Jimmy Choo launches Footwear Capsule Collection with Billy Porter

In a deal that feels like a page out of “Kinky Boots,” the Broadway musical that earned star Billy Porter a Best Actor Tony Award for his role as “Lola,” couture shoe designer Jimmy Choo has announced a new capsule collection with Porter. Just in time for Pride month, the collection promises to “celebrate the actor’s distinctive flair for fashion and drama” (not to mention his well-known love of footwear), are now available for pre-order on JimmyChoo.com.

The 13-piece collection features platform booties (similar to styles the actor has worn on the red carpet), suede pumps, metallic stacked heels and a series of animal-printed loafers and bags, all of which were curated by Porter. And Porter will star in the campaign imagery modeling the styles he curated, which will be available in extended sizing, up to women’s size 15. The extended sizes will also be offered across a selection of the brand’s other styles beginning in July.

As part of the partnership, Jimmy Choo has also donated $100,000 to support The Trevor Project’s efforts toward suicide prevention and crisis intervention among LGBTQ young people, a cause near and dear to Porter’s heart. The collection was born from a friendship that Porter and Jimmy Choo creative director Sandra Choi struck up a few years ago — one that also played out at the 2019 Footwear News Achievement Awards, when the actor presented the designer with her Hall of Fame award.

“Billy is a true original. His energy, his talent and his advocacy for others is joyous,” said Choi. “He embodies the Jimmy Choo ethos with his daring spirit on and off the red carpet. Fashion allows us all to dream and there should be no boundary to who can experience the transformative effect of stepping into a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes. I am so thrilled to collaborate with Billy and bring this vision to life in celebration of equality and acceptance.”

As for Porter, the actor made it clear that the collaboration is about much more than shoes. “This line is dedicated to my mother, whose biggest dream as a disabled woman was to be able to walk in a pair of high heeled shoes. She never got to achieve that dream, but I get to stand in proxy for her for all the world to see,” said Porter in the collection’s release. “My mother is the personification of the power of what true unconditional love looks like. And as a gender neutral collection, my goal is to free folks from the chains that bind authenticity on all levels.”

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Photo Credit: Ron Adar / Shutterstock.com