When Jessica McCormack was designing her latest high jewellery collection, Tapestry – an offering comprised of friendship bracelets glittering with diamonds, sapphires and emeralds – she had no idea that the style would become the viral accessory of the summer . “I thought it would be quite a niche collection,” she laughs. In case you’ve been living without the internet: friendship bracelets lettered with song titles have become the unofficial merch of Taylor Swift’s earthquake-generating Eras tour, worn by everyone from Selena Gomez to Sophie Turner.
Members of the team at Vogue HQ haven’t been able to resist their naive charm either; commerce writer Alice Cary even made her own with polished stones and chunky glass beads during a recent fortnight in Greece. Of course, there’s nothing DIY about McCormack’s high jewellery take on loom bands. While the New Zealand-born designer took inspiration from summers spent making friendship bracelets with her sisters as a child – their colourful strings “tied to the backs of sofa legs and the head rests of cars” – there is serious technical mastery behind her creations.
“The clasp, which is almost like a deployment buckle, took a long time to develop,” she explains. “I really wanted you to be able to take it on and off by yourself.” McCormack’s initial collection research began with the vivid patterns of mini mosaics and the woven designs of old tapestries.
While the use of pattern and colour is unusual for the jeweller – who’s just opened a pop-up space in Harrods – a focus on wearability is essential to her brand. McCormack has long pioneered the concept of daytime diamonds, and her signature Gypset earrings – delicate hoops dangling with blackened gold-set diamonds, heart-shaped sapphires and Sardinian coral – make wearing precious stones feel like a casual proposition. While the pieces in Tapestry might hark back to childhood pursuits, McCormack tapped two older models from Germany and Paris to star in the collection’s accompanying campaign.
“They denote the idea of a lifetime of friendship, and the rich tapestry of life,” she smiles. “I don’t have my family here with me in the UK, so my friends are literally my family. We always talk about the idea of living in a commune when we’re older.
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