Catherine Zoraida Blackwell’s brand may have taken off with the Princess’s influence, but every creation is still made by hand
The moment Catherine Zoraida Blackwell saw that the Princess of Wales was wearing earrings Blackwell had designed was “overwhelming”. The photo of the then Duchess of Cambridge during the Diamond Jubilee tour was on the front pages of every national newspaper.
“She looked incredible,” says Blackwell. “She was dressed for dinner with the King of Malaysia, in a long formal Alexander McQueen dress, and my jewellery.”
Blackwell had been contacted a few weeks earlier by the Duchess’s stylist, who bought two pieces, the “Double leaf earrings” and “spread your wings” bracelet and asked for them to be sent with next-day delivery. “But I hadn’t heard anything else since,” Blackwell says. “Then, there she was, wearing them, and suddenly my website crashed. There’s this army of sleuths who work out exactly where each item of her outfit is from, and they found me. It was crazy.”
The collection wasn’t bespoke, nor precious jewels – it was an off-the peg design, made from gold-plated silver, that cost the un-regal price of £165 from Blackwell’s label, Catherine Zoraida.
As the Duchess – now Princess of Wales – is wont to do, she wore the pieces again, later on the tour. She went on to buy more jewellery from Zoraida including “Fern drop” earrings and gold “Mistle Kiss” earrings both of which she wore on several Zoom appearances during lockdown, “fern hoop” earrings (£220), which she wore to Wimbledon in 2019 and very recently the aptly-named “crown fern hoops” (£160), “which I guess we might see on her soon,” Blackwell says, smiling.
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My reading goal for 2023 is to read 75 books. I will post each book I've read here:
Frankenstein (1818 text) by Mary Shelley
In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce
The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice
All the Dangerous Things by Stacey Willingham
The Essential Bogosian: Talk Radio, Drinking in America, Funhouse and Men Inside by Eric Bogosian
What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall
Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice
The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz
Mall by Eric Bogosian
The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice
Pounding Nails in the Floor With My Forehead by Eric Bogosian
Merrick by Anne Rice
Vicious by V.E Schwab
Such Pretty Flowers by K.L Cerra
Blood and Gold by Anne Rice
Vengeful by V.E Schwab
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
Prince Lestat by Anne Rice
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl
The Spite House by Johnny Compton
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
ExtraOrdinary by V.E Schwab
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman
Gallant by V.E Schwab
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Shades of Magic Vol. 1: The Steel Prince by V.E Schwab
Shades of Magic Vol. 2: Night of Knives by V.E Schwab
Shades of Magic Vol. 3: The Rebel Army by V.E Schwab
Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis by Anne Rice
Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Alderson
Blood Communion by Anne Rice
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher
Wolfsong by TJ Klune
Demon in the Wood by Leigh Bardugo
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes
The Magic That Binds by A.J. Sherwood
Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
Witch King by Martha Wells
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
Drowned Country by Emily Tesh
Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell
Reforged by Seth Haddon
From Below by Darcy Coates
Nimona by N.D. Stevenson
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows
You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
Cosmoknights by Hannah Templer
The Last Word by Taylor Adams
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
The Lightning-Struck Heart by T.J. Klune
Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman
Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard
The Family Game by Catherine Steadman
Ravensong by T.J. Klune
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
Finna by Nino Cipri
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin
My Dear Henry by Kalynn Bayron
Vampires Never Get Old by Natalie C. Parker and Zoraida Córdova
Creature Feature Collection (Ankle Snatcher by Grady Hendrix + five more short stories)
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (re-read)
Someone We Know by Shari Lapena
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales of Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo
A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske (re-read)
The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard
A Restless Truth by Freya Marske
A Power Unbound by Freya Marske
The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher
A Clash of Steel by C.B. Lee
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles
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2021 Book List
White Fragility: Why It’s so Hard to Talk to White People About Racism, Robin DeAngelo (1/15)
The Power, Naomi Alderman (1/21)
Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys (1/28)
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander (2/8)
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow (2/27)
Notes on A Silencing, Lacy Crawford (3/12)
A Gentleman In Moscow, Amor Towles (4/1)
City of Girls, Elizabeth Gilbert (4/5)
Circe, Madeleine Miller (4/16)
The Chanel Sisters, Judithe Little (4/22)
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman (4/24)
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (5/6)
The Last Wish, Andrzej Sapowski (5/15)
Atonement, Ian McEwan (5/29)
The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett (6/3)
The Office of Historical Corrections, Danielle Evans (6/11)
My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult (6/12)
The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman (7/7)
A Knock On The Door at Midnight, Brittany K. Barnett (7/20)
The Lost and Found Bookshop, Susan Wiggs (7/25)
People We Meet On Vacation, Emily Henry (7/29)
Shadow and Bone, Leigh Bardugo (7/31)
The Positive Shift, Catherine A. Sanderson (8/5)
Watchmen, Alan Moore (8/8)
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina, Zoraida Córdova (8/17)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (9/18)
Beautiful Country: A Memoir, Qian Julie Wang (9/23)
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, Balli Kaur Jaswal (9/26)
Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid (10/5)
Anxious People, Fredrik Backman (10/11)
Nine Perfect Strangers, Liane Moriarty (10/24)
Harlem Shuffle, Colson Whitehead (11/11)
The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles (12/18)
Maybe in Another Life, Taylor Jenkins Reid (12/20)
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, V.E. Schwab (12/23)
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