Small business owners Jacqueline and Kevin Elbaum are always happy when someone wears one of their beautiful pieces. But they were captivated to see one of the world's biggest stars wearing not one, but two special pieces from her collection last week.
November 5 Taylor Swift was spotted wearing a stunning yellow gold diamond necklace and a diamond chain lariat while on a date with fiance Travis Kelsey in New York.
A rumor quickly spread that these items belonged to the Elbaum brand. Audrey Rose, which the couple founded in 2015.
“It was like the 10 best moments of my life,” Kevin Elbaum told TODAY.com in a joint interview with his wife, calling the experience “surreal.”
The couple first learned that Swift was a fan of their jewelry when they were having dinner with their family.
“One of my friends just saw it and called me and said, 'I think this is your necklace.' So I opened Instagram, zoomed in, and thought, 'Oh my God, that's my necklace,'” Jacqueline Elbaum recalls.
The mother of two's animated reaction initially worried her husband.
“I wasn't sure if anyone had died. I couldn't understand it because her reaction was so crazy that my heart sank,” says Kevin Elbaum.
He decided to film his wife's reaction and post this on Instagram. In the video, Jacqueline Elbaum holds back tears while looking at a photo of Swift wearing two necklaces.
The couple were especially touched by Swift's choice. The “Life of a Showgirl” singer wore two pieces from her collection that have special meaning to their family.
Jacqueline Elbaum designed Pave Diamond Necklace about five years ago and says the piece is “really close to my heart.”
Every part of the necklace is handmade, including the chain, named after the couple's daughter Sloan.
“She couldn't have chosen a more important thing for us,” adds Kevin Elbaum.
lariat this Swift paired with a lock necklace also has sentimental value: it was designed by Jacqueline Elbaum. for her mother's 70th birthday.
A Life-Changing Moment for Small Businesses
The Elbaums are the latest small business owners to experience the “Taylor Swift effect,” referring to the singer's cultural and economic influence. Other examples include Increasing female NFL audience after Swift started dating Kelsey and the jewelry designer Kindred Lubeck Social Media Followers Explode after Kelsey proposed with one of her rings.
Never in their wildest dreams did the Elbaums imagine something like this could happen to their small business.
“We don’t have a publicist or anything. We didn't try to convey this to her, so we were really quite stunned that this could even happen. We figured the only way it could happen was if she took it to her stylist or someone else,” says Kevin Elbaum.
Since the photo of Swift wearing their jewelry went viral, the Elbaums have seen an increase in traffic to their brand's website and more people purchasing the $7,800 padlock necklace.
They have since added sterling silver version lock necklace, which retails for $890.
The Elbaum family says they are incredibly grateful for Swift's support of small businesses.
“We would pay her to get the necklace. It's clearly a passion project of hers to just bring that Taylor aura to companies that she loves, so it's really special,” says Kevin Elbaum.
Jacqueline Elbaum adds that Swift “clearly cares about the craft and how things are done.”
After seeing a photo of Swift wearing their brand's items, the Elbaums emailed the singer's team to express their gratitude.
“I appreciate what she does with all small businesses, not just ours. It’s truly something special,” says Jacqueline Elbaum.
Launching pad for a “new stage”
The Elbaum family founded Audry Rose in 2015, shortly after grandmother Jacqueline Elbaum, the brand's namesake, passed away.
“She started out in the clothing industry and was involved in entrepreneurship before it became a thing for women. She was truly ahead of her time and I always looked up to her. She has always been a role model for me. Quality has always been very important to her, so we wanted that to be reflected in the brand,” says Jacqueline Elbaum.
Before launching their brand, Kevin Elbaum specialized in customer acquisition, and Jacqueline Elbaum worked in the fashion industry.
“I always really wanted to do something with her, and it helped her overcome her fear of jumping with me,” says Kevin Elbaum.
The Elbaums say it will be a long time before they can shake the feeling that they're seeing Swift in one of their designs.
Looking to the future, the couple hopes this is simply the start of a new phase for their brand.
“I want everyone to know that quality is really important to us, and I hope that other people trust our brand as much as she does,” says Jacqueline Elbaum. “We’re excited to keep working, keep designing, keep growing.”
This moment will certainly be hard to top, but the Elbaums are excited to see what comes next.
“We're just trying to keep moving forward and hope for something special in the next 10 years,” says Kevin Elbaum.
