India Hicks' New Jewelry Line is a Must-See

I’m in love with what India Hicks has just created: a brand new take on the alphabet with individual stylized letters wrapped into gorgeous necklaces, which are called “Legacy Letters."

If you haven’t heard of India, you’ve surely seen her before — she was the face of Ralph Lauren for a decade at least it seems….a host of Bravo’s show, Top Design….an author (India Hicks: Island Style by Rizzoli is one of my absolute favorites)….& for the past couple years, a hard-working entrepreneur & founder of her own eponymous line of goods which are sold through an amazing group of brand ambassadors (but can also be purchased online).

India is also the daughter of legendary interior designer, the late David Hicks, who revolutionized British design and is still revered for his groundbreaking style and iconic interiors (which extended from castles to yachts to yes, even the White House bowling alley!).

Her father’s distinctive “H” logo was literally everywhere in the ‘60s & 70s — and became as India so wryly says in this gorgeous video called Initial Legacy,  "the wallpaper of my childhood.”  This spring, India took on the challenge of re-imagining the alphabet from her own point of view, evolving beyond her father’s 4 H’s motif into a truly unique, modern interpretation of the entire alphabet! The beautiful result is "Legacy Letters” .  My “L” necklace is on the way to me now & I can’t wait to wear it — so simple but modern, a real keepsake.

The necklace will be doubly meaningful to me as I’ve had the pleasure of working with India a bit since she founded her new venture. I should probably write a whole post about this another time, but let’s just say, India & I met under extraordinary circumstances. We started a series of business discussions together last Spring, and just as I was preparing for a trip to LA to meet with her whole team, I found out I had a very aggressive form of cancer. Flash forward to our meeting in DC a few months ago, several weeks into my chemo treatment, and below you will see my hair’s very last day on my head:

My long blonde hair came out completely the very next day — it was awful, but I’m grateful to my hair for hanging on until after that meeting! I’m making great progress in my recovery & look forward to my next visit with India - wherever that will be.  She was pitch-perfect in dealing with this situation & I found we shared a “gallows humor,” so we were able to laugh about some of the absurdity of it all.

Brava to India on this new “Legacy Letters” collection & continually pushing the boundaries in a million different ways!