Modern Jewelry Trends

Wall Street bonuses hit record levels this year, increasing an average of 15% to 20% to $23.9 billion, according to a New York State estimate. A recent survey by wealth-research firm Prince & Associates of Redding, Connecticut, of how 200 Wall Street professionals spent there bonuses shows that watches and jewelry were high on the list. The 200 bankers, who received 2006 bonuses of $2 million or more, shows how significant this group is for high-end jewelry sales in the region. Bankers surveyed spent an average of 11.2% of their bonuses on watches and jewelry, or a minimum of $200,000 for the lowest paid bankers in the survey. That’s a lot of Patek Philippe watches.  In fact the richest half of the bankers surveyed, those who took home bonuses of $5 million or more, spent 16 percent on watches and jewelry. These hard-driving professionals are unlikely to spend on travel, since they don’t take long vacations.  The only categories of spending that were more attractive than watches and jewelry were fine art, 11.9%, and purchases of residences, 16.1%.

A look at the party pictures from Oscar night confirms what we saw on the red carpet. When it comes to jewelry, the new Hollywood uniform is an armful of bangles and cuffs and a bare neck, worn with a strapless or one-shoulder dress, usually embellished with beading or other ornamentation. The only individuality is on the ear, where there’s still a lot of variety: studs and clusters are becoming much stronger but chandeliers still have fans, especially actresses who like to wear their tresses long. Hoops and linear earrings also work well. So how does something like this happen? Do all the stylists wake up one day and decide it’s all about the wrist? (Modern Jeweler did do a fashion feature on the cuff last fall.) This wrist focus could be the most important jewelry style legacy of the Oscars. The balance and proportions seem to have shifted.

Gianfranco Ferré presented a brilliant fall 2007 women’s collection in Milan last Friday, quite literally. The final design on the runway was a black corset studded with 900 diamonds weighing 300 carats. The diamonds, courtesy of sightholder Dalumi, were hand-sewn onto the silk of the fabric one by one. The sparkling shirt, worn with tuxedo pants and a silk cape by British singer Skin, is valued at $1.3 million.