Typically jewelry is regarded a finishing touch, the past detail you set on to entire an outfit. Immediately after all, accessories are, by definition, a thing further. But designer Mimi So understands the ability jewelry has to dialogue with clothing and elevate them to an completely distinct area. Superstars (like Beyoncé and Mariah Carey), hit Television set productions (which includes Intercourse and the City and the new And Just Like That… reboot), and movie star stylists have relied on her expertise for over two many years to assemble photos with her precious metallic and gemstone adornments. Her creations are not sparkly afterthoughts but important features of a look’s in general influence.

To comprehend the complete probable of So’s statement-generating items, a single needn’t seem further more than an episode of Intercourse and the Town. Shortly prior to the environment acquired to know Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda, in the late ‘90s, So would meet the now-beloved people as the wardrobe arrived together for the SATC sequence pilot. There were no big-title models attached to the application, and so not extensive immediately after striking out on her have, So was tapped to craft jewellery seems for the 4 archetypes that would have a seismic influence on pop society for decades to comply with.

“My jewellery genuinely labored for that established,” So remembers. “Because the way I work, I am truly creating extra for the spirit of the lady. My items have own stories and unique seems. I structure from inside.” Samantha designed most feeling with So’s graphic and geometric Piece Collection Carrie would use far more playful merchandise, like a starfish ring sensitive, female, floral jewellery befit Charlotte Miranda opted for more refined, conservative objects. So extra an understated but defining layer of storytelling to a show that revered style, and would occur to be regarded for its characters’ eclectic variations.

A venture like SATC was the ideal suit for So’s expressive jewellery, and a person that benefited from her cautiously regarded as technique to styling. When she bought the simply call to arrive back for And Just Like That…, she introduced that identical eye toward the characters’ personalities in shaping their jewellery appears more than a 10 years afterwards. “There are definitely changes, they’re additional mature now,” So notes of the (now slightly more compact) buddy group in 2022. “[I focused on] sustaining their characters’ soul, form of just, you know, expanding it up a very little bit.”

As a third-generation jeweler, So wasn’t new to the trade when she released her namesake organization in 1998. She experienced grown up in her parents’ downtown atelier, helping out as wanted to do her element for the loved ones enterprise. But soon after completing her graphic style and design reports at Parsons, she experienced a much better feeling of her have artistic voice. The modern grad took many style positions and assisted at her family’s store for a brief even though prior to determining that if she were heading to hone her skills and really explore her style as a designer, she would have to have to do so on her possess.

“I’m happy that I took the route that I did because that’s why my get the job done has my handprint, my aesthetic,” So says. “People could see it and say, ‘Oh my gosh, that is Mimi.’” Stepping away from the family company to recognize her dreams was exhilarating and terrifying. Whole resourceful command thrilled her, but running her personal shop would, of class, appear with all the problems of staying a smaller boutique proprietor and a new-on-the-scene artist. “When you’re the youngest and you are rebellious, you are often making an attempt to verify your self,” she says. “You know you are actually falling in appreciate deep when you sink your individual money and sources into your get the job done.”

So formulated a layout fashion centered all-around a cleanly executed playfulness. Her jewellery is entrancing the way shining gemstones often are, but what sets it aside is how substantially character is imbued in her get the job done. A Mimi So accent is normally going to be a statement piece, but it doesn’t essentially shout to make by itself regarded not often overwhelmingly flashy, but normally enjoyment. “Even though it can be graphic and personalized, there’s heading to be a small be aware of whimsy,” she says. “It has a boldness behind it, but all in harmony with the aesthetic. Some things we are not able to choose much too significantly. I feel that if we’re heading to be in the jewelry room, we have to be providing some joy.”

So provides a imaginative director’s sensibilities to the undertaking of placing jointly a appear, knowledgeable by the “old school” way of acquiring clothes made: a much more bespoke strategy that included client input in every thing from choosing out fabrics to discussing the idea for the seem, fairly than basically choosing pieces off the rack. That type of collaborative procedure has acquired her plenty of function with stylists who seek out her skills in finishing ensembles for their purchasers. So has sat in her store opposite stars like Lil’ Kim, sketching out concepts as they weighed in. To the designer, that form of teamwork helps make all the change. Buyers get So’s complete focus in developing their eyesight and ultimately go home with exceptional, one-of-a-kind jewellery. “That’s true luxury,” she claims.

So’s whimsical pieces very first captivated the awareness of stylists for hip-hop’s increasing stars, this sort of as Ashanti, Eve, and Destiny’s Little one, close to the transform of the millennium. She seen a pattern of designers turning their noses up at burgeoning talent, deemed not but recognized adequate to be deserving of their cherished gems. What legacy fantastic jewellery manufacturers saw as nonstarters or not ample, So considered as possibilities.

“What I’m very very pleased of is that I really supported a great deal of the artists when they were being coming up,” the designer states, noting that even some of the music industry’s most promising younger talent did not have the “certain type of look” popular jewellery firms would take into account for collaboration. For So, even so, that was element of the enchantment. “Because I grew up in New York Town and I believe that in a melting pot, and since I appreciate new music and fashion, I was in the [thick] of it all,” she says. “For me, it was about the excitement of supporting a further artist and that’s why it felt so organic and natural. I was the go-to woman for this audience, like a bridge concerning the songs and fashion.”

As we sit in her SoHo shop, the designer reminisces about how gracious Beyoncé is and remembers Mariah Carey’s relaxed comedic wit. Regardless of the icon status and deep pockets of her clientele, So thoroughly selected her projects even as an rising business operator and occasionally turned A-listers down if the work did not very align with her have genuine design and style. These types of was the circumstance as soon as with rapper Busta Rhymes when he and his group approached So for a tremendous-icy eagle style. “[He] was absolutely awesome, but I just understood that was not my forté,” she says of the proposed piece. “I really wanted to continue to be real to my art and what I might love to make, what I know that signifies me.”

Of course, doing the job with these kinds of substantial-profile prospects has its very own specific set of troubles. “[The projects are] always very very last-minute,” So describes. “It’s costly it’s labor intensive.” Even now, she admits, the end outcome is pretty much generally really worth it. “You’re actually driving on an adrenaline higher, but it’s incredibly magical due to the fact that rely on is there,” she continues. “Knowing a customer felt like a million bucks is genuinely particular for an individual like myself who is a creator. And of class, the just after-functions are constantly the finest.”

Dressing famous people to be witnessed by the planet and designing jewelry with which customers commemorate some of life’s most important times is a task, sure. And competing as a little business among the the Goliaths of the luxurious jewelry sector can make it a particularly demanding just one. But it is eventually anything So views as a privilege, also.

“It is a massive deal,” she states. “My name is on their engagement ring, their wedding day ring, something they appear at each individual working day. It’s weighty, in a perception. I personal that privilege. That is why I treatment so much to give my most effective for the reason that I truly comprehend that trade, what it implies and what it warrants.”

It’s that type of care that turns prospects into repeat purchasers. There’s a explanation Jay-Z made the decision he’d will need duplicates of So’s parts (“He loved the medallion for his Vibe journal address so substantially and stated it was his great luck appeal! He was afraid he would get rid of 1 and wanted to have two.”) and that the team from SATC arrived at back again out to the designer years just after the show’s finale to provide her back on board for And Just Like That… She’s invested in her function beyond just a piece she forges and finishes — So is committed to the prolonged haul. She’s shaped collaborative, lasting associations with her shoppers and built a company that proceeds to endure alongside business major-hitters with a portion of their resources.

“Longevity issues,” So says. “That’s an accomplishment in alone.”

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