Megan Piccione's Cleveland-Made Jewelry Shines at the Met Gala

Hours after the Met Gala on May 4 in New York City, Megan Piccione sits in a hotel lobby in disbelief. The president of Beachwood-based atelier Megan Piccione High Jewelry experienced the event firsthand, celebrities dressed in unique garments and tables of jewelers from the world’s most notable brands. Among them was her own custom, hand-made creations, worn by model and activist Lauren Wasser.

“I don't feel the same as I did when I woke up yesterday,” Piccione says the day after the Gala. “I feel very humbled and proud to be from Cleveland and to share this moment with Ohio. This is hard, craftsmanship work that was all done in Beachwood.”

The private designer, whose jewelry-making content has garnered more than 3,500 followers on Instagram, was contacted through direct messages from Wasser’s stylist in Los Angeles, who was looking to collaborate for her client at the Met Gala. Within a week of the call, Piccione and her father, Dave, got to work — first rendering each piece for approval from Vogue and Anna Wintour, which, Piccione notes, is a requirement for all items that hit the Met Gala runway — then assembling each piece and traveling to New York to work directly with Wasser’s team of stylists and get her out the doors of the Plaza Hotel.

As is the case with all jewelry crafted by Megan Piccione High Jewelry, Wasser’s pieces are one-of-one and never replicated. Wasser’s jewels were accompanied by a gold Prabal Gurung suit and a stunning set of gold prosthetics, highlighting the core of her advocacy efforts. In 2012, Wasser’s legs were amputated after contracting toxic shock syndrome, a bacterial condition commonly associated with prolonged tampon use. The model now works to foster dialogue and awareness around the condition.

“It was magical,” Piccione recalls, “and it was so fun to watch all of the little details come together and to collaborate with (Wasser’s) publicist, hairstylist, makeup artist … because everything had to just be just right. There were times of chaos and a lot of sweating, but it was well worth it to watch her walk out of the Plaza Hotel as a total boss.”

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Megan Piccione High Jewelry was born out of a career shift, following Piccione’s leave of absence from her job as a dental assistant. Her father had made watches since she was a child, and she wanted to wake up every day to a line of work that held that same level of craftsmanship, intention and commitment to couture. Today, that manifests through her atelier workshop in Beachwood, creating heirlooms that clients can truly be proud to call their own.

“The Met Gala is a pivotal moment for me,” she says, “to bring Cleveland's name to the carpet in front of Vogue and Anna Wintour is really cool, and I'm very honored that it's me that gets to do that.”

“But,” she adds, “doing this with my dad and making this a true family business with my father, my husband and my mother is my proudest moment, and something that I don't take for granted. I wouldn't want to do this without any one of them.”

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