Issa Rae’s New Collab With Cast Jewelry Is All About Tapping Into Your Power

Actor. Writer. Producer. Issa Rae’s robust resume has already proved she’s a woman of many talents. As of Sept. 17, she can also add jewelry co-creator to the mix, thanks to her latest collaboration with fine jewelry brand Cast. While celebrity-backed fashion and beauty partnerships can be infamous for slapping an A-list name on a capsule and calling it a day, Rae was having none of that. As longtime lover of jewelry, this collaboration — titled The Braeve Collection — is her “biggest one” to date, so she wanted to take a more hands-on, thoughtful approach to the design of each piece, ensuring that they represented her personal style perfectly.

“There's some companies where it's just like, ‘We want to collaborate with you, but we have our own thing in mind,’ but this was very much like, ‘We want this to be you and we want you to be happy with it,’” said Rae in a recent interview with TZR. “‘We're going to throw some ideas out and if you hate it, say you hate it. And I felt comfortable to be like, ‘Hey, guys, I hate this. Can we go in this direction?’ But I didn't have to say that a lot because there were such good translators of my particular vision.”

Rae’s intention for the 22-piece modern line, which incorporates 14K gold, sterling silver, black onyx, and lab-grown diamonds, was to offer consumers versatile, everyday pieces that made them feel powerful. It’s also a reflection of the role jewelry plays in her life. Accessories are her way of “showing up” and putting on her armor for the day.

“When I wake up in the morning, I'm like, I don't want to think about anything,” says Rae. “I want to wear jeans, T-shirt, and Chucks. And my way of being professional is, I'm putting on these earrings, or I have my necklace on. So, it's just like, ‘Oh, you tried today and you're showing up professionally.’ And it also just makes me feel secure that I can win the day, I can brave the day.”

Rae has worn many of Cast’s statement pieces on past red carpets, but for this collection, the actor says she wanted to go a more simplistic route. She aimed for the well-rounded mix of diamond-incrusted hoop earrings, pendant necklaces, and gold and silver cuffs to serve the wearer from day to night.

One of the most intriguing pieces of the collection is The Braeve Pendant Necklace made with black onyx and lab-grown diamonds. as the name suggests, the piece is transformative in that it features Cast’s signature Flip Innovation that allows for multiple looks. “Cast has a flip ring, and while I love that one, I wanted [a necklace version] for my collection,” says Rae. “They made it happen. And so this is the epitome of our collaboration — flipping it back can reflect my moods. I was like, ‘I want to be able to show whether I'm approachable. Can I do that on the black side? And the gold side, is like I'm friendly?’ I hope if people choose this piece, that they come up with their own kind of coded language for what the flips mean.”

Another anchor of the collection are the subtly dazzling Braeve hoop earrings, which Rae notes were a non-negotiable for her. As a “former bald girl” Rae says hoops were a crucial complement to her self-expression and identity back when she first shaved her head. “I've held onto that for a while and I still wear hoops to this day just because I love them,” she says. “They're simple, they're classy, they're hood, they're all these things that you want them to be depending on what you're wearing.”

Prices for the The Braeve Collection range from $250-$5900 and are available for purchase now at CastJewelry.com and at Nordstrom.com. Shop some of TZR tops picks below.