Last night Jimmy Choo hosted an event at the Upper East Side Fletcher Sinclair Mansion to celebrate its collaboration with artist Rob Pruitt. Pruitt rose to fame in the New York City pop-art scene in the 1980s creating everything from a glittery panda bear to sculptural blue jeans. Andy Warhol has been a longstanding inspiration, so much so that Pruitt erected a statue to celebrate Warhol in Union Square last year.
Pruitt’s 19-piece capsule collection for Jimmy Choo is all about glitter, neon, and zebra and will hit Jimmy Choo stores and online in November. A standout in the collection is a devil-panda-shaped minaudière clutch, made with more than 11,000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals, which will retail for $15,000. Only twelve have been produced.
The very modest Pruitt told us as to how they collaboration came about: “They invited me, which was thrilling. I still don’t know why. Up until the last minute I kept thinking they would probably cancel, but they didn’t.”
The first meeting happened almost a year ago in Pruitt’s New York City apartment with Jimmy Choo Creative Directors Sandra Choi and Simon Holloway. “A lot of the ideas that we discussed in the first meeting we stuck with,” Pruitt shared. “I knew from the beginning I wanted to sprinkle ice cream jimmies on the shoes because of the name Jimmy Choo, and that’s something that we did.” The jimmie and zebra print glitter wedges will retail for $1,095.
Working on the collection took Pruitt outside of his box. “Ordinarily I don’t work with other people, I have assistants, but that’s it,” Pruitt said. “Sandra and Simon are both at the top of their field so it was very stimulating to work with really creative people. I felt very taken care of.”
We had to ask Pruitt what he thought of the trend of artists working with luxury brands (including Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama). He shared, “I haven’t spoken with any of the other artists, but it was phenominal for me. I want to design a car now!”
The best part of the collaboration for Pruitt personally is that now he’ll have something to give the women in his life. “My mom and my sister are very proud of me being an artist, but the art world is so closed,” Pruitt said. “They definitely know and love Jimmy Choo.” It’s going to be a good holiday season for the Pruitt clan we predict.
Click through our gallery above to go inside the bash which drew the likes of Melissa George and Krysten Ritter.
