Modern Jewelry Trends

While everyone else watching the MTV Video Music Awards last night was waiting for a Britney Spears You Tube moment, we were, of course, focused on the jewelry. Britney, for example, was showing off a Hellmuth ring and diamond studs (as well as a noticeable lack of grace) at the new-format awards show held for the first time in Las Vegas. Jewelry trends at the awards were much less chaotic than the new format, which switched back and forth between parties in suites, a main stage, table tops, and balconies. The focus on the wrist continues: the most popular jewelry look last night was stacked bangles and other bracelets, either in gleaming gold or diamond pave. The best dressed combined different styles of bracelets to make a unique statement. Bangles, link bracelets, pave, openwork, all were artfully stacked to show individual style. Once again, the winner of the red carpet sweepstakes is Lorraine Schwartz, jeweler-to-the-stars who also happens to be a very innovative designer, and joining her this year, her sister Ofira. No one else came close. Beyonce, in a gravity-defying (taped?) gold Grecian toga frock, wore Schwartz’ Monkey earrings and bracelets. (The Monkey collection is inspired by the classic Barrel Full of Monkeys game, but with a lot more diamonds.) Ashanti also wore Lorraine Schwartz diamonds while Jennifer Hudson and Mary J. Blige chose to wear the gold-intensive looks from Ofira. Other than the bracelet bandwagon, the next most important style statement was earrings. But any overall earring direction is still unclear, with hoops, studs, and chandeliers all seen at the awards. Also, as usual the Diamond Information Center had great success in placing plenty of diamond right-hand rings. All in all, a much dressier look than in past years, perhaps in tribute to the Las Vegas venue. It was much less boring than other awards shows, although the fight between Kid Rock and Tommy Lee during Alicia Key’s performance didn’t make it on the air. (Rock was actually cited for misdemeanor battery by the Las Vegas police.) In tribute to the more original look for MTV’s show, despite the Vegas venue, I managed to write this entire review without using either “bling” or “rocks.”

It’s hard to think of a jewelry brand with as impressive a list of famous faces in its advertisements as Damiani. Its last campaign featured Oscar-winning golden girl Gwyneth Paltrow. Past ads have featured Jennifer Aniston, Milla Jovovich, Brad Pitt, and Isabella Rossellini. Last year, Damiani also created a collection with film and style icon Sophia Loren. But for its younger Bliss line, Damiani is taking more of a gamble. It’s not everyday that a jewelry line picks someone who’s been to prison as a spokesmodel. Yes, Damiani’s new three-year Bliss print campaign features none other than Paris Hilton, photographed by Ellen von Unwerth. The Bliss line is more affordable than the namesake Damiani collection. Materials used in the pieces include gold, stainless steel, wood and diamonds and prices will range from $60 to $3,000. Silvia Damiani, the company’s vice president, told E! that Hilton was “an icon.” damiani says: “She’s perfect. It’s our young and our very fashionable line.” Bliss hasn’t been marketed much in the U.S. yet but according to Damiani you can expect to see the Paris Hilton ads here in a year.

Newlywed Tony Parker, NBA point guard from the San Antonio Spurs, perhaps now best known as Mr Eva Longoria, is the new spokesperson for IWC Schaffhausen watches. It’s quite a coup for the high-end watch brand. Adorning a Desperate Househusband is kind of a surprise for IWC, though. Its strength is in well-crafted understated classic styles. Contrast the IWC Portuguese Chrono-Automatic with the watch Eva gave Tony as a wedding present: a Piaget with a huge pave diamond number nine on the face. Does this mean the wedding present gets thrown in a drawer? I’m sure his contract doesn’t allow him to wear other brands. What does Eva think about that? And does Oceanaut regret giving the couple his and hers Oceanaut Pacha Cobra watches which will clearly now not be photographed on the famous wrists? Whew, the plot is getting complicated. Maybe these two should get their own show: Desperate Product Placement.

You’ve heard of trophy wives, of course. A newer phenomenon is trophy couples: celebrities who wed in the spotlight, prompting a mad race to see whose jewelry, dresses, and other bridal booty will benefit from the reflected starlight. Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria and NBA star Tony Parker married at at Saint Germain L’Auxerrois Church in Paris in what is the celebrity wedding of the year so far, one of the couples tying the knot on lucky 7-7-07. So who won the bridal placement sweepstakes? If you follow these things, you have no doubt heard that the five-carat emerald cut engagement ring was designed by Jean Dousset, a jeweler from Paris who has now also opened a studio in Los Angeles, no doubt to capitalize on the publicity. (Dousset also designed the pendant with Parker’s number 9 that Longoria wears to Spurs games.) The wedding bands are Piaget, two turning Possession bands in 18K white gold. Hers has two rows of 80 brilliant-cut diamonds separated by a row of 27 square-cut diamonds. His is plain 18k white gold. At the couple’s request, an inscription was engraved inside both rings in French. The bride’ wore H.Stern’s half-a-million dollar Hebe Earrings in 18K Noble Gold with 17 carats of marquise, cushion, oval & round cut diamonds. The earrings were designed in collaboration between Eva’s longtime stylist and friend Robert Verdi and H.Stern Creative Director Roberto Stern. She also wore a $100,000 diamond bracelet from the H.Stern 2007 Red Carpet Collection to accent her Angel Sanchez gown. Hair Stylist Ken Paves added sparkle to Eva’s hair with H.Stern Zephyr and Geometric hair clips with with more than 15 carats of cognac diamonds. The gifts for the 13 bridesmaids were also H.Stern: Giardino earrings, each pair $1,000. The bride gave her husband a Piaget watch customized with a large pave diamond number nine on its face. Some of the gifts to the couple were also occasions for industry publicity. The happy couple received engraved his and her Oceanaut Pacha Cobra watches, set with 1.25 total carats of VS1, G-color diamonds, conflict-free, of course.

One sign that bling, like jewelry trends in general, is now as much about yellow gold as diamonds is the latest high-end sneaker: Seni, a style by Upper Echelon Shoes that features 18k gold chain shoelaces. The shoes were sported during Tuesday night’s BET Awards by none other than Diddy, who was also wearing large diamond studs and a large yellow gold and diamond medallion. The 18K Gold olive branch chain laces designed by Gabriel Urist, were, of course, untied. The gold-laced shoes, which retail for $500, are for sale in the Hamptons, at Blue & Cream in East Hampton, where Mariah Carey recently bought a pair as a gift. Grandmaster Flash, the king of eighties old-school hip-hop, also owns a pair. Could they be a harbinger of a return to gold-boom eighties excess? Remember Mr. T?

With wheel barrels of diamond and gemstone jewelry in Cannes during the festival from official jeweler Chopard, de Grisogono, and others, there is no shortage of glamorous necklaces available for celebrities to wear. But the stars are sticking to the dress for red carpet success recipe that began at the Oscars: bracelets and dangling earrings or hoops. Necks, once again, are mostly bare. Sharon Stone managed to look chic, relaxed, and almost casual in gold lame at the amFar Cinema Against AIDS benefit thanks to her H. Stern hoop earrings and Diane Von Furstenberg Sutra bracelet. Although neutral colors, the strongest trend from awards season, are still strong, some stars have broken out bright colors to stunning effect, notably Angelina Jolie and Helen Mirren in sunshine yellow and Kerry Washington in emerald green. Washington bucked the trend in another way: she also wore a dramatic matching emerald necklace by Boucheron.

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.

A trend toward bejeweled and ornamented dresses made this a less than stellar year for fine jewelry at the Oscars. The main jewelry trend was for large diamond cuffs and stacked diamond bangles. Dresses were often strapless, which made the lack of necklaces even more striking. One prominent necklace, the Cartier brooch worn as a pendant by Rachel Weisz, clashed with her ornamented dress, drawing criticism from the “style experts” assessing red carpet looks (although not as much as the strange short golden jacket sported by Jennifer Hudson that she wisely took off before the ceremony). Neutral, bronze, and blush gowns dominated. The trend for rose cut diamonds and blackened metal seen at the Golden Globes continued. Gwyneth Paltrow had one of the most successful looks, with Fred Leighton rose-cut chandelier earrings visible with her sleek hair wrapped over one shoulder. Many pieces, like the black and white diamond Lorraine Schwartz earrings worn by Cate Blanchett and the diamond drops worn by Jessica Biel, featured blackened gold or platinum that added to the vintage appeal. Style icon Nicole Kidman, also with her hair over one shoulder, had the most stunning jewelry of the night: wide cuff bracelets with 357 carats of natural rough maccle diamonds in a mosaic pattern that were designed by L’wren Scott and created by William Goldberg, part of the sightholder Leo Schachter group. The bracelets were beautiful and also completely on trend.

The Tuesday edition of Women’s Wear Daily had a fascinating report on the rising prices for luxe handbags. Prices have basically doubled in the past few years and designer handbags at the top of the range are now five and six figures. “It’s astonishing how high a price point we’ve been able to sell and not a few but a lot of handbags at these prices,” Terry Lundgren, president and CEO of Federated told WWD. The luxury customer buys several thousand-dollar bags each season. Rather than one “it” bag each season, customers are now looking for something that no one else has, like say the $148,000 limited edition Hermes Birkin bag with pave diamond clasp that is waitlisted at the New York store. Exotic skins are increasing the cost and perceived value of bags. “We have customers in Chicago and Boston and some of these areas who alone will purchase $200,000 worth of our product in a year,” said David Lamer of Lambertson Truex, a handbag brand that is opening retail stores which will offer custom bags starting at $3,000. So why am I talking about handbags on a jewelry site? I am sure you can see where I am going with this: men do not buy handbags. Women do. (And they sometimes pay in cash so their significant other won’t know how much they spent on that handbag, according to a recent article in the New York Times.) The self-purchase customer is able to buy very expensive accessories if she finds them desirable. She will buy them again next season. She will buy a whole wardrobe of them. And for this customer, materials cost and price matters less than design, workmanship, and exclusivity. The phenomenon of the $8,000 handbag is a relatively recent one. The designer handbag brands have done a great job promoting their products and making them desirable but the marketing campaigns are less important individually than the impact of the category combined as a whole. (Lambertson Truex isn’t Hermes, after all.) Jewelers who do a great job attracting this customer with desirable, fashionable jewelry designs will be astonished at her determination to have the latest must-have item.

At last night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, there were no va-va-voom red dresses or major bling: the trend was instead for tasteful and fashionable understatement. Two trends characterized the best dressed actresses. 1) Neutral colored dresses in taupe, cream, bronze, and grey and 2) the jewelry equivalent: old-mine and rose cut diamonds, which provide more sophisticated glamour. Cate Blanchett epitomized this trend in an Indian pendant necklace featuring more than 100 carats of rose-cut diamonds, along with a pair of 2 carat antique mine cut Diamond stud earrings by Fred Leighton. (Remember Angelina Jolie also wore rose-cut diamonds and a vintage Indian look from Bochic at the Golden Globes.) Other antique fanciers: Edie Falco in a 19th Century necklace and earrings, also from Fred Leighton; Felicity Huffman in rose cut earrings from Martin Katz; and Patricia Arquette in an 1820s diamond riviere necklace from Neil Lane. One good omen for the Oscars: updos dominated, as at the Golden Globes, the better to see those diamond earrings!