Meghan Markle loves her daring gold talon hook earrings from the luxury British jeweler Shaun Leane — and she’s in fashionable company: models Cara Delevingne, Kendall Jenner and Anja Rubik are also fans.
“I’m very flattered that Meghan wears our work,” Leane tells PEOPLE from his atelier and showroom in London’s Mayfair.
Leane says Meghan, who has made his earrings one of her go-to jewelry pieces in recent months, “is the woman I have in my mind when I design.”
“She dresses very elegantly, very chic, with very clean lines but with a really nice strong silhouette,” he adds. “It’s very confidant.”
The royal, who is expecting her first child with Prince Harry, owns three pieces from the avant-garde jeweler: the Yellow Gold Vermeil Diamond Tusk Bangle ($1281), Yellow Gold Vermeil Serpents Trace Slim Bracelet ($708) and the popular Yellow Gold Vermeil Talon Earrings ($290), all of which were purchased as a gift by Meghan’s close friend Markus Anderson.
Meghan first wore the pieces to the Queen’s 92nd birthday concert at the Royal Albert Hall on April, just days after Anderson purchased them.
She has since worn them on multiple other occasions — to Charlie van Straubenzee’s wedding in August, at a performance of Hamilton, also in August, and most recently on her royal tour Down Under with Harry.
The earrings — which also come in silver, rose gold vermeil and silver black rhodium — are one of Leane’s signatures, inspired by the jeweler’s 20-year working relationship with the late British fashion designer Alexander McQueen and their shared love of tribal jewelry.
“The earrings are quite intriguing when they are worn. They make you want to look twice, and I love that reaction,” says Leane.
“They are elegant and refined,” he explains, “but there’s an edge.”
Leane has accessorized celebrities such as Adele, Cameron Diaz, Kate Moss and Uma Thurman in his 35-year career. But nothing compares to the “Meghan Markle effect.”
“I’ve dressed a lot of people, but the effect of dressing someone like Meghan is unbelievable — it’s amazing and it’s a real honor,” he says.
While the talon earrings are consistently a bestseller for his brand, after Meghan was photographed in them they sold six-months worth of stock in just four weeks, Leane says. “With Meghan, it’s on another level. It opens you up to a whole new demographic because she is on the global stage.”
Leane says he doesn’t see her sartorial power diminishing anytime soon.
“I think she considers what she wears for each event very well,” he says, “and she really does have a great eye.”
For Black Friday, Leane’s eponymous retailer is offering 20 percent off all purchases online.
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