On Duchess of CambridgeDenmark’s solo tour last week, she won applause for her combination of high class and high street fashion, combining a gray dress with a Catherine Walker coat (£ 3,000) and a Mulberry bag (£ 1,095), for example, with a stunning but relatively modest pearl necklace. Monica Vinader (£ 120).
Monica Vinader jewelry is what is known as “semi-fine” – somewhere between ultra-expensive fine jewelry and cheaper jewelry – and for a duchess who could be draped from head to toe with “correct” jewelry every day of the week. it felt a lot like a statement. Stylish, but not scary.
This isn’t the first time Kate has shown her appreciation for the Norfolk-based jewelry designer. In 2014, she wore Monica Riva’s diamond earrings and necklace to an evening gala at the Natural History Museum.
Monica Vinader prepares to boost demand for pearl necklaces after the Duchess of Cambridge (pictured) wore her brand during a solo tour of Denmark last week
Kate’s Denmark effect: Nura necklace for £ 120 and £ 125 wire earrings
Rather sweet, Monica had no idea until the next day. “I was sitting in a cafe in Florence, and my friend said, ‘Oh, the Duchess of Cambridge looks amazing in the papers. Isn’t this your necklace? Naturally, the earrings and necklace sold out right away. “It was an amazing moment,” she tells me.
Thanks to the “Kate effect” – and, Monica insists, that of other celebrities – sales have increased. Without a doubt, Monica is now preparing for a trip to Denmark in search of pearl necklaces.
Although she heads a very successful company – with sales of £ 57 million in the year to July 2021 – 53-year-old Monica has always followed her instinct and not slavishly to follow fashion trends. She creates designs for busy modern women who know their own tastes and are not bound by tradition – a bit like Kate.
“As an independent working woman, I wanted to be able to buy jewelry for myself,” says Monica. I didn’t expect anyone to buy it for me.
In fact, her pieces – ranging from £ 42 for a neat ring to £ 895 for a diamond-encrusted cuff – often function as a secret weapon for wealthy women who want to look modest and affordable. Claudia Schiffer often wore cheaper items during school, and Kate wears the brand over and over again, from Zoom calls to public engagements and family days. In Denmark, the pearl pendant necklace reappeared during a visit to the Center for Early Intervention and Family at the University of Copenhagen, used to brighten up another elegant casual outfit – a Balmain-inspired red Zara tweed blazer paired with a pie cut.
Monica explained that her jewelry was designed with busy modern women buying their own jewelry. Pictured: The Duchess of Cambridge wearing the stamp
Elegant: Wear Riva diamond earrings for £ 745 and a £ 2,000 necklace in 2014.
For Monica, the fundamental principle was to find a way to make the pieces look condescendingly authentic, but without the price of a small car. This meant giving up pure gold and silver and still somehow reproducing the same gorgeous color and tone.
“Women didn’t want to ask their husbands for permission to buy anything,” she said. “But that rich gold was the kind they wanted.”
Her masterful stroke reminded her of a 19th-century technique called gold vermeel, which used a thick gold plating to give silver the same luster as the real thing.
My city friend thought we were crazy, starting in a recession
Following a goldsmith in Spain with the right equipment, she began experimenting. “I realized that I was able to reach many women without compromising on quality and design,” she said. “It’s a more democratic way of looking at jewelry.”
Fans of her rose gold cocktail rings with semi-precious stones, diamond earrings and bib necklaces today include models Bella Hadid and Elle McPherson, Poldark actress Eleanor Tomlinson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Megan, Duchess of Sussex. Even England football manager Gareth Southgate is wearing his friendship bracelet with the “lucky” MV (£ 140, best-selling for Monica) at the 2021 European Championships.
Monica (pictured), who launched her brand in 2008, took out a £ 250,000 loan against her parents’ house after banks refused to grant money.
In her light and spacious studio, wearing a navy blue blazer and jeans and her trademark necklaces, Monica looks seamlessly stylish. She, alas, is extremely discreet (she never spoke publicly about Kate). Friendship – and sisterhood, literally – are at the heart of the business.
She started at the kitchen table in the teeth of the recession in 2008. Monica had a new baby – Scarlett, now 14 – and sold at craft fairs and from her living room.
Her sister Gabby, meanwhile, was head of Amazon’s consumer electronics department and helped with the strange VAT refund. But as the fledgling venture began to grow, Gabby agreed to work for the brand full-time. “Having a women’s company run by women was important to us,” says Monica.
When banks refused to give them money in 2009, she took out a £ 250,000 loan against her parents’ house (which she later repaid). “My friends in town thought we were crazy when we started in recession, but we had a beautiful product at an affordable price. And people still needed a treat.
They started selling at The Conran Shop, Paul Smith and Liberty. Gabby designed the website and in 2009 they opened their first store on South Molton Street in London.
Monica said cutting their own stones gives the brand a very handmade feel. Pictured: The Duchess of Cambridge wearing the brand in 2016
Understated: Kate wears Siren earrings for £ 120 with a £ 70 pendant in 2016.
Monica’s studio is housed in a converted barn complex at Holcomb Hall, the seat of the Earl of Leicester in the 18th century. It is not far from Anmer, where Kate and William live in Norfolk. Today, there are Monica Vinader boutiques in London, Hong Kong, New York and Singapore, and it is stocked with Selfridges, Liberty, John Lewis and Farfetch.
However, she still uses the same family gemstone cutters in Jaipur. “We cut our own stones from the beginning – this gives our jewelry a feeling of being very handmade. It is literally touched by 1000 thumbs. My sister and I swore that we would never compromise on integrity, no matter how great we were.
Many songs have a story behind them. Her Alta Capture bracelet, £ 295, with its tightly knit chains, is inspired by the thick harness chains she saw in Seville, for example. “We are really sweating from the details. “Will anyone notice a millimeter in the bracelet, up or down?” But I believe in proportion.
Although online sales are now ahead of stores, it was important for her to launch a new flagship store in Duke of York Square on London’s iconic King’s Road last year with an ear piercing studio.
She loves to see different generations wearing the same songs. Her teenage daughter, “who has 20 piercings on almost every ear,” loves to wear her thick gold-plated Doina bracelet just as much as working mothers and ladies who dine. Or even future queens on this issue.