The new season of jewellery fairs and exhibitions of 2008 opened with the winter exhibition First in the Italian Vicenza. After the termination of the season of Christmas sales in the end of the last year, when already recognized ideas of jewels’ design were played, the exhibition in Vicenza allows to speak about the first trends of the new year.
Pessimistic forecasts of analysts for the next year have discouraged the designers to undergo heavy risks and have induced them to remain within the framework of the checked up tendencies which have proved their success many tines. However absolutely new designer works were presented as well.
Chain links of every possible form and the size maintain leading positions in the world of the jewellery fashion. Designers have searched for ways to give to chain links some new forms, distinct from round one. Ovals, squares and abstract forms have been incorporated into long chains. Mattioli company has made its links even more piquant, having inserted links of bright colors - violet and green which perfectly shade gold.
This movement towards colors has basically led to adding to the jewellery palette of pink and violet tinctures. The violet color, which only recently has come into fashion, has already appeared in the design of jewels as shades: purple, lilaceous and plum. No doubts, this color will be the most popular this year, especially after jewels designers steal thunder at fashion designers.
Although the last year walk to the empire of the underworld seemed to be in the past, some designers, i.e. Staurino and Vivienne Westwood, which do not abandon their former adherence to the punk culture, still expose products in a so-called "Gothic" style. Nevertheless, the majority of show-windows emitted a spirit of a kind romantic fairy tale - a lot of light, flowers and fantasy air which, probably, embody the runaway from the severe reality.
For a number of years, snakes, lizards and other reptiles were in fashion. This year images of animals recede to the shadow. Insects come instead. Bibgi, for example, finds beauty even in spidery, having created a ring with a tiny spider, sitting in a diamond cobweb. Butterflies and dragonflies keep their positions this year as well. A remarkable example of popularity of the theme of winged insects in jewellery design is, perhaps, a huge violet pendant-butterfly made by Italian Art.
Rings continue to grow in dimensions. This tendency has been marked already during the autumn exhibition in Vicenza. Constellations of diamond peahen, dozens of precious stones and now popular cabochon of any color (although the most popular was still the violet) in a combination with a massive setting make large and fine jewels.
Predictably, gold was very popular this time as well. All of its shades are in fashion, but the yellow gold was a preference. Despite the proceeding increase of gold prices, some Italian designers continue to show heavy items from gold - basically bracelets - to those customers for whom the fashion is more important than money.
In 2007 jewellery from artefacts regularly was in the center of mass-media attention. The use of parts of ancient jewels in manufacturing of today's jewelry has come into fashion. A large number of designers do it. Among them Bernard Reller from Reller Gold (Gainesville, Florida). His shtick is the use of valuable items lifted from ancient ships which have sunk in the Caribbean Sea.
Richard Korwin, president of Wideband Jewelry, uses ancient coins in the work. He asserts that these coins make his products to rise above the modern design due to the merge of the art and of the value of treasures.
Jeweller designer Karol Taylor uses ancient jewels in her works. Many stones, she says, become only better with time.
Helen Cordell from Jewelry Information Center explains that the use of period pieces in jewels satisfies the present rather popular demand for "sentimental" jewels. Such products bear a certain strike of romanticism and can become in further family relics transmitted from generation to generation.
One of adherents of the new current George Mandelbaum considers, nevertheless, that there are certain frameworks of common sense. Thus, it is hardly advisable to alter an one million dollar bracelet from Cartier.
“It is the same, if having married Marilyn Monroe to send her to a plastic surgeon”.
From popular kinds of jewels the western mass-media mark diadems (tiara). A little bit earlier this theme was mentioned by the Russian federal press. But if the Russian mass-media talked about expensive items of class lux, the American tennessean.com stresses that alongside with magnificent diadems with color stones and brilliants from Cartier of 455000 dollars, also unpretentious variants exist in the market: inexpensive silver products with false brilliants of 9.99 dollars from Art Deco.
Last year Harry Winston sold four diadems: for a bride, for a Beauty Queen, a certain celebrity and to a collector. Now Susy Corb, art director of Harry Winston, works at a diadem which can be transformed to a necklace. The designer Penny Preville also offer his variant.
Jason from Baverly Hills and Icy Fresh are new suppliers of jewels for those who like bling, the Los Angeles Times writes.
Although Jacob Arabo has created this style in the middle 90s with the blinding shine of P. Diddy, Jay-Z and Notorious B.I.G., the new generation is snapping at his heels, appropriating the business which he can lose due to problems with justice.
King Johnny and TV Johnny Dang in Houston, brothers Aviann and David Bling in New York work in the same spirit. But Jason from Baverly Hills and Icy Fresh in Los Angeles deal with the most perspective clientele and intercommunicate with the people in Hollywood, musical business and sports industry. Jason takes care of Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan; Peris Hilton and Nicole Richie wear items from Icy Fresh.
The gripe sessions in hip-hop have place in broad daylight. But in jewellery business competition takes other forms: including hints, that under the guise of brilliants a contender tries to foist synthetics. In winners the one who works more quickly, with higher quality, and, naturally, whose products are larger.
According to Laura Schara, a fashionable expert of Macy's, in this season all splendid and metallic items are in fashion. David Haker, the Kohl's vice-president for fashionable tendencies, asserts that indispensable attributes of the season are bracelets and cocktail rings. However also necklaces remain in the top of the popularity list, especially in a combination with pendents.
According him, gold becomes more and more popular in the fashion jewelry. However it does not mean, that it is necessary to remove silver completely. The combination of products from different metals becomes a new fashionable trend. “Wearing of a jewel made from one metal does not mean any more, that an item from other metal is inappropriate”, - Betsi Thompson, a fashion expert from Hingham Talbots, says.
