Tamara Mellon is to leave the British brand which she not only founded, but made a household name - departing Jimmy Choo after 15 years as director of the company.
The sign of success: Tamara accepting her OBE at Buckingham Palace last year. Photo:PA
The surprising announcement was made via the official Jimmy Choo Twitter account yesterday, which posted: "As our Chief Creative Officer Tamara Mellon, OBE steps down, everyone at Jimmy Choo thanks her for 15 years of leadership and creative vision."
Tamara sold the company back in May to luxury fashion firm LabelLuxe for £525 million (of which Tamara took home a cool £85 million) but initially insisted she would stay on within a creative consultancy role, along with several other senior members of Jimmy Choo Ltd.
But it seems that was not to be. Just six months later, and Ms Mellon was announcing her departure.
A fashionable farewell: Tamara's departure was announced via Twitter yesterday. Photo:JimmyChoo/Twitter
While the official reason for her parting ways with the band has yet to be revealed, Tamara has taken to Twitter via her own personal account, to thank fans for their kind words of support.
"Just retweeted all of your amazing messages," she wrote earlier today. "Thank you all my tweet friends. I will keep you posted!"
Take a look at some of Tamara's final designs for Jimmy Choo in the ICONS collection: