If you were a billionaire, what kind of jewelry would you wear?

Jane and Aerin Lauder wear chic bijoux that gleam with refined aesthetics, effortless elegance, precious gems, noble metals and impeccable craftsmanship.  They are the best bejeweled sisters in the U.S., if not the world.  In Aerin’s case, she also designs haute luxe 24-karat yellow gold-plated costume jewelry for her AERIN brand. Her eponymous jewelry collection is as notable for its versatility and statement-making scale. Along with fresh; sophisticated renderings of botanical and marine motifs, AERIN jewelry is characterized by its innovative and elegant use of beautifully polished and carved wood elements.

In case you don’t already know, the Lauder sisters are senior executives and board members at the world’s largest privately held cosmetics company, New York-based Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (ELC Inc.) ELC’s many brands include Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Origins, La Mer, MAC Cosmetics, Ojon, Bumble & bumble and Tom Ford Beauty.

 

 

Thanks to a 23 percent rise in company profits in 2013, Jane and Aerin became billionaires. Great news for their jewelry budgets!

But seriously, filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reveal that each sister controls more than 17 million shares of Estee Lauder Companies. The stock, which they own directly and through family trusts, is valued at about $2.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. (As of August 2014, this makes Jane the youngest female billionaire in the U.S. and one of the youngest in the world.)

One imagines that during childhood visits to their grandmother Estee, the sisters studied her many fabulous jewels close-up, and one hopes, tried them on before the mirror in between practicing make-up application techniques. Judging by their photos, the late tycoon doubtless transmitted some of her fabled fine jewelry finesse to Jane and Aerin.

 

 

After founding her company in 1946, Mrs. Lauder became a couture customer as well as a connoisseur of important jewelry. Estee’s jewelry collection influenced her product packaging.  Famous for animal, flower and other natural motifs, Estee Lauder powder compacts and solid perfume cases were often finely cast and textured like miniature sculptures.  Sometimes these were skillfully inlaid with gem materials or synthetic stones.  The more technically accomplished pieces are now valuable vintage collectibles.

Regarding her own bijoux, Mrs. Lauder’s sensibility defined ultra-refined.

While her daytime jewels embodied high karat gold, important gemstones and master craftsmanship, her evening  jewelry glittered with rare and royal éclat. This queen of the beauty world wore exquisite, dramatic diamonds of impeccable and intense color, cut, clarity and mega-carat weight.

 

 

Back in the 1970s, Estee purchased a fancy intense yellow heart-shaped diamond weighing 47.14 carats from her chum, the Duchess of Windsor. Van Cleef and Arpels New York then centered the sunny sparkler in a regal white diamond necklace according to Estee’s specifications. This pedigreed piece sold for $2,546,500 in 2012 at a Sotheby’s New York auction of jewels from Estee’s (and the Lauder sister’s late aunt Evelyn Lauder’s) collections. Evelyn, a former senior vice president of ELC whose responsibilities included fragrance development, founded the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). All auction proceeds benefited the non-profit BCRF.

While Aerin told Harper’s Bazaar in 2007 that Estee bequeathed her some beautiful bijoux, Aerin (tantalizingly) omitted specifics. The Estee Lauder Private Collection perfumes that Aerin helped create, however, indicate she shares Estee’s gift for devising gem-like fragrance packaging.

 

 

Some bottle caps for these scents are studded with colorful semi-precious gemstones reminiscent of Byzantine mosaics. Others are artfully textured like hand-hammered gold. Each cap tops off every Private Collection perfume with a recherché fine jewelry finish that’s otherwise MIA in today’s so-called “luxury fragrance” market.

But back to the sisters:  It’s fascinating to observe how Jane and Aerin adorn themselves with disparately styled, yet equally chic jewels.

Jane’s choices embody and express 3-D sculptural elements, kinetic movement, colorful gem materials and organic textures.

On the other hand, Aerin’s look gleams with high karat gold pieces in classic link or traditional tassel designs that are occasionally accented by diamonds or pearls. She also favors dramatic bangles.

While Jane and Aerin’s jewelry enhances their respective aesthetics, their jewelry choices also help express their distinct roles in the family-run, global beauty and lifestyle empire.

 

 

To wit, Aerin, the blonde-streaked, 43-year-old mother of two teenage boys is style and image director of ELC Inc. She’s also the chairman of AERIN LLC, the afore-mentioned brand that along with luxe costume jewelry also includes beauty, fragrance, shoes, furniture, home accessories and lighting.  Inspired by Ms. Lauder’s elegant yet effortless style, her eponymous brand embodies self-assured, nuanced luxury and femininity. (In one AERIN video, she summarizes the line’s style as “heritage-with-a-twist.”)

The classic; confidently scaled yellow gold statement jewelry that Aerin wears in promotional images gracefully communicates relaxed chic and the brand’s heritage-with-a-twist aesthetic.

 

 

Younger sister Jane, 41, is a long-haired brunette and Global Brand President of Clinique. (Her previous title was Global President/General Manager of Origins and Ojon.) At Origins, Jane oversaw creation of products rich in essential oils and naturally derived, scientifically proven effective ingredients. The company grew and profits branched out like the Origins logo of graceful trees in full foliage. Favoring colorful, contemporary artisanal jewelry in high karat gold and richly hued gemstones, Jane has nailed the Boho billionaire look.

 

 

Even in corporate portraits, Jane’s jewelry imparts self-assured chic that reads as artistic, individualistic and exuberant. Think oversized gold watches and sculpturally bold, nature-motif necklaces. Graced with gold, colorful mega-crystals, organic gem materials like amethyst or Persian turquoise, Jane’s jewelry adorns her while celebrating beautiful forms, materials and artisanship.

Take Jane’s earrings, for example. These often radiate bohemian freedom and artistic extravagance while moving with the kinetic, youth-quaking spirit of 60s fashion icon Edie Sedgwick. Impressive, considering that Jane is married to conservative establishment pillar Kevin Warsh, a lawyer who served on the Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011.

 

 

Jane’s articulated, boldly scaled earrings embody a sensibility that most women, especially wealthy, less secure style-setters, are simply too timid or aesthetically ignorant to appreciate. Likewise, Aerin Lauder’s subtly sophisticated, personal jewels and heritage-with-a-twist AERIN collection embody a relaxed refinement that many women are too bling-obsessed or culturally misguided to emulate.

You needn’t be a billionaire like Jane or Aerin, however, to buy, wear or share great jewelry. Just figure out WHO you are, WHAT looks best on you and WHAT kind of image you want to present.