Issa Rae believes fashion should have no boundaries

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Issa Rae has added another hyphen to her long list of titles: actress, writer, producer, and founder, she can now also call herself a designer. Rae has partnered with Cast Jewelry to create a 22-piece, versatile jewelry collection that ranges from $250 to $5,900. The pieces easily fit into her busy life, whether that’s sitting front row at NYFW or wearing jeans and a t-shirt on the days off.

“Jewelry is, in a way, my armor. I put it on and I’m ready to face the day,” says Ray, holding a stackable ring from the collaboration. The collection is a mix of gold and silver essentials, including hoops, bangles, and rings in everything from sterling silver to gold and Cast-crafted diamonds. There’s also a stackable baguette diamond armor cuff. “When you stack them, you feel so powerful,” says Cast co-founder Rachel Skelly.

Ray and Skelly aimed for clean, strong lines and elegant curves, and above all, pieces that would stand out both together and on their own. “I love jeans, Chucks, and T-shirts, so I thought, how can I show I mean it? That came in the form of earrings and rings. It was quiet luxury, and a lot of it was about storytelling,” Ray explains.

“Rings are my favorite,” says Ray, “I play basketball too, so they had to be part of the collection, and stackable rings and having rings on all my fingers makes me feel powerful, you know? I do a lot of speaking with my hands.” As she walks us through the collection, Ray is wearing the aptly named Power Ring, Armor Stack Ring, and the diamond-encrusted Brave Ring.

While Rae doesn’t have many rules when it comes to fashion, the former president (from the Barbie movies) does have some ideas about fashion rules. “I don’t like that you can’t wear white after Labor Day,” she laughs. “I feel like that rule was made to hold us back because black people look so good in white.” Also on her list of campaign promises is to set no boundaries when it comes to fashion. “I like the idea that fashion comes back in cycles, but I don’t like that because we’re in the ’80s cycle we can’t go back to the ’70s cycle. Fashion shouldn’t have boundaries.” When it comes to her collection of wearable pieces, there really are no boundaries.

The collection is currently available to purchase at CastJewelry.com.