Latest news with #KikiMcDonough
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE How Kate Middleton's beloved Royal jeweller transcended the gemstone industry with the help of Princess Diana and Queen Camilla
Kiki has been with Kate since the beginning, even before the now Princess of Wales became a member of the British Royal Family. But it was in fact the previous Princess of Wales, Diana, who was the first royal to put Kiki McDonough on the map - wearing a pair of iconic earrings, and at The White House no less! Kiki McDonough has royal clientèle in her blood; her father, Robin Axford, was a director at Harvey & Gore, an antique jeweller based in the Burlington Arcade, to whom Queen Mary, perhaps the Royal Family's most prolific purchaser of jewels, frequented. It is four decades since Kiki, having previously worked at Vogue for 18 months as a fashion assistant and in the warehouse of a leather goods company, started designing for jeweller Nigel Milne on Grafton Street. Not long after the launch of her first collection as a partner of Nigel Milne, Sarah Ferguson wore a pair of Kiki's heart earrings for an official engagement photo with Prince Andrew. A few months later as the Duchess of York, she arrived in Bordeaux wearing a pair of onyx heart and bow earrings and a pearl and onyx heart necklace - it was the summer of 1986 and the duchess was still glowing from her royal wedding only weeks earlier. Indeed Sarah Ferguson had gone to Kiki for jewellery not long after her engagement to Prince Andrew, as she was thrown into official engagements from the get-go, and was not yet able to be leant jewels from the Queen's collection. Sarah was to become the first of many British royals to wear Kiki McDonough's colourful jewels on both private and public occasions - culminating in the most regal of all - the Coronation of King Charles III. Sarah Ferguson wore Kiki earrings in the shape of hearts for her engagement announcement In her recently published biographical coffee table book, celebrating forty fabulous years as a jeweller and businesswoman, we discover that Kiki was one of the first fine jewellers to branch away from the traditional cardinal gemstones of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. From the beginning she ingeniously embraced amethysts and aquamarines, tanzanites and tourmalines - and for Diana, the then Princess of Wales, this may have been another step in paving her own path through the rigours of royal life. Always known for breaking the boundaries of the traditional princess protocol - with off-the-shoulder and one-shoulder dresses, hemlines above the knee; she also shook-up royal jewels by wearing Queen Mary's emerald choker as a bandeau, as well as her own Saudi sapphire choker. So it is not surprising that she found Kiki's colourful designs a breath of fresh air and in 1990 on a State Visit to the USA, she wore a pair of pearl and amethyst earrings to the White House. A photo from this engagement was on the cover of Hello magazine, amongst many other publications - and the earrings subsequently sold out! Kiki writes in her book that Kate has been a 'great help in the evolution of the brand' Indeed the story of the former Princess of Wales waiting outside the jeweller's first standalone store, on Elizabeth Street in Belgravia, is legendary: Kiki was making a cup of coffee and thought that a builder was joking when he told her that the princess was about to take the handle off the door - she seemed so keen to enter! He wasn't, joking that is! But it is Kate, the current Princess of Wales, who has been her most successful royal patron with (according to several sources) at least 20 pieces in a rainbow array of colours. As Kate Middleton - it was on her first royal engagement in February 2011 that we saw the future queen wear Kiki McDonough earrings to a lifeboat naming ceremony in Anglesey, Wales. In her book, A Life of Colour, the jeweller admits that Kate, has been "a great help in the evolution of the brand". Indeed I think she might well have a pair of earrings to match every single outfit in her wardrobe in every colourway possible! Kiki's design for Queen Camilla's Coronation is created with 18 carat white gold and set with diamonds, designed in the form of the Queen's cypher - with C (Camilla) and R (Regina) intertwined, with a crown above In recent years we have also seen Queen Camilla wearing pendant jewels from her daughter in law's favourite jeweller. Perhaps Kiki McDonough's most official royal commission however was from Buckingham Palace in early 2023: the creation of a cypher brooch for Her Majesty Queen Camilla and her Companions, to be worn at the Coronation on May 6th 2023. The jewel is created in 18 carat white gold and set with diamonds, designed in the form of the Queen's cypher - with C (Camilla) and R (Regina) intertwined, with a crown above. Of course, Kiki is more than just a jeweller to royals, my son has a pair of exquisite enamel and gold cufflinks that were given to him by his godmother. She is also a brilliant businesswoman – who inspires new generations of jewellers every day. Kiki McDonough: A Life of Colour: 40 Years of Gemstone Jewellery available on Amazon at £49.99
Times
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
The hottest jewellery for the new season
Messika's effortlessly cool-girl diamonds have been spotted on the likes of Kate Moss, Beyoncé and Gigi Hadid. For the maison's 20th anniversary, the Parisian brand has reworked two of its most celebrated designs and reimagined them with a chiselled-gold finish in the Move Ciselé collection of rings and bracelets. The effect? A lustrous soft sheen that highlights the signature diamonds even more. From £2,000; This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue Renowned for her colourful pieces, Kiki McDonough is celebrating 40 years of her brand this month with the Everyday Gold collection, inspired by her rings from the Eighties. The chunky designs are set with vividly coloured stones and the collection, featuring seven rings, bracelets and teardrop studs, is made to be worn together. Twisted ring in yellow gold, fire opal, blue topaz and amethyst, £2,900, and oval ring in yellow gold, blue topaz and lavender amethyst, £3,200; Fope has been on a mission to make fine jewellery flexible since it was established in 1929: its groundbreaking Flex'it technology of tiny springs is embedded into several of the house's ultra-stretchy pieces. New for 2025 is a contemporary lariat necklace from the Aria collection, made of its thinnest mesh yet. Available in white, yellow or rose gold, it has pavé diamond clasps that slide up and down the chain for multiple styling options. £17,620; Nathalie Verdeille, Tiffany & Co's chief artistic officer, takes us under the sea for the brand's annual Blue Book collection. The high jewellery creations are inspired by sketches from the legendary designer Jean Schlumberger's archives. Two pieces stand out: a necklace in which green cuprian elbaite tourmalines echo the ripple of a wave; and a diamond sea turtle pendant that transforms into a statement brooch. Turtle pendant in platinum, yellow gold, diamonds and sapphires, POA, and wave necklace in white and yellow gold, tourmalines and diamonds, POA; Like the pearl necklace or the tennis bracelet, the hoop earring, below, is a jewellery staple. Buccellati's four new creations take this classic and give it a serious diamond tweak. Choose Rombi for its fan-shaped edge; Macri for its superluxe gold texture; Étoilée for old-school glamour; or Tulle for a delicate white-gold lace effect. Étoilée collection hoop earrings in yellow and white gold and diamonds, £12,000; Worn by everyone from Coco Chanel to Jackie O and Jay-Z to JLo, classic gold chains have been around for decades and come in many iterations. In an unusual move, Graff — best known for its exceptional gemstones and parures — has launched a small chain collection of a necklace, bracelet and earrings. Be Together, above, has supersized yellow-gold links set with alternating loops of pavé diamonds, while the inside of each loop is set with white gold for a modern twist. POA;
Daily Mail
15-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
RUTH SUNDERLAND: First female Chancellor has lack of affinity with wealth-creating women
Our first female Chancellor Rachel Reeves is desperate for growth. She knows it is the best hope to dig herself and the rest of us out of a doom loop of ever higher national debt and taxes to try to pay for a way of life and welfare provision the country cannot afford. One source of huge growth potential that remains largely untapped is female entrepreneurs. If female founders set up and grew businesses at the same rate as men, it would boost the economy by as much as £250billion, according to the Invest in Women Taskforce, which aims to do what it says on the tin. I have been privileged to interview some brilliant female entrepreneurs, including most recently Kiki McDonough who has run her eponymous jewellery business for 40 years and is highly critical of Reeves. For every success story, however, countless women quietly fall by the wayside. The biggest problem is simple: money. Banks no longer discriminate, at least not openly, when it comes to loans, as was the case with McDonough earlier in her career. The problem is further up the chain when start-ups want to scale up. It is a particular challenge for female founders who are starved of capital. Female-led firms received a derisory 1.8 per cent or £145m of equity investment in the first half of last year. That actually went backwards, from 2.5 per cent the previous year. Female investors are far more likely to invest in female founders than male ones, but there are not that many of them. Women remain thin on the ground in the upper levels of venture capital and private equity. The Invest in Women Taskforce, therefore, is trying to increase the number of female 'angel' investors – wealthy individuals who back early stage companies. It is also setting up a new 'Women backing Women' fund to channel capital to female-led firms. Equity investor BGF (British Growth Fund) has committed £300m to a funding pool. A decade or so ago there was a similar drive for more women in company boardrooms. Although parity is a long way off, female representation has improved dramatically. We now have some excellent female CEOs in the FTSE 100, including Amanda Blanc at Aviva and Emma Walmsley at GSK. Debbie Crosbie, who has just been awarded a damehood, flies the flag at Nationwide Building Society. The hope is that could be replicated with female entrepreneurs, but it is a battle that needs to be fought over and over again. Women are particularly under-represented within tech and AI entrepreneurship, where there is huge fundraising going on. There is a real danger the language of the future is being written by men, for men. Investing in women's businesses is not about inclusion, diversity or charity, it is about making the most of talent and the widest possible opportunities available to investors. Reeves could have been a powerful role model. In fairness, she has given her backing to the taskforce. But her moves so far have been anti-entrepreneurial to the hilt. Raising employer National Insurance Contributions is a deterrent to firms hiring staff, which in turn is a brake on their growth. It also hits women particularly hard because they are over-represented in the retail sector, where the measure has had most effect. Reeves is hamstrung by her tribal Labour instinct to pander to the public sector and her lack of affinity with wealth-creating entrepreneurs, even when these are other women.
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
It's great to have a female Chancellor - just not this one!, says jeweller Kiki McDonough
Kiki McDonough's status as a successful businesswoman would have come as a surprise to her father, her teachers and at least one bank manager. It even seems to slightly surprise Kiki herself, who has the air of an accidental entrepreneur. Her eponymous jewellery brand, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this summer, is worn by the Princess of Wales and the Queen. She is invited to give her views on business and the economy on high-profile TV programmes, including Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, where she lambasted the Labour Government. McDonough, who turns 71 this month, started her business in the heady 1980s when Mrs Thatcher was in Downing Street and women were storming the City and setting up businesses of their own. 'Unless you were there you can't understand how extraordinary it was to have the first woman Prime Minister,' she says. 'She pushed her way through the old school network. There were so many entitled men. I knew some of them.' She has considerably less admiration for the country's first female occupant of No 11 Downing Street, Rachel Reeves. 'It's great to have a female Chancellor but unfortunately this one... it hasn't worked as well as we would have liked. Being the first woman chancellor and to have screwed up,' she says, referring to the increases in employer National Insurance Contributions. 'These tax changes Labour has brought in – it is completely counterproductive. If you want business to succeed you don't pile on a lot of hurdles and barriers. They spread doom and gloom like butter, and once you have done that, it is very hard to unspread it. Rumour has it Reeves might take more taxes in the next Budget. She shouldn't be spending so much.' McDonough started her business when a family friend, Nigel Milne, asked her to design modern jewellery for his shop in Mayfair. Until then, she had been a secretary, including for David Stirling, the founder of the SAS, having left school as soon as she could because lessons bored her. Though her father had an antique jewellery shop, she says she knew nothing about the business, adding: 'But I was young and you just go for it. I'm not much of a feminist but I priced my jewellery between £95 and £950 as women were starting to earn more, to make their own decisions and buy their own jewellery.' Her first designs included crystal heart earrings with a diamond-set bow on top. 'Well it was the 80s,' she says. David Deakin, whom she had lined up to make them, told her he didn't think they would sell. 'I wasn't sure either. We laugh about it now,' she says. The designs, which are still on sale today, proved wildly successful. 'I asked my father for £5,000 to start my own jewellery business,' she says. 'He had been a jeweller – I am from five generations of jewellers – but none women. 'He looked rather bemused and said he was not sure it was a good idea. He loaned me the money for two years. I paid him back within a year, and no one was more surprised than me, let alone him.' 'Women were not taken as seriously back then. I remember going to the bank manager at Barclays when I had been in business six or seven years. 'He asked me into a meeting where he said he didn't think this was the bank for me. 'I rang up HSBC and they have been fantastic ever since. I do feel a little bit of that Pretty Woman thing, that he made a big mistake, huge. It was definitely because I was a little woman with a little jewellery company.' One or two snooty rivals on Bond Street 'thought I was pathetic' she says. 'I never let it bother me. Have a laugh and soldier on. 'My mother said it is terribly unattractive to complain. My father was a prisoner-of-war and that puts it in perspective.' McDonough's Royal connection goes back to 1986, when Sarah Ferguson arrived at Bordeaux airport wearing onyx heart and bow earrings and a pearl and onyx heart necklace. Soon after, Diana, Princess of Wales, began wearing Kiki jewellery too. McDonough knew Diana's sisters and thinks they must have said something to her about McDonough's jewellery. 'She was lovely. When she came to my shop she waited her turn. 'The jewellery I do is not bling or cutting edge, it is pretty and hopefully makes you feel prettier. 'That's what I think jewellery should be, it shouldn't walk in the door before you. It suits the working mother lifestyle, where you can wear it every day and love it. Twice divorced, she combined the business with bringing up two sons. She says: 'I had children quite late and thought why have them if you're not going to see them? I didn't take a break, I just ran the business at a slightly slower growth rate. Then when the children went away to school, I thought right, that's it. 'My prices are now £950 to about £25,000. I still love seeing people in the street wearing my jewellery. It's a bore to keep something in a safe, I think jewellery should be worn with jeans. I put on a pair of earrings on a Monday and take them off on a Friday.' She is, she says in cut-glass tones, a 'great Liverpool fan', a passion acquired from her youngest son. Her other great passion is ballet, and she has designed a collection inspired by prima ballerina Lauren Cuthbertson. She says: 'Ballet and football are both about really neat footwork and amazing athleticism and strength, but ballet is my ultimate. I love it.' Next on the agenda is expanding in the US. She hasn't seen Melania Trump wear her jewellery, adding: 'Though I have to say, she does dress beautifully. I think she's amazing. She is a cool customer.' McDonough has no plans to retire, and says her two sons won't take over when she eventually steps back. She says: 'I don't have that ambition to pass on a family business. I have had the best 40 years any woman could possibly ask for, and counting, so whoever has it next – lucky them.'
