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Kate Middleton Wore Earrings From a Strategist-Approved Black-Owned Business

Photo: Eddie Mulholland - WPA Pool/Getty Images

For better or for worse, as Strategist editors and writers, we cannot turn off our shopping brains. With “Saw Something, Said Something,” we’ll be writing about the tiniest of details that have caught our eye — status toothpaste in the background of Lizzo’s TikTok, a plant so rare it’s called a Birkin, or a specific face cream in a Roy sibling’s medicine cabinet.

Royal photo ops don’t really tend to catch my eye. But earlier this week, when Kate Middleton and Prince William honoured Windrush Day by unveiling a special memorial at Waterloo Station, I looked past Kate’s white Alexander McQueen trouser suit and instead noticed the sculpt-y, almost architectural earrings she wore to the ceremony.

They were decidedly different to the thick-cut gemstones and chandelier-style sparkles I associate with royal family jewellery. They didn’t look 350 years old, for a start. This pair seemed less fussy and more like ones you might find dangling from a patron’s ears in a natural wine bar. Zaha Hadid via Dover St Market.

A lightbulb went off in my head. There was a reason these earrings looked almost familiar to me: They were by the Black-owned jewellery business Chalk, which we’ve featured on the Strategist more than once. When we polled cool people on the best hoop earrings, our panel loved Chalk (as well as hoops by Catbird and Monica Viander). Photographer Chantel King told us that Chalk, founded by architect and designer Malaika Carr, incorporated Art Deco influences into their pieces. “The beautiful lines, bold colours, and general intricacies of Chalk’s designs drew me in and now I’m hooked,” she said. “I love that some of the pieces look like stained-glass windows — it feels like you’re wearing a bit of history.”

These earrings aren’t hoops, but fittingly, they are a nod to iconic British architecture. Middleton wore Chalk’s Florence earrings, modelled on the ornate geometry of the Royal Opera House’s auditorium ceiling. Despite looking like they cost around the same as a studio apartment in East London, the earrings are made from a mix of acrylic, walnut, and sterling silver, and retail for just £70.

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The Black-Owned Brand Kate Middleton Wore This Week