Oh no! Which camera?!

At the Malaysia Gala dinner Tuesday evening (05 June 2007, here in London) Jimmy Choo won yet another richly-deserved award for fashion design.

I was lucky enough to have our photograph taken together. But, err, whose camera did that go into?! Not mine. There were an awful lot of flashing lights and digital cameras and cellphones and reporters out. Hmmm. A picture lost forever, unless it magically shows up in one of those photo albums visitors get to browse at Jimmy Choo Couture.

(Or as the lovely Francesca told me about shoes, "Men. You just don't get it, do you?")

New Year's Day 2007 I'd run into Jimmy and his wonderful family at Oriental City. We worried over the state of parts of the national press and their understanding of intellectual property rights. Sherwin Rosen's Economics of Superstars figured too, for both what it got right and what it got wrong (no deep secret: Rosen thought what he called shoemakers would never be superstars. So just keep thinking "Jimmy Choo" as you work through the equations in the paper, and remember Sex and the City didn't start broadcasting until 1998. Or just read again what Francesca said).

When this OC closes, all that wonderful serendipity will go. If you're reading this not too late in the millennium, sign the petition.


On an earlier occasion (January 2007, at LSE) I fortunately managed to locate the camera where this photograph went. (Thanks Dennis!) We discussed the role of human capital in the economic development of small, open fast-growing economies.

Learn economics. Get the terminology right. Mingle with interesting people. A friend of mine still believes that her saying "I'm an economist" sounds much, much cooler than saying "Bond. The name is Bond."