| It’s More than Just Relative
Cousin Claudine jewelry is undoubtedly
quite regal. Tourmaline, turquoise, garnet, quartz, peridot, amethyst,
blue topaz, iolite and apetite are woven with sterling silver or
14K gold-filled wires into delicate but bold chandelier and embellished
hoop earrings, pendants and earrings that look as good on the red
carpet as they do with blue jeans. The sparkling, feminine palate
will probably remind you of classic French Impressionist paintings,
while the silhouettes of the jewelry are at once vintage and modern.
However, the inspiration for the company’s name had its own
gilded twist. Drescher, a cousin of actress Fran
Drescher, started her business by designing bridal headpieces.
When she wanted to expand her line into things women could wear
everyday, cousin Fran was only too happy to help by wearing her
pieces out and about. When people asked Fran who designed her exquisite
jewels, she replied “Cousin Claudine,” giving the impression
that was the name of the company itself. And it stuck. Though Claudine,
like her cousin, has a cheerful energy and sense of humor, she takes
her customers’ happiness very seriously.
“I honor how hard people work for
the money, so whenever somebody spends money on a pair of earrings
or a necklace, I do not take it lightly,” she says
whole-heartedly. “I really want people to be really in love
with what they are buying now and five years from now. When I create
a specific piece, I am inspired by the stones themselves, because
there is nothing more beautiful than taking these things from nature,
encasing them in gold or silver metal and turning them into something
that will help a woman communicate, ‘this is who I am!’
I don’t believe a piece should be about itself, but something
that adds to the natural beauty of the wearer. It is all about empowering
a woman rather than overpowering her.”
Drescher is so confident about her vision that she passed up a
scholarship to a prestigious law school to bring it to life. Although
she studied at Hunter College and the Fashion Institute of Technology,
she prides herself in the fact that she had no formal training in
jewelry design…something she says liberated and empowered
her to build her design concepts and business on her own terms.
“I am not constrained by notions of what I can and cannot
do,” she notes. “If there is something I want to design
that I have not tried before, I simply figure out a way to do it,
and thereby develop my own techniques, which are then passed on
and taught to my design team of ten talented women in our ‘lab.’
I never give up, even when a challenge arises, there is always a
new way to do something.”
Just as Drescher aims to make her jewelry wardrobe staples, she
finds herself inspired by Ralph Lauren, who built his career on
making classic garments fresh, new and sexy every season, Donna
Karan for her business acumen and for using her influence in part
for many charitable and community-based causes, and her Mom, for
teaching her how fashion could be used by women as a positive tool
to express themselves in a variety of ways. Women who have found
themselves illuminated by Cousin Claudine’s treasures, meanwhile,
include cousin Fran, as well as
Debra Messing, Katie
Couric, Kelly Ripa, and
Molly Sims. Stores housing Cousin
Claudine locally include Fred Segal,
Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman
Marcus, Nordstrom’s,
Anthropologie, and Bloomingdales.
A new web presence, meanwhile, is in the works—but you can
see some of Drescher’s designs at
This week, one lucky Book L.A. reader
will win a pair of __________ earings.
|
