In my previous post, I thanked stylist and fashion journalist Marian Kwei for putting my Queen of Scots tiara on model/DJ Tolula Adeyemi for an Oscar party AND writing it all up for Story Magazine. Marian is a full-service operation! After the Oscars, Marian did so much more for me and turned my jewelry into…
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Jewels of the Month: Tolula in a Tiara and More
In 1985, I listened to British singer Belouis Some‘s song “Imagination” on repeat. Kids these days don’t appreciate the dedication it took to play a song obsessively back then! It was a delicate operation, what with lifting the turntable needle up from the vinyl record and moving it to that flat, grooveless space in between…
Year in Review: Jewels of the Month for 2019
The highlight of 2019 for Wendy Brandes Jewelry was a gem of a person! I am still madly in love with the photo shoot I did with Judith Boyd, aka Style Crone, because I’m always trying to show that jewelry is for everyone. When I did appearances this year, I decorated my booth/case with photos…
Jewel of the Month: Inspired by Empress Eugenie
Thank you to Brecken Branstrator of National Jeweler for alerting me that on Nov. 27, Christie’s in London is auctioning jewelry that once belonged to Eugenie, who was the last empress of France via her marriage to Napoleon III. I appreciate that the auction house has the full provenance of the jewels listed: Provenance is…
Jewels of the Month, Part 1: For the Whistleblower
A real patriot puts country over party or president. I’m thankful to the whistleblower who recorded, in a memo, a White House official’s view that “… the President had clearly committed a criminal act by urging a foreign power to investigate a U.S. person for the purposes of advancing his own reelection bid in 2020”…
Easter Egg Jewelry
Believe it or not, charm bracelets have existed for millennia! While I’m normally obsessed with ancient artifacts, my favorite charms are of more recent vintage — generally the 20th century, when a lot of clever mechanical pieces were produced. I love designing mechanical jewelry myself, and I was once inspired by an old charm, though…
Wednesday’s Video: Cool Hearts, Not Regular
Whether you’re buying a gift for someone else or yourself, I have cool heart jewelry — not regular heart jewelry — that’s perfect for Valentine’s Day. – GIF from Imnotaregularmom GIFs My heart designs are more than meets the eye — and would you expect anything less from me? The diamond-pavé Sophie pendant twists from…
“Put Your Lips Together and Blow”
Men often ask me if they can wear my necklaces, and I answer, “Of course!” But I’ve never had photographic evidence until now. Behold my Virginia Woolf Whistle looking hot, hot, hot. I can’t outdo my model’s original caption for this, so here it is: “I’m serving angry-coach-gonna-punish-the-whole-team-if-you-don’t-give-me-ten-more masochistic fantasy (and the ‘ten’ here is…
Wednesday’s Video: Crazy Ancient Romans
Have you seen Crazy Rich Asians yet? I highly recommend it. It’s cute and funny, and a big ring plays an important role, which always pleases me as a jewelry designer. Anyway, my own video this week is about crazy ancient Romans (who aren’t cute and funny, but that’s okay) and one of my poison-ring…
Wednesday’s Video: Hatshepsut Locket in Action
When I did last week‘s YouTube playlist of my mechanical jewelry designs, I realized I was missing one of my classic pieces — the deceptively simple-looking Hatshepsut locket. I made this locket after an afternoon spent among the Hatshepsut artifacts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hatshepsut was an Egyptian queen who apparently proclaimed herself…