All kinds of ethnic motifs - oriental, savage, Middle Eastern, southern, folk – have been quite a hit of the summer jewelry fashion, RBC Daily writes. Major brands, intellectual designers, famous fashion houses and unknown fledgling jewelers – all got inspired with ethnic motifs. They embodied their ideas in gold, silver, jewels and gemstones, pearls and mother-of-pearl, and even in bones and leather.
Oriental Refinement
The oriental motif is may be the most popular one in ethnic adornments, first of all, because the Orient stretches from Maghreb to Japan and from Indonesia to Tibet. The barbarian affluence of the Byzantine style is also attributed to the spirit of the Orient.
Among the new products in the oriental style are the new works of Paloma Picasso from the Marrakesh line for Tiffany & Co. The main element is zellije, a geometrical ornament that imitates the ancient motif of the Maroccan tiles and amazes with its absolute proportionality. The collection is enriched with a hollow openwork bracelet, a similar ring, an egg-shaped pendant set with turquoise and a pendant with a tassel of lapis lazuli or lazurite beads.
Delicate gold arabesques are offered by the Calgaro brand in the Asia Collection line and the Pomellato brand in the Arabesque line – the topaz ‘lens’ topping the gold engraving gives a certain refinement to oriental patterns. The earrings made by Utopia are decorated with engraved white gold balls that carry diamonds and resemble Chinese carved jade balls: a black pearl from an eastern sea is embedded in the gold ball.
The Byzantine theme has inspired Gerard Yosca, a designer from New-York (Gerard Yosca brand), who is a designer of bijouterie for fashion designers Oscar de la Renta, Ralf Lauren and Traсy Reese. In his own line, the designer uses expressly rough gold chains, a pearl fringe and a plain-shaped rosette set with turquoise and topazes.
African Passions
African style adornments are favorite alternative pieces for those who are a bit tired of Arabic motifs and various chinoiserie. The main principles of an African ethnic style imply minimum of processing, laconic motifs and ‘savagery’ even if it is affected. African pieces make an excellent addition to monochrome collections of designers of minimalist taste. A necklace made of gold triangle pieces with chased strips fixed on a white color cloth, from the Samma brand, is an example of such adornment.
Another example includes ‘homemade’ plaited bracelets and rings of leather or thick waxed cord fixed with a gold setting, from the By Boe brand. They look so authentically that one can tell they have been made by skilled craftsmen from a very small West African tribe. And the beads made from large-size transparent gemstones designed by Paloma Picasso for Tiffany & Co. cannot be distinguished from the glass beads, for which European colonizers bartered precious wood and ivory given by black natives. One could wear several rows of beads – yellow, green, pink ones – and look like a tribal chief.
Finally, nothing looks more African than glass bead adornments set in yellow gold, for example, like glass bead mosaic earrings from Stussy. The ornament on the earrings resembles any African idol’s face.
Luck-Bringing Amulet
Amulets, also called as talismans and charms, at first sight are strange things, which had a sacral meaning for our ancestors and are purely decorative pieces now. It is not always possible to identify the ethnic nature of amulets, but its mystic hidden motive can be easily revealed. Precious amulets are often decorated with some utterly surprising things. For example, an amulet line from designer Audrey Hu (AH Jewelry brand) with natural falcon’s and peacock’s feathers set in yellow gold resembles amulets of Nordic peoples, the so called ‘dreamcatchers’.
Another common ‘component’ or an amulet is a fang or a nail of any fearless and strong beast of prey. To those who are afraid of such brutality and are animal protectors, a fang-amulet from Pomellato, the Victoria line, could be recommended in the form of a pendant of black agate set in pink gold hanging on a large-link gold chain.
And the MIMI brand used an oriental tradition of a token amulet and released a line of hieroglyphic pendants of white and yellow gold with or without a diamond pave hanging on a cord or a gold chain. It is believed that every amulet brings its owner either love or luck or wealth. Whether it is true or not, you may find out from your own experience – chance it!
