Modern Jewelry Trends

With brown such an important color in jewelry design today, from brown diamonds to smoky quartz and even wood, it isn’t surprising that a new shade of brown is also becoming popular in pearls also. Enhanced “chocolate” Tahitian pearls add a warmer shade to the Tahitian palette of blacks, grays, and greens. It’s a pretty distinctive color that never really existed in Tahitians before, although there are lovely natural bronze and taupe colors. The enhancement process is proprietary and the companies involved have been pretty cryptic about the details but it is commonly characterized as “bleaching.” The latest issue of Gems & Gemology, GIA’s award-winning gemological journal, provides a few more details about these enhanced pearls, with an exhaustive analysis of treated and non-treated pearls treated by one company, Ballerina Pearl. The bottom line (saving you pages of reflectance spectra and photoluminescence charts) is that no foreign substance was found, lending credence to the claim that the pearls are indeed bleached, which would basically put them in the “enhanced” category rather than the “treated” category for those of you keeping track of these matters. That would seem to justify the strong market for these shades, which are priced pretty similarly to natural color Tahitian pearls. However, the same issue of G&G includes a report from Dr Henri Hanni of the SSEF on the subject of chocolate pearls. He tested five samples from three different dealers. Only one of the five was bleached with the new process: the other four were dyed, plain and simple. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. However, I would expect dyed pearls to be priced lower than the new enhanced product. Make sure you buy brown pearls from a reputable dealer who will correctly disclose the source of that fashionable color.

A collection of 21 designs that were selected in the first international Tanzanite Foundation’s Celebration of Life Jewelry Design Awards competition were presented in a gala at the New York Public Library this week. Winners were selected from entries from 20 countries based on beauty, design originality and interpretation of the theme “Be Born to Tanzanite” in five categories: luxury brands, independent designers, manufacturers, rising stars, and accessories. The winners are Kwiat, Maria Webster for Boodles, Shaun Leane, Stephen Webster, Talento Joias, Dima, Laurence Ratinau, Maria Canale for Suna Bros., Rodrigo Robson, Sevan Bicakci, Charlotte Ehinger-Schwarz 1876, Colin Waylett, Ginny Dizon, Ruth Grieco, Zoltan David, Arabel Lebrusan, Claire Woolley, James Powell, Sabine Roemer, and Louis Mariette and Stuart Weitzman with Levian. Below three of the winning rings, from three of the hottest designers in jewelry today: from left, Sevan Bicakci, Shaun Leane, and Stephen Webster.

What can jewelers offer the iPod generation? Retailer Mac@Work in Milan and Torino in Italy has created iDiamonds, 18k and diamond earbuds for the iPod. These bejeweled headphones sell for 750 to 660 Euro, about $950 to $840. A pink sapphire version is about $700.

Wright & Lato, champion of 585 platinum, a “14 karat” alloy of 58.5 percent platinum and base metals, was acquired by Novell Design Studio after filing for bankruptcy under Chaper 11. Novell, which has been filling orders for Wright & Lato since November, acquired the company’s assets, customer list, and intellectual property. Although Novell will keep the Wright & Lato brand name, it has no interest in continuing Wright & Lato’s line of 585 platinum jewelry. The high price of platinum has led many in the jewelry industry to seek alternatives, including new whiter alloys of gold, palladium, and platinum alloys with platinum group metals (which are less controversial than the base metal alloy promoted by Wright & Lato since they are already included in FTC marking rules.) So far, palladium has picked up the most converts since this platinum group metal is similar in appearance to platinum but much lighter as well as much less per ounce, resulting in much more affordable jewelry even in 900 and 950 alloys. Without the support of Wright & Lato, 585 platinum seems unlikely to pick up any market share.

One of the hot items this holiday season is beaded bracelets by Meredith Frederick. The bracelets, which just roll onto your wrist, are stackable too, so they encourage multiple purchases. Frederick, who until recently was a pastry chef, spent years developing her technique for weaving strands of beads into thick, patterned rope bracelets and chokers. They resemble traditional woven bead bracelets but in sophisticated materials like gold, silver, and gemstone beads. They are one of the top holiday items at Bergdorf Goodman this year, according to senior vice president and general merchandise manager Ed Burstell. The bracelets, which retail for $450 to $750, have been featured in several holiday shopping guides.

Eighties glam resurfaced this week at Bebe’s Spring 2007 runway show at Los Angeles Fashion Week. Visors, aviator shades and lots of gold jewelry put the final touches on the black and white tailored looks of the collection. Important jewelry looks, coordinated by World Gold Council and styles by Paula Bradley and Matt Goldman, include large gold hoops, large link chain necklaces, and bangle bracelets. Below, from left, 18k gold lantern earring by Vicente Agor and 18K gold bridge necklace by La Pepita for Gold Expressions; 18K gold and diamond necklace by Mattioli (dig that visor!); and 22K gold Loft necklace by Karen Mitchell and 18K gold hoops by Charles Garnier.

Enamel, links, long necklaces, lots of black and white, and new watches from jewelry brands were the top trends at the Orogemma fair held last week in Vicenza, Italy. The fair launched a glossy new hall called B1 for the top brands to build beautiful new Basel-style booths. New styles launched at the fair give a sense of what we can expect for 2007 and some will even be in-store for the holidays this year. Many designers featured warm tones of rose gold, brown gold, brown pearls, and brown gems, enamel, coral, reds, and yellows. Rock and roll styles, especially skulls, reigned at Hellmuth Simply Good (who also makes Vivienne Westwood) and Gavello. Innovator Calgaro launched a new Moorea group of freshwater pearl and colored silver styles in fashion colors like brown and purple at affordable price points (starting at just $500 retail!) Nanis launched a collection of affordable new link-shaped watches in steel with 18k gold plating in three colors (the rose gold version is particularly cool, naturally). In Europe, the watches will retail at 165 Euro retail, about $200, but they aren’t priced yet for the US market. Nanis also has a new boxed set for $1,337 retail: its popular 18k pierced heart pendant with five interchangeable colors of mother of pearl hearts to wear with the pendant and matching ribbons. Companies with outstanding new enamel collections include Carlo Barberis and Bibigi. We’ll try to include as many images of new styles as possible in the November/December issue of Modern Jeweler.