The world-famous shoe designer Jimmy Choo has announced that he is opening a fashion school in the heart of Mayfair. With his iconic store on New Bond Street, the area is the ideal place for Jimmy Choo to start his first venture in education and inspire the next generation of fashion designers.
The JCA London Fashion Academy will host 100 lucky students this year, not only teaching them everything they need to know about fashion design, but also providing an incubator to help them launch their business after graduation.
"A lot of designers, they know design, but they do not know about business. In the old days, once I'd come up with a design, I'd look at it—'Oh, it's so beautiful, definitely it will catch the press's attention!' I wasn't a businessman. But working for years and years, you learn it slowly. My vision for the academy is to teach them my knowledge for design, but also to have a business mind as well."
Jimmy Choo talking to The Times
With Choo’s legendary status as a pioneer of handmade shoes, 200 stores worldwide and a host of celebrity fans, we can imagine there will be a long line of students hoping to enrol in the Academy to learn from his experience.
What's even more exciting for those of us who are not budding fashion designers, is the Academy’s desire to be accessible to all who are interested in fashion, tech, art and design. Throughout the year the Academy will host TedX style speaker events open to the public as well as bi-monthly film screenings, a ‘how to’ lecture series and quarterly catwalk collections and showcase events for aspiring designers.
We can’t wait to visit the Academy when it opens this September.
For more information visit: www.jca.ac.uk