For the past couple of seasons, it has seemed as though Jimmy Choo has been a brand adrift. Caught somewhere between trying to appease its longtime customers and attempting to reach a new, younger audience with bags covered in patterns and studs and trims of various sorts, I’ve struggled at times to find something I like from Choo, a brand that has the resources and talent to be constantly churning out hits.
In that context, the Jimmy Choo Parker Shopper makes me feel strangely optimistic. This bag isn’t a continuation of a previously successful line (as so many of Choo’s simpler bags tend to be) and it’s not an unedited mishmash of visual elements intended to be “edgy.” Instead, it’s just functional and expensive-looking, which shouldn’t seem like such a massive revelation but sort of does anyway.
My favorite version of this bag is the ivory one because the light color makes it easier to see the crisp, precise details of the design, which are most of the attraction for me. The hardware is also to be noted, in particular the gleaming door-hinge handle attachments and nailhead finishes. The lines and metal give the design a faint whiff of industrialism without allowing the mood to become overpowering, which hints at something that hasn’t been evident in many of Choo’s recent bags: good, rigorous design editing. Many of Choo’s other Resort and Spring 2011 bags also seem downright sane and reasonable, but still with that signature Jimmy Choo sassiness, so let’s hope that this is a trend that continues for the brand. Buy through Nordstrom for $1995.
