2002 when Madden was convicted of stock manipulation, money laundering and securities fraud. He was forced to resign as CEO and sentenced to 41 months in prison. Madden served 31 months of his sentence while holding the position of creative and design chief at Steve Madden Ltd. During his time in prison, he proposed to his director of operations, Wendy Ballew, was treated for substance abuse problems and continued to draw a $700,000 salary from his company. Since he was released, his company has only grown more successful and his designs continue to appeal to teens and 20-somethings.
Christian Louboutin
Known for the distinctive red sole on all of his shoes, Christian Louboutin designs footwear to help a woman feel confident and empowered. The red sole trend began in 1992 during the early days of Louboutin’s high-end shoe line. The designer sought to spice up the look of a shoe that “lacked energy” by painting the bottom with red nail polish. Soon the shiny, colourful sole became a signature aspect of his shoes. Louboutin has even patented his red sole design as a trademark in the United States.
Louboutin first developed an awed love of shoes as a child of 12 when he ditched school in favour of watching the showgirls in Paris nightclubs. He never finished school and soon poured all his energy into bringing the stiletto heel back into fashion around the world. The 1990s and 2000s saw a trend of sky-high heels measuring 120mm (4.72 inches) and higher thanks in large part to Louboutin’s creations. Louboutin is also not afraid to adorn his shoes with embellishments including jewels, bows, feathers and other decorations.
There are more than a dozen Christian Louboutin boutiques around the world, each uniquely designed and decorated by Louboutin himself.
Famous fans of Louboutin’s shoes include Angelina Jolie, Oprah, Tina Turner, Cameron Diaz, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker and Rihanna. Both Nicole Kidman and Christina Aguilera donned Louboutins to walk down the aisle at their weddings.
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Submitted on December 15, 2009 in Who's Who.
Sarah is our Western Canadian correspondent. She recently left a long-standing position as editor and writer for TheSoko.com, DriverSense.com & LiveDress.com to focus on book and novel writing. Sarah continues contribute weekly articles to AskMen.ca and Models & Moguls. Sarah thinks she might have been a model if it weren’t for the blessing of Slavic hips and thighs.
Sarah Stefanson has contributed 64 articles to Models & Moguls.
Love anything to do with shoes! Great Job on this article! Way to go shoe lovers!