Agh!-Choo

As my pile of yet-to-be read fashion periodicals reached eye level, I decided to whittle the stack down to size. Flipping through the November issue of Instyle, I saw an article that left me speechless (well, almost). Jimmy Choo, in collaboration with the Swedish retailers H&M, is launching a limited edition of shoes and bags with more proleterian price tags of under $200. Nooooo... I screamed! How could Ms. Mellon betray us devout Choo-ists in such a manner? Part of my worship of the Jimmy Choo brand lies in their exclusivity. Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge anyone a good bargain, but part of the joy of walking the streets with that pale lavender Jimmy Choo shopping bag is knowing I possess something coveted by many women yet owned by few. I take pride in the fact that my Choos are meticulously crafted by Italian cobblers (the undisputed masters of leather and shoes), and not mass produced in some Chinese sweatshop. If I could purchase and discard them like rubber flip-flops, Jimmies would somehow lose their luster. It brings me a certain sense of pride to curate over my small gallery of stiletto masterpieces. And let's be honest, would Michelangelo's David or Van Gogh's Starry Night be considered treasured art if one could pick up a copy at the local Walmart? So, Ms. Mellon, please heed my appeal, and resist the profitable but pedestrian appeal of mass merchandising. Jimmy Choo on the cheap simply de-values the brand and its afficionados. It's the age old distinction between couture and pret-a-porter. And if these arguments haven't worked, consider Signor Blahnik still sketches every design, carves the last (that's shoe model for novices), chooses the materials, and supervises the factory craftsman. That is what I call devotion to one's art-and that's priceless.