Celebrity Jewelry

Judge the Jewels: Ilona Maher Is Badass and Beautiful in Custom Brent Neale

She wore a design commissioned by Sports Illustrated for her cover shoot.

Published

7 hours ago

October 3, 2024

Becky Stone

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The sighting: Olympian rugby champion and social media phenomenon Ilona Maher has added two new roles to her resume since she rocked the summer games in Paris: Sports Illustrated cover model and Dancing with the Stars contestant. Her SI cover involved the reveal of gorgeous bikini (of course) but also a glittering new custom jewel!

The jewels: Maher is wearing (and biting) a gorgeous custom lipstick pendant by Brent Neale. This is a behind the scenes photo from the rugby player’s Sports Illustrated photo shoot, which also featured the Brent Neale jewel. Since it’s custom, we don’t know the specs, but we do know that Brent Neale tends to work in 18K yellow gold and high quality gems.

The design was commissioned by Sports Illustrated for the shoot. You can see on this shot from Brent Neale’s Instagram that the pendant features the Olympic rings and “SI” on the engraved on the back.

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The trends: After Simone Biles rocked her custom diamond goat pendant in Paris, Ilona Maher is officially the second famous Olympian lady to celebrate her athletic success with a bejeweled custom pendant in a shape that is personally meaningful to her.
Pretty, blingy, and personally meaningful pendants? Sounds like big trend potential to me.

What do we think? The idea of wearing one special large pendant that represents something important about the wearer’s personality or identity is very fun and extremely copy-able. I think this is delightful and I wouldn’t be surprised if it inspires gift shoppers to look for fun, figural pendants for the winter holiday season.

I also extra love this for Ilona Maher – a big part of the athlete’s social media presence is dedicated to body positivity and reinforcing the idea that a woman with a less stereotypically “feminine” body shape is beautiful and worthy. Embracing this sparkly pendant in the shape of a red lipstick – a favorite makeup style of Maher’s and a symbol of traditional femineity – reinforces that juxtaposition in the most luxurious and stylish way.

Judgement: 14/10 for this moment of badass beauty.

You Wouldn’t Cut Your Own Hair. Why Run Your Own Retirement Sale?

After being in business for over a quarter of a century, Wayne Reid, owner of Wayne Jewelers in Wayne, Pennsylvania, decided it was time for a little “me time.” He says, “I’ve reached a point in my life where it’s time to slow down, enjoy a lot of things outside of the jewelry industry. It just seemed to be the right time.” He chose Wilkerson to handle his retirement sale because of their reputation and results. With financial goals exceeded, Reid says he made the right choice selecting Wilkerson to handle the sale. “They made every effort to push our jewelry to the forefront of the showcases,” he says, lauding Wilkerson for their finesse and expertise. Would he recommend them to other jewelers who want to make room for new merchandise, expand their business or like him, decide to call it a day? Absolutely he says, equating trying to do this kind of sale with cutting your own hair. “The results are going to happen but not as well as if you have a professional like Wilkerson do the job for you.”