Aerin Lauder on the Jewels That Made History
“Dress!?” This is something you see often on Aerin Lauder’s Instagram. Sometimes followed by “Earrings!?” Because the first thing you want to buy from Lauder’s seven-year-old lifestyle company is every single piece she has on. “I like to keep things simple,” she told T&C when she launched Aerin with a tasteful makeup palette and a few giftable items in 2012 after 25 years of working at her family’s company.
The business she has built is anything but simple, with three stores, frequent pop-ups, constant collaborations (this month it’s Blazé Milano, LoveShackFancy, and Brent Neale jewelry), and products in areas ranging from home to beauty to fashion.
But a classic sense of discretion still reigns in her style. There are Prada cropped black pants and Manolo pumps and Chloé blouses and Valentino floral prints, yes, but there are also the small independent designers she finds all over the world and sells online and in Aerin stores, dresses from Soler and Vita Kin originals, suede ballet flats, Venetian velvet slippers, Johanna Ortiz pareos, Rafe clutches.
Who’s afraid to wear pearls?
Equating pearls with grandmothers and staid pink cardigans is a vast miscalculation. See the power of multiple strands on Queen Elizabeth I in her Armada Portrait, a female leader proclaiming victory wearing a dress of gold thread and mollusks in the extreme. Or note the haute bohemian Marisa Berenson in this photo taken by Gianni Penati for Vogue in 1970, in which she’s standing, arms akimbo, with Japanese cultured pearls draped casually down her back.
How to match a diamond
The suite, earrings and matching necklace worn together, has lost favor in recent years—“too matchy-matchy,” they would say—but we hear it’s making a comeback: The collective power of all those perfectly paired stones worn together is undeniable. Perhaps the secret, as this 1968 Francesco Scavullo portrait of Gloria Vanderbilt, who died last year at 95, makes clear, is wearing it all against bare skin, as if the diamonds were just a natural part of who you are.
Lauder’s instinct for simplicity extends to jewelry, where a bit of family tradition comes into it, wisdom passed down through generations. “Estée always told me less is more—more is not always better,” Lauder says, invoking her grandmother. “One statement piece of jewelry is all you need. I still follow that rule today. I’ve been buying Sabba earrings,” she says, referring to the Paris-based superjeweler known for one-of-a-kind pieces. “A great pair of earrings and my wedding band is all I need.” In the interest of replying to every “Jewelry?!” comment on her feed, we asked her to identify a few other treasures from the vault.
Turquoise, taos, and Diamonds
She owned some of the most iconic jewelry pieces of the 20th century: the Boivin Starfish, the Flato Ruby Heart, the Verdura Ray brooch. And Standard Oil heiress Millicent Rogers never hesitated to pair them with the Navajo jewelry she became known for when she moved to Taos after breaking up with Clark Gable. She is seen here in a Charles James blouse wearing diamonds and turquoise—a bold and highly personal combination— photographed at the Taos Museum by Louise Dahl-Wolfe for Harper’s Bazaar in 1948.
THE INHERITANCE
The day I was born Estée gave my mother a pair of Buccellati diamond and pearl earrings, which my mother just recently gave to me. Diamonds are my birthstone, and these earrings are a very special and meaningful tradition. I still wear them today, on my birthday and for special occasions.”
THE FAMILY MEMENTO
My mother started a charm bracelet for me when I was a little girl, and every time we went on a trip she would add a charm that we bought on that visit. I still love charm bracelets.”
Golden serpents and emerald crocs only
There are just a few necklaces that could be deemed jewelry royalty: Marie-Louise’s diamond collar from Napoleon, the Maharaja of Patiala’s bib, the Duchess of Windsor’s Zip, and, of course, the one made by Cartier in 1975 to resemble two crocodiles—using 1,023 yellow diamonds, 1,060 emeralds, and two cabochon rubies—for Mexican actress María Félix (seen here in Venice in 1959). Félix’s necklace was based on her pet croc—she even brought it into the store to make sure. That necklace is now owned by the Cartier Collection, but Félix’s influence, in jewelry and exotic pets, is alive everywhere.
THE GIFT
When my first child was born, my husband gave me a pair of green Verdura beads. I still have them and always think about that special moment in my life. I also have a silver heart ring from Tiffany’s from my older son, Jack. My mother made the mistake of taking him to Tiffany’s when he was a little boy, and he had a temper tantrum because he wanted to get me a sapphire ring. Instead she took him up to the silver floor, and he got me this.”
A radical theory of bangles
The patron saint of rebel heiresses, Nancy Cunard (of the Cunard Line fortune) supported Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and Zora Neale Hurston, condemned racism and fascism, and famously wore a trouser suit and a top hat to a formal ball in 1924. She was not afraid of backlash or criticism from her family—or of wearing too many bangles.
THE DISCOVERY
Jewelry is a strong category for us within our lifestyle concept. We have done collaborations with Mercedes Salazar and Rebecca de Ravenel. I was the first to launch Rebecca’s famous Les Bonbons earrings, and we were her first big partner. It makes me smile when I see the success of her business. We have also done some beautiful, iconic pieces for our brand, which are inspired by vintage design, such as our Agneta necklace.”
How to shop for a ruby
“Ari’s understanding of women comes out of a Van Cleef catalog,” Maria Callas said of her great love, Aristotle Onassis. He knew his way around Cartier, too. As did she. Callas’s collection of jewelry was as voluptuous as her legendary soprano. “Where did it all go?” is the first question you might ask after reading the book Maria by Callas (Assouline). The answer involves a former husband, an estranged mother, and a mysterious nurse. When a small selection of her jewels was at Sotheby’s in 2004, the seller was anonymous.
Hair by Yoichi Tomizawa at Art Department. Makeup by Karina Montoya. Nails by Bethany Newell. Tailoring by Yasmine Oezelli. Set design by Todd Wiggins at the Magnet Agency.
This story appears in the February 2020 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
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