“In Germany, for example, it is prestigious to wear a lot of gold adornments,” says Sergey Bogomolov, Deputy CEO for Commerce of OAO Yuvelirnaya Torgovlya Severo-Zapada. “Fashion in jewellery is changing like any other fashion. Hypothetically, there are two worlds: the world of glamour and the common world. People inhabiting these worlds have different needs and different capacities. Therefore, we are trying to meet the needs of both. Our scope is to give as wide assortment of goods as possible to our clients thus offering them an opportunity to choose. The main penchant now is to wear jewellery in a spiffy way…
Three years ago, people in the West started to feature steel decorations with diamonds. Today this is the pinnacle of fashion, although our buyers treat it in a chilly way. This kind of fashion may be very easily explained: in mature economies, the jewellery industry is experiencing a certain crisis. The problem is old – the growing competition with emergent nations. Evidently, there are some problems with working capital, as is the case with Russian jewellers, and may be the situation is even worse. So they resorted to steel, making it a new fashionable brand. What fashion are you talking about, people, if the plain truth is that you have no money! Being a seller, I know that diamonds are always worth their price and they are “a girl’s best friend”. It means that diamonds should account for at least 50% of your product range and be sold accordingly. Then we shall be able to get good economic results.”
The “Kommersant-Weekend” magazine brings forth some eye-catching jewellery trends.
One is reflecting the steps made by bijouterie and haute couture adornments towards each other.
These days, the House of Chanel is offering bijouterie of a haute couture level. It is deemed that bijouterie cannot be the object of collections. Nevertheless, the House of Chanel included perspicuous flamboyant things in its Paris-Monte Carlo Collection, which was granted a demi-couture status. As the magazine noted, it was bijouterie but made according to the laws of high art. All the adornments were made of metal treated to resemble “old gold” with amber and coloured glass cabochons. It should be stressed that this bijouterie was anxious to pretend to be real decorations (to a certain extent these things resembled some coloured jewellery camellias of Chanel). The flower colour theme remains to be the mainstream jewellery intrigue of the year. Yellow gold is also fashionable these days, particularly in its vintage, patina like and antique appearance (incidentally, Madame Chanel liked yellow old gold). Warm and tactile amber is likely to be considered a kind of exotic material since pearls are now more popular. Colour glass is just another kind of rhinestones so beloved by the Mistress of the Great House. Coloured glass and amber are cut as cabochons currently at the peak of their fame.
In other words, these are things, which cannot be called jewels a priori, but which essentially turn out to be such jewels. All this is due to their style, history and make. It is unlikely someone will part with them in a year.
Jewellery adornments, which may be recommended for an autumn season, more resemble bijouterie by their size, the magazine says. Take for example, Chopard with their rows of necklaces in the shape of grapes, buds, flowers, pearl strands many times interlaced and fixed with diamond plates. The same picture is in their product range including boisterous torrents of flowers, cross-whipped branches and ready to fall fleshy fruits – all these jewellery items bluntly resemble a tropical garden in its velvet season. Of course, one cannot miss the feeling that the flower theme is the main trend of the expiring year. Only flowers may be used to bid farewell.
The House of Grisogono is trotting the same path – their jewellery decorations made by Fawaz Gruosi, a knight of jet set parties and other haut monde events, resemble bijouterie by their unheard-of size. However, unlike Chopard, their items have some decadent touch about them – a telltale tragic pose and restless mood.
The magazine dedicated a separate article to Fawaz Gruosi, the founder and chief jeweller of the Grisogono House in Geneva, paying attention to at least three fashionable trends in his Boule Collection.
According to this magazine, which is an application to the “Kommersant” daily, the first thing to be highlighted is the disco theme. Last year, this theme was loudly presented by the Swiss House of Piaget in their Limelight Party II Collection, some part of which was named as Disco. The central element in the Piaget gold disco-adornments were balls, which copied the shape of balls used for light-and-sound music at discotheques. Fawaz Gruosi took notice of the disco theme too and suggested its own version. The Boule pendants, bracelets and necklaces are lavishly decorated with “discotheque balls” of his make. Balls are also very prominent in the ring collection. The second trend of Boule is highlighted by very large bracelets as if woven of many gold threads. Such cuff-bracelets made their first appearance in 2005 in a very beautiful collection entitled “Sapphire Flowers” of the Italian House of Bvlgari. It was there that for the first time in many years, public saw broad bracelets carefully woven of gold threads fixed by chain ties and embellished with flowers of versicoloured sapphires. After Bvlgari, many jewellery houses started to offer similar things.
The third trend may be viewed as close to the ethnic theme, however not belonging strictly to a certain nation. This is intrinsically proved by a necklace consisting of several thick chainlets and decorated with big and small balls. Such a decoration pattern is purely ethnic, although it is difficult to say, to which national tradition it belongs. Ball-shaped pendants hanging on one chain may be interpreted as an abridged version of this necklace (incidentally, pendants are also diversified: there is a great cocktail version with two chains and a more modest one with a single chain, in the casual spirit).
However, never believe that Fawaz Gruosi, while making this collection, was engaged in mere copying the works of others. His adornments are resolute, uncompromising, oriflamme and simultaneously made in several colour styles. So, you may go in for yellow, pink and white gold – whichever you like. Diamonds, emeralds, rubies, coloured sapphires to satisfy any taste. The ability to guess one’s wish – this is what is so much dear in Fawaz Gruosi to glamour girls and beau monde ladies all over the world, from Naomi Kampbell to Paris Hilton.
Jewellery with Gothic undertones and Renaissance reminiscences, as well as those styled to old goldsmith techniques are still popular.
Thus, Moscow saw the Ampoule Collection designed by Britisher Theo Fennell, which was suggested by the ancient tradition of talismans and amulets, on one hand, and by notorious and thrilling historic intrigues with poisons and jewellery in their epicenter, on the other hand. We may yet take another collection, Quiver, which is built around arrows and quivers in very joyful colours.
Theo Fennell is a British trademark in the best meaning of this word. This assessment was given to the jeweller’s work by the “Business & Financial Markets” daily. His crosses are not religious symbols, but just geometric figures. His jewellery keys do not open anything, they are just pendants. Even his diamonds are only diamonds. There is nothing strange about it. As classic William Shakespeare wrote, “And in some perfumes is there more delight / Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks”.
Stephen Webster, a designer who is popular among celebrities and who is playing with Gothic motifs, is expanding his presence in Moscow. In his interview to the “Vedomosty” daily, the designer shared his views on modern trends in jewellery fashion:
“Today the boundaries of the masculine jewellery world are expanding. I know Russian men, who, being bank employees, wear not only cuff links, but also bracelets. In the last couple of years, cuff links turned from functional things into decorative. They do not just fix shirt cuffs; using modest or more conspicuous cuffs you may show your taste and even character. Right now fashion features large sizes, coloured stones and symbol figures. In Russia, people ask for items with gargoyles – they have a sense of humor.
In our time, there are no strict regulations for businesswomen to wear small earrings or modest pendants. Women occupy now more and more important positions in business. They feel sure about what they do and what they wear. The border between day and night adornments has become vaguer. Many earrings, even those with diamonds, may be put on along with an evening dress and with casual wear. This is a common trend in the world of fashion: similarly, people in jeans wear very expensive bags.”
The “cheerfulness” of modern jewellery tendencies makes some companies to introduce corporate rules to regulate jewels wearing when in office.
Alexey Yepifanov, Vice-President for Development of Soho Jewelry Group, divides buyers into three groups: “Those belonging to the first and the largest stick to a must have attitude towards adornments made of precious metals but are not ready to pay for brands, and their office position precludes them from wearing expensive things. Those belonging to the second group are buying basic items produced by several leading world trademarks like Cartier, Tiffany, Bvlgari and Chopard. These adornments are simple but the brands are famous. The third group comprises non-office people, top managers and owners of businesses. They are ready for exquisite things offered by jewellers; they wear more expensive brands, like Graff or David Morris, and very often set trends both in outer appearance and in business.” However, to be on the right side it should be stressed, Mr. Yepifanov admits, that many top managers prefer “non-garish” things and instead of white gold often choose platinum, though being twice as expensive but looking as steel to laymen.
Despite the great desire of famous jewellers to believe that their works are sought for, the majority of people in the world are buying “nameless” adornments, the “Vedomosty” states. According to surveys performed by the De Beers diamond mining company and the “Robb Report” magazine, brand adornments account for only 6% of world jewellery sales.
In October – November Russian mass media published some articles, which mentioned amber. Natalya Blokhina, an advertising expert with Ambertrin, a Kaliningrad based company, shared her secrets of success: “Today amber is no more a grandma’s stone, we are creating items for young people underlining the beauty of the sunny stone with turquoise, pearls, brass and even with stranded threads!” Remember also the above-mentioned Paris-Monte Carlo bijouterie line of Chanel, which is as well featuring amber.
Mass media also attract attention to the recent interest towards the ancient art of glyptics – cutting precious and semi-precious stones. Thus, the famous trademark of Dior issued a collection of adornments with cameos in a black-and-white array of colours. The cameos are surrounded with such magnificent gems as diamonds, pink sapphires, iron-aluminum garnets. Italian company Pomellato prepared a collection implied by the Bible story of Adam and Eve. Its central motif is a snake. Snakes are cut manually by skilful Neapolitan artisans on specially selected rare shells.
Pomellatio, one of the most fashionable and famous Italian companies, is celebrating this year its 40th anniversary, the “Kommersant-Weekend” reminds. The small jewellery business of the noble Milan family of Rabolini (up to now they hold all the stock of their company) in the course of fourty years grew to Pomellato SPA, whose adornments are truly loved by the most fashionable townspeople of this planet. These jewellery accessories, these colorful, caramel-like small jewels from Pomellato are best bought in Paris, Milan and Tokyo – in the cities where fashion and style are of high priority.
People in this company like to talk about contemporaneity of their adornments; and it is true – Pomellato things are used to be associated with jewellery minimalism. However, their latest collection, Pom Pom, comprising 40 rings indicates the course towards ancient Italian jewellery traditions of Renaissance as well as towards the antiquarian style of the first half of the 19th century. First of all this is proved by the composition of very large-sized rings where the central gem is “buried” among an array of smaller stones. Pomellato has also decorations with cameos – the most traditional Italian jewellery product.
The item belonging to the new jewellery line of Paul McCartney’s daughter Stella may be attributed to funny though not innocuous oddities. This is a neck chain with a pendant in the shape of … one leg only. The price for this trifle will exceed £300, the “Mir Novostey” informs, but the wry humor of the designer has already been appreciated by her devoted worshipers. Everybody knows that after a traffic accident, her former step-mother Heather Mills is wearing an artificial limb and the unusual design of the adornment is a clear hint from her former step-daughter.
