When singer Chrissie Hynde urged women “not to wear high heels” so that they could run from potential male aggressors, Tamara Mellon admits she felt confused.
A year on, she still looks confused. “I can run in heels,” frowns the 49-year-old. “Actually, I pride myself on how fast I can run in heels.”
This I don’t doubt. Lithe and lissom on her West Hollywood studio sofa - long legs encased in spray-on jeans, belly bared by a T-shirt borrowed from her daughter, a pair of laser-cut pumps on her feet - Mellon looks like a woman who doesn’t give up without a fight.
“Heels aren’t anti-feminist,” she goes on, warming to her theme. “They have nothing to do with looking sexy for men - they’re not there for men’s benefit, but our own. If you put on a great pair of heels, it’s mood-altering, and I always feel empowered in high heels. One thing I’m tired of, though, is being in pain. And that is a feminist issue.
"Because if you think about it, most shoe designers are men. All those famous shoe companies? They’re all men’s names. And those men don’t know what it feels like to wear an uncomfortable pair of shoes: it kills your day and your night and it turns you into a monster. Nothing I design will do that: my shoes are for looking great, feeling comfortable - and kicking ass.”
Mellon’s pugnacity has served her well. Ever since 2011 - when she left Jimmy Choo after 16 years at the helm of the luxury shoe company she co-founded in 1996 - she’s had to fight her corner. Forced to file for bankruptcy after company funds in her new fashion business Tamara Mellon Brand ran low and financial backers refused to bail her out, the one-time face - and legs - of British entrepreneurship had to endure the schadenfreude of the business world.
“It was honestly like someone running into a town square, shouting: ‘Ha! ha! She failed!”’ says Mellon. “And that hit me hard - but I always knew I would come out the other side. And I certainly wasn’t ready to give up, because I believe so totally in my vision. So, yes, it didn’t work the first time, but in Silicon Valley failure is a good thing. In fact a lot of investors won’t even consider investing in you unless you have had a couple of fails, because that’s when you learn your best lessons. And trust me, I have learnt a ton of lessons.”
All those lessons have been put to use in the relaunching of Mellon's brand to a UK audience this week: a direct-to-consumer shoe label with a very racy website (one particular photograph shows a naked model whose modesty is preserved only by another woman's hand) and an "accessible" price point.
“Women are not shopping in the same way they used to,” she explains. “Nobody under 50 shops in department stores any more. Nobody buys ‘seasonally’ any more. And women understand the mark-up system now so they want an honest price. They also want to buy something today and wear it tomorrow, which is why we’ll have timeless pieces that will stay online always, as well as a ‘Lab’ collection featuring something new every month.”
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Advertise with NZME.She pauses, before continuing with aplomb. “Also, we’re never going on sale. Nobody feels great buying something on sale, and department stores have created this problem in the market because they’ve trained everyone to wait for sales.”
The Heathfield-educated daughter of Ann Davis, a former Chanel model, and Tommy Yeardye, who later co-founded the Vidal Sassoon chain, Mellon worked in PR and journalism - as the accessories editor of British Vogue - before meeting Hackney cobbler Jimmy Choo and finding her true vocation as a businesswoman.
She was made a UK business ambassador by David Cameron in 2010, and speak to anyone who knows Mellon and it’s her ability to bounce back, personally and professionally, that is praised. And it’s true that for a woman who is not just getting a start-up off the ground but still in the process of relocating (she and US talent agent fiance Michael Ovitz are currently unpacking boxes from the New York apartment they left for a house in LA last month), Mellon is startlingly energetic.
These days, the one-time party girl - who famously detailed her drug addiction issues in her 2013 memoir, In My Shoes - is a fully paid-up juicer, who was up at 6.30am this morning to work out before taking her 14-year-old daughter Minty - with former husband, banking heir Matthew Mellon - to school.
As the benefactor of Mellon’s preposterously large shoe collection (“I’ve kept every single pair since the 1990s - including all the famous Sex and the City ones,” she tells me), Minty is a lucky girl. “Although I think she’s going to be taller than me, so she might not be able to wear them all,” laments Mellon. “Plus kids these days just live in sneakers and jeans. Our lifestyles are becoming more and more casual, so fashion will have to reflect that.”
A glance around Mellon’s office tells you that in her workplace at least, casual is acceptable. Although four-inch heels click-clack back and forth across the parquet floor, there are sandals, too, and trainers. “I think women can wear flip-flops to the office if they’re cute and elegant, and even trainers are OK now in a professional context.”
So have the rules of professionalism changed since she started out? Not necessarily - rules, she thinks, have in many ways stayed the same where women are concerned. “I’ve always said that the most important thing is for women to ask for help. For many women, asking another person’s opinion seems to mean you’re weak. It doesn’t,” she says. Similarly, “speaking up is so important - it took me a long time to find my voice.”
Lastly, she urges: “It’s OK to be human. I don’t really have a problem with emotions - or crying in the office. Although, that said, the only time I’ve ever cried in the office was when I got a letter saying that Minty hadn’t been accepted to the London school we wanted her to go to,” she laughs. “But look: when the crash happened in 2009 it taught us so much. Basically we had these financial institutions crashing because, in my view, we didn’t have enough female leadership. Women don’t take as many risks as men and like to collaborate more, so my feeling was that more female leadership would have helped to control things.”
The UK may seem far further than 5000 miles away - and Mellon admits that she did feel “somewhat removed during Brexit, although I’m aware of what an emotional time it was” - but she feels confident, she says, that the fighting British spirit will prevail as new trade deals are forged.
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Advertise with NZME.“I think we’ll get a good deal out of it. Ours is a very strong economy and it will bounce back. Because in the end it’s about resilience,” she smiles - and I’m not sure that we’re stilltalking about Brexit - “and never, ever giving up.”
HOW TO BOUNCE BACK IN BUSINESS
Lief Anya Schneider, managing director of corporate reputation management consultancy SBC London, reveals her top tips for bouncing back when things don't go to plan:
- Don't over-analyse - no-one died. When you first get a spot of bad news allow yourself to shout out a few foul words and then move on. Take action.
- To re-motivate yourself, think of your dependents and your employees who need this to work.
- Distinguish between emotions and instincts. Instinct is good. What does your gut tell you to do next?
- Don't be a feather with every wind that blows - you may have been right. The person who decided against you (whether it was a pitch, or a loan) may be an idiot.
- On the other hand, if something is not working, don't be too proud to change it.
- Laugh about it. Celebrate failure as much as you celebrate success, otherwise you will kill the morale in your company.
- Praise staff for their mistakes. If they are not allowed a margin of error, they won't have the confidence to take the risks that might pay off.
- Remember surviving failure feels great.
- The Daily Telegraph
