Some women with royal lineage spend their days cutting charity ribbons and attending formal balls. One however, with the unusual name: “India Hicks,” is just (or even more) at home in the fashion work.
Beautiful India Hicks is the third child of Lady Pamela Mountbatten and David Nightingale Hicks (also a designer). Through her maternal grandfather, The Earl Mountbatten of Burma, she is a second cousin to The Prince of Wales, and also in line to succeed to the British throne. Lucky India was one of Lady Diana Spencer’s bridesmaids at the ”wedding of the century” in 1981.
India is a free, creative spirit. she modeled for luxurious Ralph Lauren, and also J. Crew. Today. India co-manages a hotel development in the Caribbean with her partner and is the creator of an all-natural body-and-home-fragrance line with Crabtree & Evelyn, among other things.
Ladies like India, travel a lot, and that can be challenging when you have four children (the father is boyfriend, interior designer and hotelier David Flint Wood). The family’s home base is a house in the Bahamas, the inspiration for her Crabtree & Evelyn “Island Living” collection. Now, India’s own childhood travels are the inspiration for her new collection of pendants and charms, called: “Love Letters” (price range $180.00 – $1,295.00). As India describes it: “When ever we travelled as children our luggage was neatly labelled with personalized luggage tags. A geometric ‘I’ for India, or ‘E’ for Edwina, on a bright orange strip against a turquoise background. Lordy, the humiliation. A family on holiday with monogrammed matching luggage labels, in stand out colour combinations. Of course looking back nothing could have been chicer. I now want ‘I’ for India on everything. I hope you do too, well possibly not ‘I’ for India but your own letter, or your children’s letters or your lover’s letter. A tiny size in solid gold, or a medium size with a few diamonds, or a larger version in sleek sterling silver or even half in sterling silver and half in diamonds. The possibilities are endless….just let us know which you want.”
“Love Letters” are available in gold, and more affordably, in silver (e.g. sterling silver pendants $180.00; 18K gold $695.00, silver with diamonds $1,295.00). Each initial has it’s own, unique design, and is the perfect way to commemorate a special occasion.
I chose the “A” (for Alison) shown in the larger photos above, but you could select a lover’s initial, or maybe your child’s name, or wear two or more for your full name. At first, this initial looked like four “As” together, but then I realized it looked like a star, then a fancy cross, and finally, I thought it had the properties of a delicate snowflake. And the other initials also seem to morph into other shapes, too, even though they are clearly a letter that starts out creating a basic geometric form. Each has unique properties that make them more than what they initially appear to be.
Adopt Love Letters as your own. The Sterling Silver pendant is available in your choice of red silk cord, black leather cord or silver necklace. My “A” arrived nicely boxed with a soft, polishing cloth, on an 18″ delicate, silver chain with one “stop” to make it a 16″ choker. The charm is substantial and at 22mm x 22mm, the circumference just slightly smaller than that of a quarter. While I’m not much of a pendant person, the moment I started wearing the “A” Love Letter pendant, the more I realized it added just a bit of interest to everything I was wearing. It’s become my “go to” piece when I need something that makes a statement, softly. And trust me, these even better in person than in the photos.
A “Love Letter” is a piece you’ll cherish for years to come. Which reminds me……with graduations and weddings coming up, a gift of a “love letter” pendant won’t just make a great gift, it will become a sentimental favorite. Wear your lover’s initial, or your child’s, or mix and match a bunch. The silver ones would make a lovely gift for your bridal party, a gold one for the bride’s new married initial (assuming she is using that new name). ”Love Letters” are available in gold, and more affordably, in silver (e.g. sterling silver pendants $180.00; 18K gold $695.00, silver with diamonds $1,295.00).
You can find this collection along with other India Hicks items (and enjoy a bit of India’s blog featuring her approach to life and caring for those she loves) on her web site: http://www.indiahicks.com and at select, fine department stores.
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