CEO’s Shouldn’t Pose Nude

Although I am not a fan of Jimmy Choo as a brand, I did respect their president and co-founder, Tamara Mellon, until a few weeks ago.

Tamara grew up a very rich girl and dabbled in the magazine world as a UK Vogue editor for some time (as all the rich girls do) until she noticed a gap in the luxury accessories market. She teamed up with Malaysian shoe designer, Jimmy Choo, borrowed a couple hundred grand from Daddy, and she was in business. Fast forward ten or twelve years, and Jimmy is out (thrown out by his own niece!) and Tamara Mellon is laughing laughing on her way to the bank because her company is worth millions.

I have some good ideas too, and if my Daddy would bankroll them, I am sure I would definitely have a nice little business right now. But I am not sure I would have been able to turn it into a multi million dollar empire, the way Tamara Mellon did (even though her brand is the McDonald’s of the luxury shoe world.) So that’s why I respected her, she is a savvy businesswoman who knows how to make good deals.

When she gets featured in the press, they always make sure to mention that she is thin, glamorous, and quite good looking. She has also dated Christian Slater (nice) and Kid Rock (not nice.) There were times I compared her to Natalie Massenet, the CEO of Net A Porter, who also looks good, came from money, started a fashion business, and managed to make a lot more money. But one thing Natalie Massenet would not do is pose nude.

Tamara Mellon with Christian Slater.

Tamara has been photographed topless on several occasions, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. If you are in Spain, and you want to be on the beach topless, which is perfectly legal and acceptable, and someone takes a photo of you, it’s not the end of the world. But what I can’t understand is how Tamara agreed to be photographed nude by Terry Richardson. I have completely lost respect for her. She is the perfect example of a reason why women aren’t taken seriously in the boardroom. I mean, how the hell does she face her board of directors, knowing they all saw her naked with a cat sitting on her crotch? It is so tasteless!

Tamara Mellon shot by Terry Richardson.

This image actually makes me feel a bit sick. What if she was your boss? Would you be able to look her in the eye?

I’m sorry if I am repeating myself, because I sort of covered this Thursday when I talked about Carey Mulligan and Heidi Montag, but this is different. We expect actresses to do silly things, not presidents of multi million dollar corporations. Did I mention Tamara has a daughter? Poor thing!

The best part is that The Cut quoted her as saying “I would love to do a chat show for women…I would love to talk to women about how to run their lives, that’s what I would like to do.”" Perhaps she’d like to give us advice on how to ruin our reputations? Or do we really need someone to help us with that…

Tamara with shoes image by Richardnicholson.com. Shoe images from Jimmychoo.com.