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• August 6, 2009
• The Goods

B-Side's Charitable Jewelry Serves Up Civil "Rights" By the Numbers

By Roxanne Fequiere

When we first laid eyes on these gritty, cryptically coded pieces from Ken Leung and Dana Chin's B-Side "Rights" collection, we assumed it was just another example of the jailbird trend continuing to catch on. But it turns out there's a lot more to these awesome pieces than prison bars and orange jumpsuits. The series of numbers etched and stamped onto enamel bracelets and metal rings, earrings, and pendants are actually case numbers of landmark Supreme Court decisions like Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated schools in 1954, and Leser v. Garrett, which gave women the vote back in 1922. Inspired by Loving Day, the anniversary of the decriminalization of interracial marriage, the collection is a work in progress that aims to soon include even more groundbreaking cases, and a portion of proceeds goes towards jewelry-making workshops for disadvantaged children. While we love to channel the bad-ass look, we've got to admit it's even better to do it for a cause.

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