Emma Raducanu is the new face of the upmarket jewellery brand, Tiffany & Co, the winner of the US Open has signalled on Instagram, and British Vogue, her principal patron in the UK, has confirmed in an interview with the 18-year-old.
This is said to be worth “a seven figure deal”.
She looks set to become as iconic a figure as Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly in the 1961 Blake Edwards-directed American romantic comedy, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Emma — the media find that easier than “Raducanu” — wore Tiffany jewels on and off court in New York, it is pointed out. She wore £4,500 pearl and diamond earrings during the final… and swapped them for a £2,925 gold pair at her news conference. She also wore a white gold £3,275 ring and a £2,750 cross pendant. She teamed the pieces with a £17,100 diamond hinged bangle, also from Tiffany.
Emma told Vogue that she was “incredibly excited” by her appointment as Tiffany’s brand ambassador and added: “It’s such an iconic brand and one that I’ve felt connected to for quite some time. I wore the ring, bracelet, earrings and cross necklace throughout the tournament. These pieces will always be very special to me.”
Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). File photo
The announcement was made as Emma joined British Vogue’s editor-in-chief Edward Enninful and his co-host, Tiffany’s executive vice-president of product and communications Alexandre Arnault, as a guest at the fourth annual British Vogue X Tiffany Fashion & Film event in London.
According to Vogue, “she accessorised her Chanel look with Tiffany pieces to attend the Met Gala 2021, where she joined the likes of Kristen Stewart, Margaret Qualley and Lily-Rose Depp on the steps of the Met. Back in London after her fairy-tale stint in New York (Raducanu had flights home booked for after the qualifying rounds of the US Open, only to go on to win the tournament without dropping a set), Emma wore Tiffany again to join Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Idris Elba at the glittering dinner at newly opened hotel The Londoner. For this rising star, the future looks as bright as her Victoria Vine diamond earrings.”
Incidentally, The Londoner in Leicester Square is Indian-owned — by Jasminder Singh and his Edwardian Hotels London group.
Emma has returned to her relatively modest home in Bromley, south London, where she hopes not to have her head turned by fame and fortune but remain the “girl next door”. She has handed over her $2.5m prize money to her Romanian father and astute Chinese mother for safe keeping.
Vogue reported: “Just when you thought Emma Raducanu’s 2021 could not get any better, she has been unveiled as the newest ambassador for the jewellery brand Tiffany & Co. The 18-year-old tennis champion, who went from anonymous sixth-former to one of the world’s biggest stars in a matter of months after storming to victory in the US Open (becoming Britain’s first female grand slam-winner in 44 years), joins the likes of Tracee Ellis Ross, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Beyoncé and Jay-Z in the Tiffany family.”
According to the Mail, “Emma is in line for new endorsement deals after (her) US Open win with Chanel, Aston Martin and Uniqlo circling the hottest property in tennis… and her earnings could total £1 billion”.
The paper has learned that her two current endorsement deals to date, with sportswear giant Nike and racket supplier Wilson, are worth just £100,000 a year combined, and both are rolling one-year contracts. Industry sources expect these either to be renewed imminently for at least 10 times as much, or be replaced by rival brands.
It quoted sponsorship consultant Nigel Currie as saying: “If Emma can win subsequent grand slam events, she will become the highest earning UK female athlete of all time.”
Arguments are raging over whether Emma is British, Canadian, Romanian or Chinese. She is happily at the intersection of all these influences in multicultural Britain.
Now Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, and Enninful, her counterpart at British Vogue and the first black person to hold the post, are apparently competing to put Emma on the cover. Morally, the advantage ought to be with Enninful, who showed remarkable perspicacity in commissioning a fashion shoot/interview with Emma back in July after she pulled out of the fourth round at Wimbledon with breathing difficulties. She features in the current issue of British Vogue — but she is inside, not on the cover.
