BIOGRAPHY: Third generation jeweler Mimi So has taken her early jewelry education, both informal and formal, to impressive heights. From her own boutique in the diamond district to her collections available at high end retailers to her acceptance into the Council of Fashion Designers in 2007, she has quickly established herself as prominent and talented designer. As her exposure to an international clientele was increasing in the early 1990s, she was sought out by David Bowie and Iman, who commissioned her to design jewelry for their wedding, catapulting her company and her jewelry into the limelight. Her jewelry designs continue to be focused on quality; her early exposure in her family’s jewelry atelier having taught her high standards from the very beginning. “Quality is everything, quality lasts forever, quality speaks for itself,” she says.
Coveted in Hollywood, Mimi So is worn by Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz, Courtney Cox, Drew Barrymore, Diane Lane, Anne Hathaway and more. However, her jewelry is not limited to celebrity status women. Her understanding of the modern woman and her ability to relate to that woman allows her to create jewelry that appeals to a diverse clientele of women. With a celebrity list as hot as hers and for which she can be very proud, she considers her greatest achievement to be the fact that she contributes to the art and tradition of fine handmade jewelry created in New York, USA.
VIALUXE:
Hi Mimi, thanks for taking the time to visit. Can you give us a little background on yourself?
MIMI SO:
I come from a third generation, and my family has always been in the manufacturing side of the jewelry all the way to the retail side. And so I’ve grown up ever since I was eight years old dusting the benches, wiping the counters, reading the customers, it’s so much in my blood that it’s a passion that I have that it evolved and grew to such a dedication to designing jewelry for a fashionable sense but still has a very classic demeanor and I’ve loved what I have been doing.
VIALUXE:
How did you family's influence guide your career?
MIMI SO:
You know when you’re young, you’re kind of ambitious and you’re rebellious. So when your family tells you, "you can’t do that," you’ve got to do it. So of course when you’re young you also have no sense and "what do I know about" and "oh you need money and paying rent and making things work." I just know I had this fierce attitude that, "I’m going to do it - I’m Mimi So - I can do it." And then I learned, that I bruised and fell down and scraped my knees and was like, oh my god, but they were very supportive because as an entrepreneur and watching my own family being entrepreneurs - I just wanted so much to break out on my own and have my own identity and to pursue my dreams of my own creations. And it’s easier when you have that belief and you’re willing to take those risks and for me, that was the most important thing was to take those risk for myself and to build my company slowly but surely and it has taken me a very, very long time because I do it very cautiously and carefully.
VIALUXE:
So your family history in the jewelry industry has been helpful to you?
MIMI SO:
History has really helped me to understand this industry inside and out. That type of discipline is so valuable that, without that, it’s very difficult to understand the retailer’s mentality today.
VIALUXE:
Where do you find inspiration for your jewelry collection?
MIMI SO:
I love traveling, I love culture, I love to explore and to discover and when I do that, my senses are just completely aroused and I’m in tuned with what I am doing at the moment. So, for example, my last collection called Jackson, I was in Jackson, Wyoming and I was on a retreat with my family. It was after the year end, and after retail and trunk shows, I needed to detox and I wanted to be in a place where it was just very soothing and calming. And from there, that’s why I have my pictures on the wall here that explains and tells the inspirations of the Tetons - and the trees and just the hills and the shapes and the mountains. Also, it was a reflection of the past years’ events, of everything that goes on in our life - it’s kind of like a facet and everything is so intricate between family, friends, business, partners, whatever you want to call it. It’s all so dynamic, and they all kind of suspended one against each other but at the end of the day it all comes together and becomes one beautiful unity and so that’s how travel can inspire me in my thoughts and my process.
VIALUXE:
Personalize one specific collection for me and tell me how it came to fruition.
MIMI SO:
Each collection that I create - there is one called Gate B9 is because I was on the longest layover in Italy in Malpensa airport and you know the Italians when they say two hours, they really meant twelve. I think they decided to go on a strike in the middle of the day. So I so was frustrated - so agitated that I designed this link that has all the facets and all the jagged edges on it and there is no rhyme or reason in the pattern, but it was more of an emotional feeling of what I was feeling and of course by the time it was time to board on the plane I looked up, Gate B9, and I said that’s what I’m going to name this collection. And that’s how we evolved with Gate B9.
VIALUXE:
Is there one particular stone that you like working with more than others?
MIMI SO:
I love, love, love diamonds. Because it’s beautiful, because it’s valuable, because of its brilliance, because it’s endless, it’s magnetic, it’s dynamic, and it’s so versatile. You can wear diamonds from day until night depending on how you want to execute your pieces. I play with a lot of color stones and I love color, and I think it’s really fun when you mix the two together, but I tend to favor diamonds and that’s what I’m known for.
VIALUXE:
Talk to me a little about Mimi So customers.
MIMI SO:
For me, as a designer, I like to morph one collection into another. I think that you’re complete astute to picking that out. I like to evolve as a designer with a look and I think that today, for the Mimi So customer, for a certain sophisticated buyer, they always want to see something new – they want to see something that’s fresh. They want to know that it’s current but it’s not trendy and for me, it’s important to have that same hand. You can have two different collections but they can still pick out a Mimi So piece because of its linear line, its simplicity, or it’s feminine. Those touches are very important throughout the collection that keeps it as a whole and very consistent. And that’s quite challenging to do but it’s part of what I enjoy and what I find to be really, really fun.
VIALUXE:
Is there one collection that sticks out in your mind more than the others?
MIMI SO:
It’s kind of like your children, where you love for that reason, because that child is oh you know so calm - so great - does not create my hair to be out to here in the morning - but you love also the other child because - oh my gosh they come home and they’re all muddy - and they’re always in trouble - and they get into thing - but you don’t even know how they get into things but you love them. The same thing with my jewelry, I love the different collection for different feeling, and different emotions and for different joy - more than anything, so each one is very important to me but I always remember it’s kind of like your first born. So I do have my first signature collection that’s very near and dear to me because it was my first experience of being a designer and it’s kind of like my first born as my first experience of being a mother and that’s the only way I can express it.
VIALUXE:
You seem to have a popular celebrity following. How did that start?
MIMI SO:
The editors from W and Vogue and Town and Country, they all love the Jackson collection, which means a great deal to me because they have seen everything’s that’s out there that’s extremely current and the fact that they love ours and they pull it for photo shoots is something that is really wonderful.
VIALUXE:
Can you give me a preview of a new piece for this year?
MIMI SO:
It’s very hard to make a piece where it’s so many different shapes and pieces that can all come together and it’s quite intricate like this but still very flexible and it’s light and movable. Do you see there’s a circle and rectangle and its all different facets and the stones are quite large and it’s the finest form of pave setting into the piece and they’re all hinged and the back is extremely beautifully finished as if they were actually the jewels themselves - the diamonds -and the wire work that suspends, holding the piece. Of course I love the rings, the rings are so much fun, and youthful is truly the proper word to describe the Mimi So jewelry.
VIALUXE:
Was there ever anyone that wore your jewelry that gave you a vote of confidence or made you think "I'm doing the right thing."
There was Michel Michelle - she’s this beautiful actress from ER. There was Beyonce from Destiny’s Child and when they all kind of started out, and the celebrity following from Sex in the City, and Drew Barrymore and Annie Hathaway, they’re all beautiful, strong, independent women. And that has been a very common thread, women who love style and who want something that’s easy, and it was word of mouth that kind of spread the good name through the different managers and publicists and stylists and that really gave me the vote of confidence that I was doing something right.
VIALUXE:
Can you please describe the typical Mimi So customer?
MIMI SO:
Women today love fashion, they love their clothes, they like to mix it up, I know I do. I’m not so much like to match my earring to my pendant to my bracelet all the way down. That’s not the Mimi So customer. The Mimi So customer is kind of you know, wants some excitement in their life you know. God you got kids, you got problems, you got household issues, you got work, you got this, and you just want to treat yourself good, and for me it’s like today I wanna wear my power girl ring. This is my power girl ring you know, there are days I want to switch it off, switch on, and I just feel that when I do that with my jewelry it gives me different feeling, and it’s like my clothes and my shoes, it’s like if I’m wearing my jeans, if I feel like rock n’ roll, or feel very chic, or if I feel very Audrey Hepburn one day. I do that with my jewelry That’s how I speak to my audience. So that’s really what Mimi So is about.
- Paul Morillo, Executive Editor, ViaLuxe News