LONDON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. owner of London's famed Jimmy Choo line of "must-have" shoes is selling her business for more than 90 million pounds ($177 million).
The Independent reported Saturday that Tamara Mellon, a former accessories editor at Vogue, would unload her shoe business with the help of investment bank NM Rothchild.
Jimmy Choo became one of the most successful fashion labels in the United States after the shoes were featured in television shows, such as the popular "Sex in the City" and "The Sopranos," as well as the movie, "The Devil Wears Prada."
The line's 39 stores are expected to expand to 50 worldwide stores by 2008.
Mellon started the business with the help of her father, Tommy Yeardye, the co-founder of the Vidal Sassoon hair products empire and was married to Matthew Mellon II, scion of the wealthy Mellon banking family of Pittsburgh.
The original "Jimmy" of the Jimmy Choo line was a London cobbler who was Mellon's "go-to" guy when she was struggling to find the perfect shoes for her Vogue photo shoots. Choo sold out to Mellon in 2001.
