Anything Beyonce touches turns to gold, well at least her choice of jewelry has made one designer a very lucky woman...
Before Beyonce rocked Erika Pena's original style Obama earrings, the designer had only sold a handful, now the count has surpassed a 1,000..
The 36-year-old jewelry designer was born and raised in Puerto Rico by Dominican parents, and moved to New York to study at Parsons School of Design when she was 18, launching her own line in 2006. Today she works out of Puerto Rico, Spain, and Bali, and hopes to expand her operations even further, in the United States, in 2013.
"I made these earrings over the summertime just for me, and every time I'd wear them, people would compliment me," she tells us. "So then I thought, I'll make an order of 1,500. I sent a pair to Beyonce, because I had worked with her on her B'Day album. I ended up sending her six pairs total because her stylist Ty Hunter said she wanted a pair for her sister Solange and another pair to give to Oprah, too. That was like a month ago and I hadn't heard back, so I was like 'gosh, maybe she doesn't like them,' but it turns out she loves them. And then she wore them and Ty called on Sunday to say, 'get ready because this is going to blow up!'"
And blow up they have. Since Beyonce wore them, Peña has sold around 1,300 of the 1,500 she had made, so that means there are only about 200 pairs left at the moment. Peña says her small office in Puerto Rico is dealing with such a demand that she's had to call in cousins to come help out at the boutique.
Peña says she is not making more because it's too close to the November 6 election, but if Obama wins, she has already thought of ways to remix the originals, which are made in such a way that you can detach the word "Bama" and replace it with anything you want, like other words or stones or chains.
"If Obama wins, I'll remake them again, but I'll switch them up a bit," Peña says. "I'll have new plates made, with the year 2013, or maybe the word "Rocks" or "Won" so people can wear one earring with the word "Obama" and the other with something different."
Bey isn't the only celeb rocking the now-famous Obama hoops. Kimora Lee Simmons posted this pic of herself rocking them on Twitter.
Would you wear them?
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