If the name Michelle Campbell doesn’t quite ring a bell yet, you’re forgiven. In America, she’s slowly taking the world of fine and contemporary jewellery by storm. Recent collaborations for the fall 2015 and spring 2016 runway shows of New York ‘It’ duo Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs may have formally announced her arrival on a big scale, but Michelle and her eponymous label have been making waves among those in the know for the past four years now.
“The Cushnie girls work with a fear friend of mine, Keegan Singh. He styles their shows and brought us together to collaborate,” she says, pouring me a coffee as we catch up in her Chelsea pad. “We used existing pieces last season and for the most recent one, we worked with them to create a specific group of gold chains that went with their aesthetic.”
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Despite making her start as a model, her foray into design was inevitable. “I was always yearning for another avenue to channel creative expression,” she tells me. “In between castings or on modelling jobs I was always sketching ideas for pieces.” She inherited jewellery from her late grandmother, which inspired her to create modern pieces to compliment them and a full line shortly followed. Rather than going to work for another designer, or enrolling at design school, she was confident her modelling career was all the grounding she needed. “When you model, you get to see how the fashion world operates behind the scenes, and after years of observing, I was confident I had a solid grasp on how I needed to show and market my designs.”
Michelle blends painstaking craftsmanship and architectural inspirations in her designs, some of which are clean and paired back, others are which are delicately decorated with diamonds. The common thread is an easy aesthetic that hits back at the OTT styles of old. It’s this stripped-down, unpretentious sensibility that’s entirely her own invention.
“I started my line five years ago, at a time where the accessories market was dominated by lines that exuded that “more is more” idea, with lots of crystals and really heavy pieces. I wanted to create something light, delicate, and timeless enough to not adhere to any specific trend or time period. My idea was to create a modern heirloom,” she explains. “My pieces are clean, geometric designs that are meant to float on the skin and create a hint of femininity. Modern architecture and clean, often asymmetrical lines are the base for most of my ideas.” That paired back mantra seeps through to her personal style too because despite being born and raised in California, “I am New York through and through. All I wear are neutral tones and lots of black. My wardrobe is full of simple pieces and that’s my approach to jewellery too. I like pieces that you don’t really feel or worry about when you’re them.”
She’s managed to build an aesthetic into something that now has quite the cult following. Designs like her wire tower bracelet, claw cuff and knuckle floater have become instantly recognisable symbols of an unpretentious, paired back luxury. She doesn’t follow fashion’s seasonal calendar either; rather her work is all about evolving her unique brand of minimal, effortlessness and her newest collection takes her work in a slightly different direction. “We loved playing with the simple elegance of talons and seeing where we could push the boundaries from there,” she explains. “We incorporated Swarovski pearls and the idea was to skewer the pearls on the talons, like a martini on a toothpick. I haven’t seen this done a lot,” she continues, “and thought it would be a great way to add a new element to one of our key looks.”
This season Michelle will release another contemporary capsule collection for fashion favourite, Club Monaco whom she’s collaborated with over the last few years. Last month she launched another contemporary line exclusively for Fenwicks in London and come next season, she’s ramping up her fine offering, something she’s been quietly developing behind-the-scenes.
“I started with contemporary, but I saw a huge shift in the market, as we were getting a lot of requests for fine so started developing that line,” she reveals. “Now, we mostly do contemporary as exclusive collaborations. I think the mix just represents women and how we dress,” she adds. “I wear fine jewellery but it’s always mixed with contemporary. Generally, women who love fashion love what they buy because the aesthetic appeals to them, it’s not all about a certain category. I think mixing high and low speaks loudly to all women.”
Fashion is difficult and unpredictable and the amount of jewellery labels out there is unfathomably high, but Michelle is sure she’s onto something. “I’ve learned a lot by trial and error,” she says frankly. “I went to university at UCLA and studied Sociology and Theatre so by no means was I trained for this. But I’ve found my way, made many mistakes but also many victories. I think any new business goes through that.”
Michelle was shot in her New York home by Naomi Mdudu