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Loree Rodkin photo

Loree Rodkin white gold and black rhodium rose cut diamond signet ring worn to the Inaugural balls

Loree Rodkin

"I wanted sparkle, but not too glitzy," inaugural jeweler says

You would think a jewelry designer would know which hand a wedding band is worn on.

Not Loree Rodkin, Michelle Obama’s favourite jeweler.

“Don’t you wear a wedding band on your right hand?” Rodkin asks during a chat about Obama’s inauguration night jewelry.

When she is told that most women wear their wedding rings on the third finger of their left hand, Rodkin responds, “I think I have an allergy to wedding bands.”

But that’s okay because Obama is also a woman who cuts her own path.

On inauguration night, the First Lady doffed her wedding ring and wore a striking 10 carat rose cut diamond on the middle finger of her left hand.

Obama had requested that Rodkin make her jewelry for the occasion but gave her little direction. “The only instructions I had were that the pieces be all white with no colour,” Rodkin says.

Nor was Rodkin given any hint of what shade or style Obama’s gown would be.

“But I could gauge she is tall, so I wanted earrings that were long and with movement,” Rodkin says. Her guiding principle was drama.  “I wanted sparkle but not too glitzy. I wanted the jewelry to pop but not overwhelm.”

The white gold and triple rose cut diamond earrings each have a garland of diamond briolette drops. The ring is a large signet style crafted from white gold and black rhodium. They were worn with 13 of Rodkin’s diamond bangles.

Rodkin watched the inaugural evening unfold at a friend’s house in Los Angeles. “I was numb. She requested the pieces but it’s like the Academy Awards - you never know until the last minute for certain if they’ll be worn.”

Asked what it is about her designs that Obama is drawn to, Rodkin responds, “We’re both from Chicago. We’re both strong independent women. She has a unique fashion sense, as do I, and she has a strong point of view. She is classic but edgy. She is not afraid to think outside the box.”

Rodkin, who counts Cher and Madonna as loyal customers, is probably a little farther outside the box than Obama. Bondage, daggers and skulls are typical Rodkin motifs.  

Rodkin’s inaugural designs are headed to the Smithsonian Institute, another achievement Rodkin says she never dreamed of.

“I don’t think in those terms, who would?” Rodkin says. “I have a ring that went to the moon when Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith) gave one of the astronauts his diamond skull ring to take in flight. He has a picture of it floating with the earth in the background. These are privileges that you never imagine happening to you. And for it to be this regime in particular is all the more incredible.”