Fashion Forum

WWD: Youve been designing jewelry for nearly 30 years. Why did you now decide to venture into other categories such as eyewear?
David Yurman: I never think of them as other categories. Its another form of human adornment. Where else can you adorn the body? The face, the eyes, the temples. I think its the new accessory even though I hate the word accessory.

WWD: What were your inspirations for the eyewear line that launches this fall?
D.Y.: Our design apple doesnt fall far from the tree. We wanted to fuse eyewear with jewelry. The jewelry on the glasses is our jewelry. Its our stones, our initial designs and it works no pun intended within our framework.

WWD: Was fit a concern with the frames?
D.Y.: We had people on staff test it. Its in keeping with the way we make bracelets, the way a cuff fits or the way we balance earrings. Theres not a piece that we make in our [jewelry] shop that I dont have at least three fittings with our assistants.

WWD: Did your son, Evan, director of mens, have input into the mens eyewear?
D.Y.: What he did that I thought was brilliant is that there is a subtlety and classic nature to the mens glasses that I think is cool. Its somehow reservist. He was able to build a relationship with Zeiss [a top lens maker] and uses the lenses in all the designs, not just some. Evan is kind of a connoisseur and hes very authentic in his choices.

WWD: Did Evan always have a liking for the family business?
D.Y.: No, no, no. He had a disliking for the business, if anything, because it took too much time away from us being around. From [ages] 10, 11, 12, hed correct my drawings at the kitchen table. Hed have little critiques of my work. Hes always been most decisive when it comes to style. At five or six, Sybil and I had just come back from a party at Marthas Vineyard and hes looking at her and says City dress, country shoes, mom.

WWD: Do you see yourself in him?
D.Y.: Hes my clone.

WWD: What was the experience like, making a fragrance?
D.Y.: Eighty-five percent of what [Sybil and I] chose was the same family of essences. We really just kind of love the same smells and thats where the art comes in. That part took a long time. At one point, we were thinking this isnt going to happen: Take it up, take it down, throw it away, start again. Then the most bizarre thing: We went to a creator of scent. He read about the brand, saw our jewelry. He said, Im going to make a structure of a fragrance that has a certain sense of solidity, family and a complexity [like that] in the jewelry. At the end of the day, Sybil was the ultimate design director. If we didnt please Sybil, wed go back to the drawing board. So it was Did we make Sybil happy? And it took a while.

WWD: When you started collaborating with David Lipman nearly a decade ago on an ad campaign, you stepped out of the box for a fine jewelry firm.
D.Y.: [The ad campaign] was a big financial risk. I never felt like I was just a jeweler. I came to jewelry, not from a family of jewelers, I came from making sculpture. I had these visions of things to wear and how do we make this work. I made belt buckles, I designed a compact for Estée Lauder although they dont remember it 28, 29 years ago. I look at form as it relates to the body. Sybils the marketing genius.

WWD: The new campaign, shot indoors for the first time, is a bit of a departure for your brand.
D.Y.: Its about portraiture. This is some of Peters [Lindbergh] best work. Hes a great portrait artist. I have a head shot and its a great shot. We were shooting Ed Burns and Peter said, Put a shirt on, lets take a shot. Then he said, This is the ad. He was serious. [But it turned out not to be the image for the campaign.]

WWD: Would you ever consider featuring yourself in the campaign?
D.Y.: No, no.

WWD: Ralph Lauren did it.
D.Y.: Did it work? I guess everyone knows who he is. I dont think Id like it. I have enough people that know who I am.

WWD: How is the progress going on your new Madison Avenue flagship?
D.Y.: Its one of the ultimate luxuries to be able to look for the best architect, from retail architects to home architects. Weve chosen someone but we havent signed yet, so I shouldnt say. But this husband-and-wife team, we have the same philosophy. Weve told them about what we do, but this is his world and we have to stand back.

WWD: Are you worried about the state of the economy?
D.Y.: Of course, were concerned. Were doing amazing and its like, Ooh, a challenge. Things are twice as expensive, gold is incredibly expensive. People are being pinched, but they still want things. Life isnt worth living if you cant participate in the food of life.