Jewelry News

Tara Hirshberg’s Constellation Earrings Are All Over Instagram

The zodiacs make for a seriously stylish selfie and subtly personal message

by Marion Fasel

It’s not easy to reimagine something that has been around forever, but jewelry designer Tara Hirshberg has done it with her Constellation Collection. The 12 minimalist gold and diamond single earrings, made in the pattern lines of zodiac constellations, are as stylish as they are symbolic.

I knew the instant I got a preview of the collection in Los Angeles on February 19, they were going to be a hit. Why? Because zodiac jewels are on the rise in popularity and these were the most contemporary looking star signs I had ever seen.

Exactly three days after I saw the collection, Kate Hudson wore Tara’s Aries earring with a purple pantsuit when she joined Oprah Winfrey for her 2020 Vision Tour. Tara who is friends with Goldie Hawn, said “Kate loved the jewels when she saw me wearing one.”

The Constellation earring’s star turn on Kate made me feel like my trend forecasting was right on and the jewels would immediately take off. Well, the official launch was paused for several months because of the covid pandemic. A few weeks ago, the collection finally debuted on Moda Operandi. Ever since that moment they have been like a shooting star, crossing all over my Instagram feed.

Town & Country contributor and stylist extraordinaire, Will Kahn made one of his magical notebooks with Tara’s Taurus, Scorpio, Leo and Gemini earrings. The jewels were surrounded by sketches of a moon, stars and Saturn.

Former Harper’s Bazaar accessories editor, current fashion consultant and total Virgo, Jennifer Csengody-Novetsky styled a series of shots in her Constellation earring on Insta. She showed just how sleek and chic the piece can be pairing it with sunnies and a patent leather trench.

Morgan Amelia Miller, a senior account executive at Couture, the best jewelry trade show on the planet, sported a double pair of Tara’s Pisces in her Instagram post and shared her enthusiasm for the design in her caption. Part of it said, “When I heard that Tara Hirshberg would be debuting a new constellation series my mind pretty much blew. For anyone who knows me, celestial work, zodiac work, knocks my bloody socks off… and yet, it’s rare these days for me to find work that is a unique driver within the category. That is until now.”

Fashion and interiors editor at InStyle magazine Laurel Pantin put a styling spin on her Pisces Constellation earring that represents her birthday as well as her two children. She wore the jewel as a brooch.

So how did Tara come up with her star styles? Literally by star gazing.

A couple of years ago, the designer and her family took a trip to Japan. The journey included a visit to the Teshima Art Museum designed by Tokyo-based architect Ryue Nishizawa.

“The museum is stunning contemplative space with elliptical openings in the ceiling where you lie on the floor and watch the clouds go by,” remembers Tara. “I was in there when I started to consider the zodiac. Symbols that are unique and have ancient meanings. They are personal and universal.”

The gestures in the jewels started evolving in Tara’s mind when she saw Japanese brush art on the same trip. “The brushwork reminded me of how a star sign looks when you see it in a linear form,” explained Tara. “I started thinking about the night sky and stars just hanging in the sky and the constellation would do the same hanging off your ear.”

When Tara returned home to Los Angeles, she started designing the collection and working out the manufacturing. While the designs are minimalist and linear, they are meticulously made by hand. “I knew they had to be made that way in order for the weight and balance of each piece to be just so,” says Tara. “The diamond setting and placement is also so critical in these jewels.”

During the process of creating the Constellation Collection Tara realized that she would offer just one earring for each sign. “I thought one earring added a layer of meaning,” says Tara. “They would be worn asymmetrically and the designs are also unbalanced. In addition to all the meaning of zodiacs, these jewels are sort of a metaphor for life. Nothing is perfect.”

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