What was the takeaway at the fine jewelry show known as Couture Las Vegas this year? The sky’s the limit. With the economy recovering and gold prices dropping, the fine jewelry business is booming.
“Chunky jewelry, heavy gold, big stones.… It’s like ‘Dynasty’ all over again!” said New York-based jewelry designer Amedeo Scognamiglio, whose 12-year-old Faraone Mennella collection first gained fame after costume designer Patricia Field used it on “Sex and the City.”
Scognamiglio was one of hundreds of high-end designers to present billions of dollars' worth of jewels to retailers and press at the five-day haute trade show that wrapped up Monday. Besides noticing that fine jewelry folks are one well-manicured group, I noticed several trends:
Gold is back, the bolder the better
Gold is an affordable material once again. Chunky gold chains, oversized links and thick cuffs in yellow, white and especially rose gold were everywhere. I was particularly drawn to Roberto Coin’s new Pois et Mois collection of bold, modern-looking geometric gold cuffs with polka dot details.
Opals aren’t going anywhere
Naturalistic or sleek but always completely hypnotic, opals remain a hot stone. Santa Fe-based Katherine Jetter, known as the queen of the opals, has been helping to popularize the stones over the past five years and to promote the rarity and specialness of opals from her homeland, Australia. She showed amazing pieces, including opal flower rings, opal drop pendants, and a rare, 306-carat Lightning Ridge loose black opal stone called "The Royal One" priced at a cool $3 million. Mexican fire opals were also a hit at the show, especially in the hands of L.A.-based designer Irene Neuwirth, whose fiery orange one-of-a-kind opal necklace is unforgettable.
Unusual adornments
Jewelry designers have found new real estate on the hand to adorn with knuckle rings, cross-bar rings, hand chains and hand bars that sit across the knuckles. It’s personal, sexy and looks fresh. Plus, the wearer actually gets to gaze at and enjoy the piece she’s wearing, more so than earrings or a necklace. L.A. based Colette Steckel’s diamond hand piece consists of snakes that slither around the fingers, and Wendy Yue’s full-finger ring-and-bracelet piece is a gem garden of flowers, leaves and vines.
One of a kind
Increasingly, women are demanding jewelry they won’t see on anyone else, and designers are answering. Jewelry designer Coomi incorporates artifacts like Mesopotamian-era arrowheads into her work, to create pieces that are not only one-of-a-kind jewelry but also pieces of history. Sylvie Corbelin, a Paris-based antiques dealer-turned-jewelry designer draws inspiration from medals, ancient cameos and war trophies to create objets d’art that are rough but refined. “My clients want specific and signed things,” she said. And Milan-based Lucifer vir Honestus designer Luna Scamuzzi makes jewelry that's organic with an edge, including a set of four rings that are meant to be stacked on one finger, dangling baroque pearls as big as gumballs.
Butterflies
Butterflies are a timeless inspiration for jewelry, and this year was no exception. Italian jeweler Damiani’s butterfly collar was classically elegant, while Sylvie Corbelin’s sculpturally balanced earrings evoked butterflies in flight, and Stephen Webster’s “Fly By Night” bracelet brought to mind an enchanted forest.
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