Shoe designer Lucy Choi follows in uncle Jimmy Choo’s famous footsteps
Having spent her formative years in Hong Kong, footwear legend Jimmy Choo’s British-born niece says the Asian city remains her creative muse
The next time you’re in the departures lounge of the Hong Kong International Airport, keep an eye out for a woman peering at your feet.
Lucy Choi has made her name in Britain with her brand of oh-so-desirable stilettos and pumps, but it is to Hong Kong that she returns every year to design her latest collections, and Chek Lap Kok is where she derives her most potent inspiration.
“I tend to get into the airport really early before my flight,” she says. “That’s normally where I do all my research, and I just see what people wear on their feet. I get my coffee and I just watch.”
Choi launched her brand in 2012, opening a store near London’s Marble Arch three years later. The label has become known for its quirky, multi-patterned designs at (relatively) affordable prices.
The 44-year-old has worked her way up. After completing a business degree at the University of Birmingham she became a financial analyst, then ran someone else’s mid-market footwear brand (French Sole) before selling her flat and striking out on her own. None of that, however, means she will be able to entirely step out of her family’s shadow.
The third generation to enter the shoe industry, Choi is a niece of Malaysian-born footwear legend Jimmy Choo (his wife, Rebecca, is her mother’s sister). Choi was born on the Isle of Wight, into the only Chinese family on the island, off England’s south coast, where her parents, originally from Sai Kung, ran a Chinese restaurant.
