Jessica McCormack debuts antique-inspired medallions for effortless summer layering

The modern heirloom pendant is having a moment because it solves a simple wardrobe problem: one necklace that can move from a white tee to an open shirt to a swim coverup without losing its polish. Jessica McCormack’s new Medallions capsule leans straight into that need, with 11 pieces built around five compact motifs, an eye, a burning heart, a spiral, a flower and a swallow, that read as antique-inspired but deliberately current.

The collection sits inside the brand’s Summer 2026 offering and is meant to layer with bold gold pendants and Long Guard Lapis necklaces from sunrise to sundown, including the beach and dinner afterward. That flexibility is the point. These are not fragile, special-occasion charms; they are designed to work as the single signature piece you reach for every day, then keep on for evening.

Craftsmanship is where Jessica McCormack tries to justify the premium. Each medallion was handcrafted and finished by a single goldsmith in the London workshop at 7 Carlos Place, where the brand says its master craftspeople use centuries-old goldsmithing techniques. The materials stay firmly in fine-jewelry territory: 18-karat yellow gold throughout, with some designs also using 18-karat blackened white gold, diamonds and lapis lazuli. That mix gives the medallions their worn-in, timeworn look without pushing them into costume territory.

The sharpest test of value is the Swallows & Amazons pendant, priced at $35,000. It includes 0.46 carats of diamonds and a 0.70-carat emerald-cut diamond drop, a detail that places it well above the level of an easy impulse buy and squarely in collector pricing. For buyers looking at medallions as the new everyday signature, the question is not whether the piece is pretty. It is whether the workmanship, single-goldsmith finish and diamond weight make the price feel earned.

Jessica McCormack founded her brand in 2008 after starting in Sotheby’s jewelry department, and that background still shapes the label’s pitch: antique references, but made for contemporary wear. The timing is shrewd. WWD reported in March 2026 that sales rose 60 percent in 2025, as the company expanded in the United States with a Madison Avenue flagship and a planned Rodeo Drive store. In that context, Medallions looks less like a nostalgic detour than a calculated bet on the necklace as the season’s most useful heirloom.