Button Covers Are The New Jewels At Anna Maccieri Rossi

Italian-born and bred Anna Maccieri Rossi is best known for her ever-evolving innovative application and details of timepieces in her jewelry collection ‘Carpe Diem’: charms with a watch movement that allows the little star in the center to move every second, reminding the wearer that each moment matters. Rossi continued to expand on this collection with covetable new styles but has also created a capsule collection based on her passion for antique objects that were once at the height of fashion but fell out of favor in modern dressing. “Right now I am obsessed with button covers,” which she says, “were very much in vogue and popular but then disappeared.” Like cufflinks, they were worn by men to add a touch of jewelry to their wrists. However, they differed in that you didn’t need to have custom shirts without buttons made; instead, you could add these over the buttons on the shirt’s cuffs, adding an air of elegant, sophisticated or fun casual style.

For her collection, which she calls ‘Buttoned Up’, she has created refreshing new takes in hardstone and 18K gold, engraving with diamond or different color sapphire accents and pieces that can be engraved and personalized.

Her inspiration was a happy accident—discovering pieces that also had great sentimental value,” she explains, “I found a pair of beautiful old button covers in a small box that my grandfather gave to me a long time ago, which I had put away and forgot about. But from the moment I found them again, I started thinking of how I would innovate the concept, go beyond the original traditional styles and add my sensibility to become pieces my customers would want to own and wear.”

Maccieri Rossi also wanted to bring this concept to a more emotional-personaI and multi-functional level. She took what started as a popular jewelry item for men, who could also wear a single ornate button cover on the top button of their shirt instead of a tie—and turned into into a fun or elegant way of dressing up a women’s white, striped or any type of shirt. “By embellishing your shirt, you can express yourself through our color stones, symbols or letters,” says, Maccieri Rossi.

You can have multiple pieces with letters ( made with diamonds, a range of sapphires or enamel) to create words like L-O-V-E or M-A-G-I-C or your name, initials, sentimental meanings or any engraving you would like to have customized. You can wear them in fours like the men initially did, on the cuffs of your shirt or wear one on the first button instead of a pendant or as the first layer and then add a chain or pendant underneath.

“There are no limits to this concept and the combinations.” Maccierri Rossi explains. “I am also working on expanding the collection of jewelry ( rings, pendants and bracelets with which you can enjoy playing with the cover buttons and create your own treasure chest of styles.”