Rachel Bravman

Jewelry Designer,
CEO of Rachel Leigh

New York City

It’s finally a calm, fairly warm day here in New York. After a crazy fashion week filled with snow and lots of rain, the weather is starting to come around. We are deep into designing fall/winter 2008 but I made sure to stop by the tents to check out a few shows. I always love to see what the amazing American designers come up with every season and it’s such a relief when our designs are then validated by the runway. Lots of jewel tone colors, amazing jewelry that definitely referenced some vintage pieces I had recently recovered and of course, the ’70s are back in a very chic and refined manner. I’m feeling lots of filigree, heavy, ornate vintage chains and of course lots of statement pendants. We are working on some new production techniques this season involving airbrushed filigree with ombre designs. I’m dying to see how they come out! We are also going to be reworking some fabulous vintage pendants I found at my favorite vintage and antique shops in the city.

At the beginning of each design process I sit down with all of my pulls, any materials that inspire me, Pantone chips and lots of different colored markers. I just spent the last three hours pulling my favorite looks from the runway and doing inspiration boards for all of the stories that we are focusing on: filigree, vintage, feathers, mirrors, bows, antique textures, florals, worldly beads and scarves.

Now I’ll go back through the vintage pieces and look at their textures and intricacies. After looking at those pieces, I’ll think about the fall clothes, what everyone will be wearing and what kind of jewelry my friends and I would want to wear with those pieces. My friends in New York are all in the fashion industry—buyers, editors, designers, publicists—and are the perfect representation of the Rachel Leigh girl. They are confident, fun, fearless and don’t take themselves too seriously, dressing on a whim and using wardrobe to play off their moods.

With the collection we just did exclusively for Tobi, we made sure to consider the Tobi woman, the influence of nature and signature pieces that are key to her wardrobe. All of the textures and images in this collection were a result of a trip I took to Northern California. I first stayed with friends in San Francisco, visiting the water front, the Goyard boutique, taking a long hike over the Golden Gate Bridge and then over to Sausalito. We stayed in wine country for three days and then it was off to Lake Tahoe. The whitewater rafting and long hikes in Tahoe were my favorite part of the trip and the greatest inspiration for this collection.

Well it’s back to the design boards to try to get some designs finalized by the end of the day and then to yoga.