Photo Credit: Douglas Friedman for Harper’s Bazaar

Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon opens the doors to her new New York apartment, and discusses her new life in the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar.

Tamara takes readers on a tour of her home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a mix of high art and glam minimalism, and poses with her daughter, Minty. In the interview, she opens up about her lifestyle, overcoming challenges, and building the Jimmy Choo empire.

On her new life in New York: “Last year was the best and worst year of my life, a breakthrough year for me,” Mellon explains. “I’ve moved here and managed to clear up a lot of the wreckage. I feel like I’ve arrived in New York with a clean slate, and I have a whole new set of challenges ahead of me. And I find that invigorating.”

On building the Jimmy Choo empire: “I’ve paid my dues in this business,” she says. She started working when she was 18 at the London fashion emporium Browns. “At the time, I thought, ‘Why am I doing this? I hate this!’ But the lesson I learned was so valuable: I learned retail.” She later met Jimmy Choo, a London cobbler, and the rest is a fashion fairy tale. “But still, when someone asks about a career in fashion, I say start at the bottom,” she says. “If you want to start a business, you have to know it from the ground up.”