In My Shoes

When Tamara Mellon's father lent her the money to start a high-end shoe company, he cautioned her- 'Don't let the accountants run your business.' Little did he know. Over the next fifteen years the struggle between 'the suits' and 'the creatives' would dominate, as Tamara Mellon's business savvy and design flair built Jimmy Choo into a premier name in the ultra-competitive fashion world.

Tamara Mellon grew Jimmy Choo into a billion dollar brand. She became the Prime...
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When Tamara Mellon's father lent her the money to start a high-end shoe company, he cautioned her- 'Don't let the accountants run your business.' Little did he know. Over the next fifteen years the struggle between 'the suits' and 'the creatives' would dominate, as Tamara Mellon's business savvy and design flair built Jimmy Choo into a premier name in the ultra-competitive fashion world.

Tamara Mellon grew Jimmy Choo into a billion dollar brand. She became the Prime Minister's trade envoy and was honoured with an OBE. Vogue photographed her wedding; Vanity Faircovered her divorce and the criminal trial that followed.

It was never an easy road. Her seemingly glamorous beginnings in the mansions of London and Beverly Hills were marked by a broken family life, battles with anxiety and depression, and a stint in rehab. Determined not to end up penniless and under the control of her alcoholic mother, Mellon honed her natural business sense and invested in what she knew best- fashion. In creating the shoes that became a fixture on Iand Hollywood's red carpets, she relied on her own impeccable sense of what the customer wanted - because she was that customer.

Jimmy Choo's success came at a high price - including epic struggles with the first CEO, a turbulent marriage, a brutal takeover attempt, and a mother who tried to steal her hard-earned wealth. Now, as she builds her next fashion venture, Tamara Mellon finally shares her whole larger-than-life story.

In My Shoesis a must-read for fashion aficionados, aspiring entrepreneurs, and anyone who loves a juicy true story about sex, drugs, money, power, overcoming adversity . . . and high heels.

'The Sundy Timesonce wrote that I seemed 'less an actual person than the heroine of some dicey Danielle Steel Bonkathon'. The basic Danielle Steel conceit is to take a plucky heroine, set her on a quest, and then subject her to every villain and viper and obstacle imaginable. Which, I suppose, is not an entirely bad summary of my life so far.'

Who Is Tamara Mellon?

'When it comes to Tamara Mellon, you should never assume anything.' Financial Times

'The Shoe Queen.' Vogue

'A kind of Henry James heroine for the bling generation.' Vanity Fair

'A woman shaped by hardship and scandal.' The Cut

'Tamara is an incredible businesswoman.' Tory Burch as quoted by The New York Times

'The Jimmy Choo brand has gone on to infiltrate popular culture on a mass scale, becoming synonymous with a kind of feminine luxury lifestyle that Mellon herself - strong, smart, independent and glamorously larger than life - has come to personify.' Interview

'Wonderfully bling. Fans of Sex and the Citywill love this memoir - perfect for grown-up fashionistas. A dose of riches-to-rags-to-riches reality.' Sunday Times

'A lesson about an alchemist who won applause by being prepared to fashion a brand out of a stylish product and female chutzpah.' The Economist

'If Tamara Mellon didn't exist you'd have to make her up. For every bit of juicy backstabbing gossip, there is a handy morsel of MBA-lite to wash it down.' Harper's Bazaar

'Part memoir, part MBA masterclass, this is an impressively erudite and candid autobiography. Reads like a Danielle Steel novel, only way more incredible - and glamorous!' Glamour UK

'Brilliant memoir of the genius who created the world's sexiest shoes.' Mail on Sunday

'It's a testament to Tamara's fighting spirit, and astonishing ability to retain a sense of humour, that the book reads more like an epic adventure than a maudlin Greek tragedy. Not one gory detail i