Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog

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Wendy Brandes Jewelry in July’s W Magazine

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Big thanks to stylist Marie-Amelie Sauve for using my Matilda sword earrings for the “Double Edge” feature in the July 2012 issue of W magazine. The shots combine edgy accessories — including incredible shoes — with pretty pastels. The earrings are used throughout the whole spread, so there are six great photos of the Matildas being worn with clothes by designers/design houses including Marc Jacobs and Balenciaga. Here is the picture from page 63.

Photo by Craig McDean for W.

My Matilda earrings are 18K gold. Each one is set with two sapphires and one rose-cut diamond.

Matilda sword earrings. $15,000. One pair in stock. Click to purchase.

The Matilda design was inspired by the 12th-century’s Empress Matilda, one of my favorite ass-kicking royal ladies.  She’s right up there with Empress Wu and Elizabeth I for me. I wrote three posts about Matilda in 2008.

Before I did the earrings, I made a Matilda sword necklace.

Matilda sword necklace. $14,000. Click to purchase.

Here’s how it looks on model Tina J.

Click to see more photos of model Tina J.

One of the special things about the Matilda necklace is that there’s no “front” or “back” side for the pendant. I set two sapphires and one rose-cut diamond on each side. No matter which way the pendant turns, gems will show. But the most special aspect of the Matilda necklace is that the 18K white-gold sword pulls out of the 18K yellow-gold scabbard.

This is how it looks when you take the sword out of the scabbard.

A lot of my jewelry designs have a “surprise!” element to them.  I like hidden diamonds, stones that flip over, and pendants that twist into new shapes. It can be a challenge to make mechanical pieces that will stand the test of time; some designs with moving parts have taken me a year or more to perfect. But I think women are very complicated, so my jewelry represents that.

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Comments

  1. Congrats! Marie-Amelie is my favourite stylist. She always finds the right pieces to mix and match.

    I’m confused though. Is there a third cover of W? I’ve only seen Joan Smalls and Karlie Kloss.

    • Ah ha ha ha ha! You’re right, I’m an idiot, the Beyonce pics I was scanning for another post were from People magazine’s “Most Beautiful” issue from weeks and weeks ago!

  6. Hi my dear!! congratulations indeed, the earrings are just stunning and I’m adoring the scabbard on the necklace, totally amazing xxx

  7. Ha, my anti-spam was medieval! Congrats on your Matilda earrings being featured in W. I also love the sword.Your designs are unique and genius!