What Would Emma Walmsley Wear?

Dame Emma Walmsley (who received her honour in 2020) is the CEO of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.  She is one of the most powerful businesswomen in the world and rose through the ranks of the consumer healthcare side of the business before becoming the first female CEO of a major pharmaceutical company in 2017. 

As a trailblazer for women in business, there are few who can hold a torch to the success of Dame Walmsley, so we're looking at her style to see how you can get the same look without having a CEO salary.  Starting with earrings, we see that Emma favours studs and small hoops.  With her short, well groomed hairstyle she could wear any style of earring, but the delicate studs she is often pictured wearing complement her face and hair beautifully.  As a glasses wearer, she cleverly keeps her jewellery neat and small so as not to overwhelm her face.  Our cubic zirconia Luna Collezione studs embody Emma's style, with their understated elegance and sparkle and wrapped up in a classic circular stud.  Our Seductive earrings are also a great choice for her, with a similar design style and glittering stones.

 Although Emma often wears blue, she keeps her jewellery more neutral, favouring clear stones and cool colours.  Like many women in power, she has a collection of versatile jewellery that goes with everything and makes dressing and accessorising a doddle.  Our summer series of hoop earrings has many beautiful options and we think the Summer Loving and Summer Shade pieces with their blue accents would have pride of place in her jewellery box.  The Summer Shade earrings feature a blue iolite stone at the front and centre of the bubble profile hoops, while the Summer Loving pair has blue topaz and cubic zirconia in a hoop of claw settings.  The classic mount adds style, while the icy tone of the stones oozes sophistication.

Emma favours a statement necklace and often wears heavy chains or multiple strand necklaces.  You can get the look by layering two or three necklaces together, making sure that the pendants have a similar style or colour.  Our necklaces have an adjustable chain so they're easy to layer, just wear one at the 16” length and another at the 18” length.  Our sapphire Vesper necklace is ideal as the shorter necklace, as the line of sapphires and cubic zirconia creates a lovely shape to showcase a pendant below it.  The Luna Collezione or Seductive necklace would work really well with the matching earrings for this look.  A statement necklace is a clever way of balancing the aesthetics of glasses, ensuring that focus isn't drawn to one single area.

Emma married her partner in 1995 and her wedding band is a plain one which she sometimes wears with another ring.  As she comes from a wealthy family we suspect she has some heirloom jewellery to pick and choose from, and we think the Classico sapphire ring would be at home in her collection.  The style is influenced by vintage jewellery so the three-piece set has the look of inherited pieces of the type she would own.  This five pointed cluster style is very Georgian in look so adds a touch of old-world class to any outfit.  We don't all have aristocratic families to inherit pieces from but you can get the look with the Classico collections (available with sapphire, ruby or emerald stones).

Dame Emma's jewellery style is classic and understated.  Her choice of glasses frames is quite bold, so by keeping her jewellery minimal she avoids the trap of over-accessorising.  As a powerful woman in business she ensures that her words aren't overshadowed by distracting, busy jewellery; she uses the clever trick of choosing pieces that are versatile enough to go with every outfit she owns, saving time in the mornings by not having to think too much about what she's going to wear.  Get her look by pairing neutral, classic jewellery with cool toned outfits.