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Welcome to MDJ Insider, a recurring column in which ELLE Accessories Director Maria Dueñas Jacobs peeks inside our favorite tastemakers' jewelry boxes to discover the pieces that inspire—and accessorize—their extraordinary lives.
When I walk into Erin Wasson's eclectic East Village loft, I'm immediately at ease. If you've ever seen Wasson's serene face staring out at you from the pages of a glossy magazine, know that she's just as calm in real life: dressed all in white, hair in messy undone waves, and barefoot, naturally.
Her sun-drenched apartment is filled with vintage and antique finds, treasures she's amassed over years of traveling. Half-melted candles and crystals adorn her mid-century modern coffee table and a jagged-edged chandelier hangs from the exposed beams in the ceiling. Each piece has its own story.
And it's that idea—that our possessions should tell a story—that is a key tenet of Wasson's new collection of fine jewelry launching this fall.
The Erin Wasson Fine Jewelry collection is comprised of pieces made of gold, silver and pearls; they're intended to be pieces you can "wear forever." This marks Erin's second jewelry line, following the success of her Low Luv line of costume jewelry, and it reflects her own personal growth. "I'm more focused now. I think naturally you have to follow the evolution of yourself. Now I'd rather buy one of something special, than a bunch of stuff that's inexpensive"
It's no surprise that this collection—full of special, personal pieces—feels a lot like Erin: cool, considered, and confident. Put simply, this is jewelry for a girl who wants to make an impression in an effortless way.
You've been a jewelry lover, collector, and designer for quite some time. Tell me a bit about your new line:
My designs, more often than not, are very architectural. Like, this piece right here is based on something from the 1950s, like a headlight of a car.
Have you always loved jewelry or is it something you grew to appreciate and love?
I remember back in the day, I'd save up my money, and go to the bead section at Michael's. I was always pulling jewelry apart, and putting it back together again. I don't know when it started, but I've always been obsessed with collecting it, and touching it, adoring it.
You've juggled modeling and designing jewelry for so many years. How did you begin and what was the first piece you ever designed?
I had designed all these little body chains for the second collection that I styled for Alexander Wang's show. The first collection, I just used my personal jewelry on the runway on the girls. Then Alex said, "What do you think about just making something?" So in between doing fittings on the girls, I was literally working with a mannequin in the studio with Alex, putting together these diamond chains—well, I was sort of putting the chains together, and then sending them off to have them soldered together in a factory. It was weird, because I remember somebody coming up to me backstage, and doing a story, and being like, "Well what's this new jewelry collection?"
That's wonderful that it happened unplanned and naturally. How did it evolve?
I did the diamond body chains for about a year and sold them exclusively to Maxfield's in the beginning. Then I just had an opportunity with costume jewelry. I loved the idea, and it was at the time that I was doing RVCA. So the marriage of the demographic was important to me. Here I was selling sort of street wear through RVCA, but the diamond body chains were retailing for like $9,000—[it was] such a different demographic. Then I met [jeweler] Pascal Mouawad and I obviously liked the price point, and I liked the idea of being able to design more pieces. But then after seven years of that, just pumping SKUs out, it starts to hinder you. I was doing upwards of 120 to 150 pieces every year. Spring, summer, fall, winter, and then a holiday collection. I reached a point where I wanted to go back to precious stones, and metals. I wanted to start doing collections that were smaller, more focused.
When I started out doing costume jewelry, my aesthetic was different. I was in a different phase in my life. I think naturally you've got to follow the evolution of yourself. Now I'd rather buy one of something special than a lot of stuff that's inexpensive.
When it comes to your own personal jewelry collection would you say it is mostly comprised of gifts or pieces you've purchased?
Both. Just recently, my mother gave me a beautiful ring that my grandmother had left for me when she passed away. When I turned 13 and became a teenager my mom gave me these little diamond studs. Like a coming of age [gift]. That's obviously so much of the romance of jewelry
I don't have a problem purchasing things that I know are going to be with me for life. Like, it's not a trend piece, it's not something that's just "of the moment." I can literally look at it and be like, "I will be wearing this piece for the rest of my life."
I think it's nice, if you're a woman, if you work really hard, and if you go in [to a store], and you know jewelry and it speaks to you then you should buy it.
I agree and it's empowering! You don't have to wait around for someone to give it to you.
Precisely! Precisely. It's funny, because I've always worn rings on all four of my fingers, and people are like, "Are you engaged?" And I'm like, "To myself!"
Lets go over a little bit of the things that you're wearing. Do they have any personal stories? I noticed you wear your watch turned inwards?
I tell time like that. It just feels right, underneath like that. It took me a long time to warm up to the idea of wearing a watch. The idea of time ticking away on my body was a really strange thing for me to wrap my head around. This was a gift from a lovely man. It's an old piece.
This ring is from one of my favorite jewelers—he's an Austin jeweler, named Nak Armstrong. I love the idea that it's sort of something precious, but it looks like you may have dropped it in the garbage disposal.
This ring I bought as a celebration gift, when I was living in New Orleans shooting a film (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer). On my days off, I'd go all up and down the corridors in the French Quarter. There was this antique store, and I remember I'd looked at this ring, like, three times because I love signet rings. So when we finally wrapped after four months, I was like, "That's going to be the ring that's going to celebrate the fact that I played a vampire for four months of my life."
That's what's so amazing about jewelry! That you can look at something, and you have that memory.
Absolutely! I liked that idea of personal celebration. When you're marking a time—I either get a tattoo or I buy a piece of jewelry.
Tell me about your jewelry style, do you accessorize according to outfits or do you have a uniform of sorts?
At this point in my life, I'm a creature of habit. I wear the exact same pieces of jewelry, pretty much every day. I'll change out maybe a bracelet, or add a necklace. But this necklace, these rings, and these hoops in my ears never leave my body. Whereas, I used to take a whole Mr. T mentality to my approach of jewelry, where I was literally 12 bangles on each wrist, I had like four rings on every finger, I was like a crazy, crazy pirate.
But one of the nice things about jewelry is that unlike clothing you're not forced to purge because it doesn't take up too much space. You can put it away, then maybe a year, or a few weeks from now, you might decide to wear it.
I think that for me, being in the fashion industry, permanence was never something that was a part of my lifestyle. I remember being asked to take off everything, every time I went to work. What if I could wear that ring every day of my life, and never have to take it off? Again, tattoos and jewelry—I like the idea of permanence.
