Jewelry and Fashion: Vintage Statement Jewelry

Egyptian Revival Scarab Necklace

As I’ve mentioned before, in my opinion, jewellery and fashion are different sides of the same coin.

The fashion world dictates styles and the colour palette of any given season and often jewellery designs will follow suit to make sure that you can mix and match jewellery with the current trends.

However, jewellery can also transcend fashion and good quality, well designed, vintage pieces will almost always stand out in their own right and can be worn with almost anything.

I was lucky enough recently, to find a beautiful Egyptian Revival piece from the 20′s that was most likely made to commemorate the opening of Tutankhamun‘s tomb. It’s not to everyone’s taste, as it is a big piece, but it looks fantastic with any outfit (even my pyjamas).

It is a winged creature with a  central scarab – I’m not entirely sure what stone is used to make the scarab (sort of looks like turqoiuse). Inset into the silver of the beast, are turquoise and sea

jasper cabuchons. The chain is my own.

I’ve worn it to meetings and it is very noticeable.

Statement necklaces however, are not for the faint hearted. People do make comments, both nice ones and not so nice ones. But if you can accept that you are your own person and don’t mind a bit of attention, then the statement necklace is a great way to stand out from the crowd and to make what you are wearing very memorable.

Folksy Friday: White as the Driven Snow

I thought now that the sunshine is out, it’d be appropriate to do  Folksy Friday to remind us of the lovely snow we had this last winter.

I am of course being sarcastic, as it was awful, at one point I forgot what the world was like when it wasnt covered in thick white stuff.

So to commemorate this:

here’s some ideas for a whiter than white outfit:

The White Queen by April is Forever Jewellery

White Jaquard Cocktail dress by Fashion Couture

White Disco Earrings by Emily Storm Designs

Pure as the Driven Snow Bracelet

And to complete the look:

White headband by Janine Basil

I’m afraid you’ll have to find your own shoes as Folksy doesn’t seem to have white shoes for women – unless you know better?

Louis Vuitton and the Handmade Revolution

So Louis Vuitton has had his knuckles rapped by the trading standards people, for making out, via a series of adverts, that their wares are handmade.

Well that’s very naughty, because the $5 billion a year brand, that employs 12,000 staff, doesn’t really make them by hand. In fact, they have recently moved further away from handmade to a more production line method to improve productivity – which is fine and it is fantastic that they employ so many people. However, it is hard enough for the handmade artist to complete with the branding dollars that the likes of Vuitton has, without those brands stealing our USP as well.

Handmade, means that. It is made (often laboriously) by hand. The goods are often one off pieces and a lot of artistic merit is embedded into the design, by default. The best of handmade is as good as, if not better, than the best of the brands.

Monsieur Vuitton you make cracking bags, but please respect the handmade artist.

Oh, but thanks for the handmade plug too!!

Louis Vuitton Bag – Very nice

courtesy Elle UK: Pink Clutch Bag

Handmade Bag by Oh Gosh! Very, Very Nice

Oh Gosh! Lipstick bag

Fashion and Jewellery

I recently read a very interesting article in Professional Jeweller Magazine about how jeweller must collaborate more with the fashion industry.

I couldn’t agree more. The great thing about both fashion and jewellery is that there is such a massively wide choice, varying from the very conservative and understated, to the wild and wacky. What I find most interesting, is when you team up a very conservative work suit or dress, with an ‘in your face’ piece of statement jewellery.  Lets put it this way, I’ve done exactly that myself and it certainly gets you noticed. You do have to have enough confidence to do it of course, then again, the act of wearing either statement fashion or statement jewellery, in itself, can add a layer of confidence to the wearer – almost like a mask to hide your shyness.

Conversely, wearing a very bright and colorful outfit with an understanded bracelet or necklace, can strangely have the opposite effect to that expected, i.e. instead of the outfit detracting from the understated jewellery, it actually accentuates it.

An example of using bold statement necklaces with conservative clothes would be this gorgeous Paul & Joe dress with the Homage to the Sun God necklace

Paul & Joe Dress from The Outnet

Homage to the Sun God Statement Necklace