Kiki McDonough: ‘They feel like the ultimate power jewel’
The British jeweller Kiki McDonough dazzles with a new collection of cocktail rings in bold, brightly coloured gems. By Jessica Diamond
The jeweller Kiki McDonough remembers going to the ballet for the first time aged four. “My mother took me to see The Sleeping Beauty,” she says from her Sloane Square boutique. “I was completely entranced. Every year it was my Christmas treat.”
An annual tradition has since grown into a lifelong passion; McDonough is not only a trustee of the New English Ballet Theatre and the proud owner of a pair of Margot Fonteyn’s ballet shoes from a 1964 production of Giselle (danced with Rudolf Nureyev, of course), but the aesthetics of the art form have informed her jewellery designs too.
“I remember seeing another production of The Sleeping Beauty about 25 years ago and the spring fairy was wearing a pale blue tutu with a green satin corset and I thought: why can’t this palette be translated into jewellery? So, I made a pair of double oval-cut earrings in blue topaz and green peridot and from day one they were incredibly popular,” McDonough says.
McDonough founded her brand in 1985 after a friend asked her to design some modern pieces for his antique jewellery shop. She was reluctant at first but her easy, wearable style in pretty pastel shades quickly took off.
“I used to have to schlep around all the gemstone fairs in the early days, now I’m lucky that my favourite dealers come to see me,” she says.
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Interchangeable drop earrings, diamond hoops and double oval studs in an array of colours have remained her staple. Fans include, famously, the Princess of Wales, who’s thought to own more than 20 individual pieces, and the Queen. “I’m so pleased that both of them love wearing my jewellery,” she says.
For her latest 23-piece cocktail ring collection, Jazz, McDonough has turned to dance again, this time to the 1974 neoclassical ballet Elite Syncopations with music by Scott Joplin and costumes by Ian Spurling. “I first saw it 35 years ago and it’s one of the ballets I absolutely love. Every season I’ll go twice, it just makes me smile,” she says.
Unsurprisingly, the bright costumes are a mine of inspiration for McDonough. Spurling’s multicoloured leotards with their unusual clashing palette and a mass of pattern make an easy translation into gemstones and the showy scale of the cocktail style. “I’ve done a couple of large rings in the past and they were successful, but I didn’t do any more. Now it feels like the right time,” she says.
The collection is a riot of colour with juxtaposed gemstones a key signature — an orangey red fire opal of more than 5 carats is mixed with the soft blues of topaz, a pale green beryl of more than 4.5 carats is set with deep purple amethyst and diamond accents. In one white gold ring a huge green tourmaline of more than 11 carats is paired with pink tourmalines. Settings for all are chunky but soft with the corners of the gold gently rounded.
For McDonough the whole aesthetic is a move away from her signature pretty pastels into a bolder, more punchy style. “I hope women will come in and fall in love with them and buy one for themselves; they feel to me like the ultimate power jewel. And, of course, once they start going to new homes it means I can make some more,” she says.
Jazz, from £3,500; kiki.co.uk
