Into the EDGES
The style evolution of jewelry designer Megan Gage
Photography by Robert StiversShe collects seedpods, crab claws, broken shells, rocks, rings, bones, dead birds—a reflection of this fledgling jewelry designer’s fascination with the animate versus the inanimate, permanence versus the ephemeral. “My whole family has science backgrounds,” she says by way of explanation. A tiny white-gold koi clings to one finger, a burst of yellow gold studded with sapphires imparts frisson to the other hand. She’s generally clad in a singularly Megan Gage-esque outfit. Picture California casual meets Paris joie de vivre coupled with New York wit spiked with the brooding edge of the Pacific Northwest. It was love that brought Gage to Santa Barbara. These days, she shuttles between Paris and her home in Montecito, though Gage grew up on Vashon Island in Seattle. At 18, she left for the Art Institute of Chicago, wrapped up her education with a degree in jewelry from the Rhode Island School of Design, then went to work for an Upper Eastside jeweler. Also an assemblage artist and graphic designer, Gage is the talent behind Pearl & Plume, her web-based fine jewelry company.
What defines your Pearl & Plume pieces? My work tends toward the sculptural. I’m drawn to Victorian, Georgian, and Edwardian techniques, but I’m trying to find a balance—something that feels more modern while still being romantic and whimsical.
Where does your fashion sense come from? I don’t really know. When I was a kid, my parents dressed me in thrift store clothes and a bowl cut. At about 12, I got in fights with them about clothing and started buying my own. I got into vintage at first.
Vintage hairdos, too? In my teens, I went through a phase where I’d dye my hair bright red. This was in Seattle, where being covered in tattoos seems a lot more normal than, say, owning a fur coat. Japanese tourists would take pictures of me because I had fire-engine-red hair and I wore red lipstick and little red dresses and red ’50s pumps. It was a way of stepping outside myself, because my tendency is not to be socially outgoing in any way.
Maybe you’ve since channeled some of that showmanship into your jewelry…. If my energy goes into how I’m perceived, it shifts my ability to work. Right now, I really like getting lost in making things, looking at things. I love shopping—I love looking at antique jewelry.
Favorite shopping haunt? The Paris flea markets. I’ve decided I want my ashes scattered at Vanves. Paris is also my escape for museums and seeing what’s out there in the world.
What’s Santa Barbara to you? My hideout. It’s such a great place to be away from everything. Growing up on an island, I’ve always had an appreciation for boundaries, even in Manhattan. Santa Barbara echoes that: It’s not endless suburban neighborhoods. It’s kind of nestled—it starts and ends clearly without being totally isolated. It’s the best of all worlds.
How has California living changed your wardrobe? I used to dress up a lot. I’ve always enjoyed Galliano, Lanvin, Louboutin, ’70s St. Laurent suits.... My staple now is James Perse. The dresses and T-shirts in muted greys, browns, and blues—I can’t take them off!
Signature piece in your closet? A leather jacket I’ve had for a decade. I’m a leather-wearing vegetarian. I got it at Nordstrom in Seattle. It’s aged so beautifully. The more I wear it, the better it looks. That’s what I seek out in clothes—durability, things I’ll wear forever, that I’ll cry over when they fall off my body.
Who to your mind best defines Santa Barbara style? The glamorous older women here who still dress up to go out, who still make the effort.
For what do you make the effort? Dinner with friends.
And dressing up for that would entail? My nice T-shirt. One of my favorite things about living here is entertaining at home or going to friends’ homes. It’s such a natural part of the culture. •
Santa Barbara Magazine
By Trish Reynales. All rights reserved.
