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Hot
sunny morning in Los Angeles. At ten-thirty we drove
over to West Hollywood and up in to the hills to meet with Courtney
Wagner and Anita Ko, partners in a jewelry design
business called, simply and appropriately, Wagner and Ko.
We were meeting at Wagner’s house – a
simple, utilitarian three bedroom, five bath
California house with rambling sky-lit kitchen – light
and airy with lots of glass looking out on enclosed patios
as well as the pool surrounded by exotic flora and fauna.
It’s one of those houses where all you see is the
tiny parking area and then you walk through the front
door into … a big wide bright, and casual, world.
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Cameron
Diaz wearing a Wagner & Ko necklace at the
Vanilla Sky Premiere (appeared in People magazine).
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I’m not
an expert on jewelry or design. Although I’ve seen things
I’ve liked more than others. I was interested in meeting these
girls because they are young Los Angeles women with a business,
with connections to the hip and also the glamorous aspects of Los
Angeles.
Wagner’s father and mother are Robert Wagner and the
late Natalie Wood. She was a young child at the time of her
mother’s untimely death. Both Mother and Father Wagner were
very well-liked people in the movie colony as a couple and as individuals.
The daughter reflects that. Courtney looks a lot like her mother,
especially the child star. Sweet-faced, a gentle and kind personality;
friendly but untouched by the glitz.
Anita Ko and Courtney Wagner have been friends most of their lives. Anita
also grew up in Los Angeles, although she lived in New York while
at NYU studying design. One day the two young women discovered that
they were both interested in jewelry design as a business and career.
Their point of view was identical. Which was, to quote Ko, “we
realized that a lot of our friends, either married or working professionals,
had reached the age when they were interested in jewelry and buying
it for themselves, instead of waiting to receive it as a gift.”
Wagner added, “It was also the realization
that grunge is gone and it’s all about diamonds and bling-bling.
You see J-Lo and she’s wearing tons of diamonds.
Now mothers are buying diamonds for their teenage daughters.” Or,
in keeping with my theory: the world has gone Beverly
Hills 90210. |
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In
Wagner's Hollywood Hills kitchen: Courtney Wagner talking to
DPC (reflected in the window) while Anita Ko steps outside for
a smoke.
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Wagner
and Ko’s timing was perfect. “It’s not
about the look of the week anymore,” Wagner said. Women
are attracted to things they can wear in a variety of ways.
Real gold, real diamonds. “We like to think people can
wear a lot of our things together.”
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Wagner & Ko
white gold and diamond earrings
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They officially
went into business two years ago. Their muses and inspiration are
Hollywood women – Drew Barrymore, Gwyneth, Annette Bening,
Sela Ward. They love the style of Ali McGraw whose influence
is now classic. “She can wear pants and a tee shirt and a
necklace and look simply fabulous, “ Ko pointed out.
They love Elsa Peretti and the fact that her designs are style
contemporary thirty and forty years later. They admire Cartier and
the fact that it can be collected.
Sela and Ali and Gwyneth all own pieces from Wagner and Ko. I don’t
know about Drew, but Jennifer Connelly is a customer. As well
as China Chow, Cameron Diaz, Gwen Stefani, Tori Spelling, Melissa
Ethridge, Monet Mazur, Kidada Jones, Jennifer Tilly, Kirsty Hume,
Jessica Capshaw, Ana Getty, Steven Dorff (yes), Christina
Applegate, Faith Hill and Courtney Cox can all be seen
in Wagner and Ko.
None of this is a surprise to a lot of young women, I realized after
our meeting with the girls. Bergdorf’s, Neiman’s, Saks
Fifth Avenue, Fred Segal, Maxfield Blue – they all carry Wagner
and Ko. |
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Sapphire
double necklace. $2,100.
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Gold
Fish necklace
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Diamond
and white gold necklace. $25,000
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The
Fly Ring (Ruby body/Sapphire head). $1,800.
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A
sampling of Wagner & Ko jewelry
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After
our visit to Wagner and Ko, JH dropped me off at Spago on
Canon Drive in Beverly Hills. For years when I lived here,
Spago was located on the Sunset Strip, just across from Tower
Records and Book Soup. It was Hollywood Hipsters Junction and Wolfgang
Puck was cutting edge. Now Spago is located in the heart
of Beverly Hills high rent commercial. In fact, for years before,
the same location was occupied by the Bistro Garden. A very
well heeled crowd, although not cutting edge. Well-heeled is
not interested in cutting edge anyway. They are interested
in service, quality, ambiance and within their purview, people
they know or would like to know.
It’s a great Beverly Hills place for lunch or dinner, a kind
of combination Hollywood and Palm Beach, with a dash of New York’s “21.”
I was a guest of New York’s Joan Linclau who, with her
husband Ron, keeps a house here for the long and wonderful
L.A. summer. Joan lives in a deep Hollywood neighborhood. Toby
Maguire, Keanu Reeves, Leo di Caprio, Ricardo Montalban and god
knows who else. And like a New York apartment house, this paradiscal
environment is as impersonal: you know the house they live in, you
sometimes hear their cars or doors, and that’s it. It could
be Millie Hank Glutz of Paducah and you’d never know the difference
because you don’t actually see them. |
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