A&G

When the new backers of London jeweler Asprey & Garrard announced last summer that they were splitting the brands into two, you could have thought they had nothing less in mind than separating London from the rest of Britain. "We now have a crystal-clear vision of what we want to do with the company," said Lawrence Stroll, one of the investors. "To create the greatest English luxury lifestyle brand in Asprey."

As for Garrard, it would continue to serve the royal family (Garrard was appointed the crown jeweler by Queen Victoria, and the current crown jeweler, David Thomas, still sits in the Garrard workshop), but it would attract Cool Britannia too. The backers, Canadian Stroll who grew up with Silas Chou, know something about packaging national heritage: they built up the American sportswear brand Tommy Hilfiger. For Garrard, they brought in an Italian CEO (Gianluca Brozzetti), a French strategic partner (LVMH) and another Canadian for a bit of extra cash (Edgar Bronfman Jr.), but when it came to the brand's image they went British.

Jade Jagger, daughter of the Rolling Stones' Mick, was signed to be creative director. (Asprey got its own team.) Jagger began by doing what any party-loving "It" girl would do — she hired a bunch of her friends. There's Tamsin de Roemer, Jagger's partner from the days when she had her own line called Jade Inc., working on jewelry and clothes. Koji Tatsuno is creating couture clothes and shoes embellished with gems (real ones, like diamonds and rubies) and sewn with gold and silver thread. Omar Torres, of Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels fame, is in charge of the "for royals and the seriously rich" collection. Architect Tom Bartlett has designed homes for Jagger in Ibizia and London. Read More…