In this week’s Luxury Briefing, international reporter Zofia Zwieglinska speaks to executives at Mejuri and Material Good about designing luxury jewelry for the new luxury class and stress-testing collections on courts like Wimbledon. Also, Mytheresa’s president of North America discusses its new mobile shopping concept. For tips or comments, email me at zofia@glossy.co.
When Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva’s bracelet snapped during play on Wimbledon’s Centre Court on Wednesday, the pearls scattered across the grass and briefly stopped the match. Under tennis’s hindrance rules, a player is not entitled to replay a point because her own jewelry breaks. A let may be called if the opponent immediately stops because the fallen item creates a hazard, after which play can pause briefly to clear the court.
The moment echoed one of jewelry’s best-known origin stories: American tennis player Chris Evert pausing a U.S. Open match after losing her George Bedewi diamond line bracelet, which led to the style becoming known as the “tennis bracelet.”
Evert helped create the tennis-bracelet category without initially commercializing the moment herself. It was not until 2022, more than four decades later, that she launched an official 13-piece diamond collection with Monica Rich Kosann called The Tennis Bracelet-CE Collection.
Movement-themed jewelry has come a long way since. Andreeva’s bracelet has not been identified and did not appear to be a traditional diamond style. But its failure this week came as luxury jewelry brands are selling a new promise: Luxury pieces can stay visible, secure and desirable even while their wearer is under pressure, as in competing for Grand Slam titles.
Tennis has been moving closer to luxury for years. This week, for her on-court looks, Naomi Osaka has worked with Louis Vuitton and TAG Heuer, as well as independents like Tokyo-based Hana Yagi. Her custom Nike competition looks, designed by Ambush designer Yoon Ahn, have featured oversized bows and removable skirts. Jannik Sinner, meanwhile, has been carrying Gucci duffel bags as a global Gucci ambassador — the house has built on the relationship by debuting a wider tennis collection. Finally, Sinner, American tennis player Coco Gauff, Polish player Iga Świątek and Andreeva have all flaunted their partnerships with Rolex.
Jewelry offers brands a large on-court opportunity. While watches add weight and take up wrist space and designer bags disappear once the match begins, necklaces and earrings remain in the camera frame as players serve, react and celebrate. Across the women’s tour, jewelry pieces have been worn as a uniform: Osaka wears Mikimoto pearls, Gauff has worn Vivienne Westwood pearls and Coach earrings, Emma Raducanu has played in Tiffany & Co., and Sabalenka previously wore Cartier. Even Grigor Dimitrov has stacked Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra bracelets during games.
For jewelry brands, the opportunity is to turn that existing behavior into a route from accessible products to fine and high jewelry.
“If you can serve in it, you can live your life in it,” Mejuri founder and CEO Noura Sakkijha told Glossy. The 11-year-old brand has tripled in size over the past five years and now operates more than 60 stores globally.
Mejuri launched Mejuri Play, its sports and athlete-partnership initiative, around the 2025 U.S. Open, with Emma Navarro as its first tennis ambassador. It has since expanded Play through a larger roster of players, tennis-focused products and events around Wimbledon, the Canadian Open and the U.S. Open. This week, it introduced an expanded Play collection spanning a $60 sterling-silver Boyfriend Bold Bracelet to a $7,100 natural-diamond tennis necklace.
“We take into consideration how they’re playing, how they’re moving,” Sakkijha said. “It’s not just about sports. It’s about going to work, living in your jewelry, going to the gym, doing whatever you want.”
For its sports partnerships, Mejuri focuses on lighter sterling-silver and solid-gold pieces, and asks its athletes for feedback when designing the pieces. Per Sakkijha, one player said she liked a larger drop earring because its mechanics kept it from interfering with play. “I love the idea of always co-creating the functionality of the product [with players] while we bring in the design expertise and the manufacturing expertise,” Sakkijha said.
And it is not the only jewelry brand doing so. Material Good is selling the same idea at a far higher price point, aimed at luxury buyers watching Grand Slams. For Wimbledon, it created a custom suite for Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka using emeralds and brown diamonds. The collection includes a $32,700 anklet, $47,200 earrings and a necklace available by inquiry.
The jewelry is meant to register from the stands and on broadcast. The result is a form of on-court peacocking: The pieces turn Sabalenka’s power and confidence into a luxury image, while giving Material Good repeated exposure during points, changeovers and post-match close-ups. Research suggests the effect may extend to the wearer, too. In a three-part Northwestern University study, clothing associated with authority cut attention errors by about 50%, suggesting Sabalenka’s $79,900-plus jewelry suite can operate as both psychological armor and a status symbol.
That visibility is also converting into business. “We’ve had clients who found us through the Aryna partnership and have become high jewelry clients in our atelier, and vice versa,” said Teresa Panico, Material Good’s director of marketing and fine jewelry.
For the brands, attribution is achieved through content, not an on-court logo. Mejuri reveals its custom pieces through player “stack check” videos and tournament posts that tag its ambassadors, while Material Good pairs tight match photography with product close-ups, press seeding and reposted media coverage. The jewelry may read as personal styling during play, but the social rollout makes the maker explicit.
“Designing for someone like Aryna inspired us to rethink what fine jewelry can be,” she said. “We challenged the assumption that jewelry has to be dainty and delicate to be beautiful, and crafted something that moves with the wearer and holds up under real intensity.”
But as we saw this week with Andreeva’s pearl spilling display, that confidence still depends on construction. “You should trust your jewelry to stay on and fit securely, but you can’t forget about maintenance,” said Ann Williams, founder and creative director of jewelry brand Yearly Co. “Solid gold is a relatively soft material, so even high-end clasps can loosen over time with 24/7 or high-impact wear.”
Williams said lower-profile, protected settings generally handle impact better than exposed prongs. Mejuri’s station bracelet and necklace feature individual stones set in low-profile gold surrounds. Material Good takes a more conspicuous approach, but its Sabalenka pieces similarly frame the emeralds and brown diamonds in substantial gold.
“That’s why solid gold, careful construction and a company that stands behind repairs matter,” Williams said.
And so courts like Wimbledon are both a campaign and a product test for brands like Mejuri and Material Good. Tennis gives jewelry brands rare, sustained visibility, but it also puts every clasp, setting and claim of durability under live scrutiny.
Mytheresa tests the luxury house call in the Hamptons
Mytheresa is testing whether luxury clienteling can work better as a house call than a store visit.
From June 30 through August 6, Mytheresa will host a customized Airstream that will travel across the Hamptons, stopping at destinations including The Hedges Inn, Wölffer Estate Vineyard and Montauk Yacht Club, while also visiting top clients’ homes for private appointments. “The traffic is so bad, and people in the Hamptons really like just to stay at their home,” said Carly Rosenberg, president of Mytheresa North America. “So we thought, ‘Let’s bring the store to them.’”
The mobile boutique will carry brands including Pucci, Missoni, Zimmermann, Gucci, Chloé and Toteme, with the assortment adjusted by location and, where possible, tailored to individual clients. Mytheresa will assess the activation beyond immediate sales, tracking new and existing customers and how their spending evolves. “We understand the impact of everything we do,” Rosenberg said. “That allows us to learn from everything we do.”
The format costs roughly the same as a traditional seasonal pop-up, according to the company, but it gives Mytheresa more flexibility to follow customers, tap partner venues’ audiences and personalize each stop. Still, executives framed it as a market-specific model rather than a universal one: “What would work in the Hamptons is not going to work in the south of France or Asia.”
Executive Moves
- Swiss watchmaker De Bethune has appointed former Bulgari watch executive Antoine Pin as CEO, five years after The 1916 Company acquired a majority stake in the independent Swiss watchmaker.
News to know
- The CFDA’s preliminary spring 2027 New York Fashion Week schedule includes 70 shows and presentations running from September 10-15, opening with Henry Zankov’s debut at Diane von Furstenberg and closing with Thom Browne. Tommy Hilfiger, Monse and ThreeAsFour are returning, and the CFDA’s fur-free policy will take effect for all brands on the official schedule.
- Saks Global has exited bankruptcy under the new corporate name Exemplar Luxury Group after cutting its debt by 75%, securing $500 million in financing and shrinking its store base from about 170 locations to 49. The parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman will focus on full-price luxury, white-glove service and a smaller brand assortment after closing most Saks Off 5th and Neiman Marcus Last Call stores.
- Chanel has acquired full ownership of 188-year-old French shirtmaker Charvet, including its six-floor Place Vendôme building, for an undisclosed sum. Charvet will retain its single-boutique model and creative independence, while continuing to work with Chanel artistic director Matthieu Blazy on future designs.
Listen in
As the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary, the Glossy fashion podcast examines what makes American fashion distinct in an increasingly global industry. Journalist and “Articles of Interest” host Avery Trufelman joins senior reporter Danny Parisi and editor in chief Jill Manoff to discuss the country’s culture of reinvention and the designers shaping its identity today. Listen here.
Read on Glossy
Bootleg sports merchandise is forcing brands to get creative. Nike expects $986 million in IEEPA tariff refunds. Fashion brands are launching clear festival handbags for music fans.
