A little while ago Links of London got in touch with me to see if I would join them in celebrating their 25th anniversary. I must start by saying that I felt really honoured that they had chosen Midlifechic and I see it as a sign of recognition of you – my intelligent, classy readers. Gradually I think that we are becoming known as a highly engaged group of intelligent women and the traction that we are starting to generate is partly down to the time that you dedicate to raising interesting issues in the comments so before I go on, I want to thank you for that.
I must admit that Links of London wasn’t on my radar and I don’t know about you but when a brand says it is celebrating 25 years, I automatically think back and calculate what I was doing back then. If we cast our minds back to the early 90s, I’m sure many of us were in the same position in our early career days, aspiring to Links of London but never quite able to afford it. I was working in publishing at the BBC and my boss was quite a down to earth chap who had done well in the 80s boom and was enjoying his ongoing success. He had a demanding wife, a big mortgage on a large house in Richmond and his young children went to the same school as Mick Jagger’s. While the rest of us beavered away in the office, he would go out for long boozy lunches with key advertisers and he always seemed to come back with a Thomas Pink or a Links of London bag.
I think everyone in the team assumed that we were 5 years away from leading the same life … but then suddenly recession hit. I’m sure you remember how house prices plummeted leaving people in negative equity at the same time as interest rates climbed to 15%. Every day I watched my boss grow paler and quieter, our expenses budgets were closed and there were no more Links of London bags. We could tell that he was in trouble as he started to avoid the phone calls that came in and he asked us to take messages – even from his wife. He sat at his desk with a glazed expression not speaking to anyone.
Along came Black Wednesday, the UK left the ERM and the BBC announced that they were closing our magazine. For me, the redundancy cheque of 3 months’ salary meant the deposit for my first flat; for my boss, it was the end. For years I wondered about him until I bumped into him at Bond Street tube one day. He told me he had later discovered that he was also a victim of the Equitable Life pension scandal so he had lost his financial future as well as his present. I really hope his luck turned one day and that his numbers came up on the lottery.
So forgive me for that little story, I associate Links of London so closely with those times that they brought the memories back. I must say though that I’m really pleased that they have fared better than my old boss – I don’t know their story but I guess their marketplace must have dropped away overnight in about 1992. Given that they were in their infancy, it’s a sign of the quality of their jewellery that they turned it around and are thriving.
So, they contacted me to show me the iconic pieces that they have produced to celebrate their 25 year anniversary and I thought I’d share them with you. Their main new collection is a celebration of London and is based on Big Ben so they have called it Timeless. It has already been picked up by celebrities such as Donna Air who is wearing the earrings and the made to order cuff here
White Gold, Diamond & Tsavorite Cuff
and Poppy Delvingne who is wearing one of the elaborate made to order pendants.
White Gold, Diamond & Tsavorite Necklace
My favourite piece from the Timeless collection is this one because I like the asymmetry…
Timeless sterling silver large arch necklace
…it has these very simple earrings to go with it
Timeless small arch drop earrings
Now that poor old Big Ben is apparently quite sick and may have to stop chiming for a year whilst it is repaired, it seems a good time to be celebrating its beauty.
When I went down to London for half term I was surprised by the number of Links of London shops that I saw and looking at the website, they seem to be in most major cities although they haven’t penetrated the deep North of the UK yet. Because we’d been in conversation I popped in and was surprised by how lovely the staff were – I had thought that they might be a bit ‘Bond Street’ – and I spent quite a bit of time browsing.
The jewellery isn’t cheap and it isn’t the sort of thing that you would buy on impulse (well not in my world anyway). However it is exactly the sort of jewellery that I would like to have as my core collection. One of the things I have discovered in this second year of my Midlifechic journey is that I am becoming much more selective. I’m finding joy in having fewer clothes and accessories but of better quality because somehow, on an older woman, quality shows.
So, I was of course overjoyed when after a few discussions, Links invited me to choose something from their collection. I think they were surprised by my choice but opportunities to own jewellery like this don’t come along very often and so I wanted to go for something that I was confident I would wear repeatedly. My favourite collection is their Signature collection. I am automatically drawn to it by the fact that lots of pieces incorporate their logo of three rings which of course makes me think of my three sons, but I also love the simplicity. The range seems to change every time I look at it because pieces are made in limited quantities in sterling silver and rose gold but it includes:
Rose gold multi station necklace
Sterling silver multi chain necklace
I’m not a charm collector and didn’t get into the Pandora craze but I do like this charm bracelet
Sterling silver charm bracelet
These are some of the chic charms they make to go with it
Of course there are also lovely cufflinks for men if you’re having a Christmas shopping quandary. Anyway back on to the pieces I eventually chose. Ever since Mr MC bought me my Olivia Burton watch for my birthday I’ve been wanting some more rose gold jewellery so that was an obvious choice to help me to break out of my silver rut. This is what came through the post this week.
..this is what was inside…
Signature rose gold necklace and Signature rose gold vermeil mini hoop earrings
…and here I am wearing them as I start to blog…
…and catch up on your comments from the last post (which always make me smile)…
…and this, by the way, is the rest of my outfit for my first Monday of blogging not working – hurray!
Hush cardigan; Cos blouse; Next relaxed skinny jeans; Whistles shoes
So, I’m pleased to celebrate the success of Links of London, after all, they have been on the same trajectory as we have since we began our careers – 25 years of up and downs. I thank them for working with me and I especially thank them for recognising the quality of the readers of Midlifechic – it makes me proud. I’ll be late posting this weekend because I’m off to take part in a photoshoot on Friday but I’ll be posting on Instagram throughout the day so follow me there. In the meantime, have a great week everyone.
Disclosure – this is not a sponsored post and I was not paid to write on behalf of Links of London. The jewellery was gifted but all thoughts, opinions and stories are my own.
