The return of the lapel pin: Lily Gabriella’s Miami Vice nod | Wallpaper

A 1980s sartorial classic gets a precious Miami Vice spin in Lily Gabriella’s new high jewellery design

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‘I had wanted to design a high jewellery piece for men for a while, and I thought about my brothers. What would they wear? Would they like something bright, or would they go a bit more, you know, subtle?’ When she first came upon the magnificent cushion-cut grey spinel that now reigns supreme in her latest high jewellery design, Lily Gabriella initially tended towards the quieter option.

‘Grey is a very chic shade,' says the Mayfair-based Brazilian designer. ‘It goes with everything. Spinels, of course, come in so many colours, but grey is hard to come by, and I was really taken by the strong shape and translucent qualities of this one. Grey can be dark or moody, but even considering its substantial weight (7.34ct), this stone feels light and smoky.' With the stone in place, Gabriella started thinking about the jewel design.

The ‘Memphis Pin’. Lapel pins are becoming the jewel of choice for event dressing

A flick through her collection of art-history books found the designer homing in on colour and form. ‘I noticed that grey was often used as a neutral to offset contrasting colours in art deco architecture, when it was paired with green, blue, and also pink. Then I came upon photographs of Miami's art deco at night.'

Lily Gabriella's sketches reveal the design's various possibilities

The idea of using lapis lazuli presented itself, and Gabriella's creative outlook brightened. 'Its vibrant, blue hue just feels very deco to me, and that made me think about all that South Beach neon, the Miami Vice movie and the 1980s TV show, when slim pins, on ties or on lapels, were a big trend.'

Lily Gabriella, photographed at her atelier in London's Burlington Arcade

The jewellery design, to which Gabriella has given the working title ‘Memphis Pin’, sees its rare, white-gold-set gem teetering over a gold-flecked crescent of lapis lazuli, cut through with a tiny track of gold, invisibly set with pink sapphires.

‘I am a stickler for detail, but I don’t enjoy perfection’

It reflects a wider shift in the men’s fine jewellery revival, now tending towards the reserved proportions of vintage styles. You might see it as a natural reaction to the lumbering cluster brooches and heavy pearls that permeated film-awards seasons a couple of years ago. At this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards, actor Jeremy Allen White’s demure Tiffany & Co diamond 'Bird on a Rock' brooch, with its one pink sapphire, delicately pinned to his cream YSL suit, was a fine example.

'Memphis Pin‘, in white and yellow gold, with 7.34ct grey spinel, lapis lazuli, and invisibly set pink sapphires

Gabriella’s sleek ‘Memphis Pin’ ups the style game: 'I wanted to do something modern and clean, with not too much stuff on it, things hanging off, or rows of diamonds, or anything like that. Maybe that came from the architectural references I was looking at. The deco buildings in New York, for instance, used the half-crescent shape at their edges.’

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Perhaps that’s why her sizeable spinel sits on the cusp of its lush, lapis half-moon, because, despite all the symmetry, that central stone is not, well, central. ‘It’s a bit off balance,’ Gabriella admits. ‘I am a stickler for detail, obviously, but I don’t enjoy perfection, so I thought I’d have a go at challenging gravity with this big, square spinel. I liked the idea of being a little playful, because I think this is one of my favourite stones that I've ever worked with.’

Lily Gabriella Fine Jewellery, 73 Burlington Arcade, London W1J 0QR

Lilygabriella.com

Caragh McKay is a contributing editor at Wallpaper* and was watches & jewellery director at the magazine between 2011 and 2019. Caragh’s current remit is cross-cultural and her recent stories include the curious tale of how Muhammad Ali met his poetic match in Robert Burns and how a Martin Scorsese Martin film revived a forgotten Osage art.

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