Recently in Jewelry Category

Today I'm almost wearing this outfit from the J. Crew catalog...

I ordered the striped tissue tee way back in December and it finally arrived!  So if you want one, you better order now before they run out again.  (Classic Stripe Tissue Tee, $32.50) The jeans are the Ankle Stretch Toothpick Jean in Twilight Wash, $125.  They are not really "ankle" on me though, so they look a little bit different. 

For jacket - I'm wearing a wonderful old Theory jacket.  I'm not sure if they still make it... it's that stretch fabric they used to use for everything.  Now they do most things in the Tailor stretch wool, which is also great...

Shoes - Marc by Marc Jacobs round toe black pumps.    I got these Fall of 06 if you can believe it and I still LOVE them.

Bracelet - I am wearing one of J. Crew's chunky pearl bracelets.  It's not online, though is similar to the one below.  It seems like a cheap version of the one below, as if it were made for the J. Crew outlet, but I didn't get it at an outlet... I got it at J. Crew Princeton NJ.  I wonder if they ever put outlet items at the stores?

Earrings - Blue Nile 18k Hoops (yikes, they're $195 now! I'm glad a got mine a few years ago before gold went up!)  These are totally classic earrings that everyone should have in their jewelry wardrobe.

And an 18k gold snake chain that I've had for a while with a key pendant that I got in Kusadasi, Turkey!  I got my key before Tiffany came out with their keys, so I'm not a copier! You can get a nice key pendant from Blue Nile now (yes, they copied) for much less than the Tiffany gold version... check it out here.

I'm not really a St. Patrick's Day person (sorry, no green beer for me, no beer at all for that matter!) ... but it does make you think about green things... like EMERALDS!

Remember Angelina's amazing (and huge) emerald earrings at the Oscars last year? Wow!  But they must have hurt her ears, you can't wear earrings that heavy for too long...

Here are some from Blue Nile with diamonds that us mere mortals have a chance of being able to afford: Pear-Shaped Emerald and Diamond Drop Earrings, $1,210.

I love the look of the layered necklaces that's been around for the last year or so.  My great purchase of last year was a double chain necklace from Chanel, but yikes it was expensive.

For a similar look (minus the double C charm and a few hundred dollars), here's a great option from Ann Taylor:

Three Tier Chain Necklace, $48

Tiffany's has a nice gift guide, with many surprisingly affordable options.

For example, this Elsa Peretti Color by the Yard necklace in sterling and aquamarine is a quite reasonable $125. 

Tiffany Key Pendant, 2" long in sterling silver, $175.

Tiffany Snowflake earrings in sterling silver, $175

A gift in the Tiffany blue box is always nice...

I received my J. Crew Holiday catalog in the mail yesterday. They used a beautiful matte paper for the cover and finished it with metallic text... talk about getting all the details right...

Anyway, it's a treasure trove of great gifts... and things for one's self of course!  They also have a nifty gift guide on the site, here.

I love this dramatic necklace, the Salon Necklace, $150. It's a cool tangle of chains in gold plated brass with glass stones. A bit expensive perhaps for costume jewelry, but it's quite a statement piece.

We all know Coco Chanel loved her costume jewelry.  In the 1930s one of Coco's friends, Fulco di Verdura, created the Maltese Cross cuff for her. He had been hired by her as head textile designer and then in 1927 they began their collaboration for Chanel's costume jewelry collection.  In 1934 he created the Maltese Cross cuff, using a cross given to her by Grand Duke Dmitri of Russia. The design is still used today and Chanel's cuff bracelets are still some of the best. 

But yikes, at $1,620 - - that's quite a bit for costume jewelry, even if it's Chanel.

Kenneth Jay Lane has a pretty nice alternative, which you can get for just about 10% of the cost of the Chanel cuff, only $165 at their store at The Plaza.  Or, I also found it for sale online for just a bit more, $184.

In 1939 Verdura opened a shop in New York under his own name, and the Maltese Cross became one of the brand's signature motifs. Incidentally, the Verdura brand is celebrating 70 years in New York this year with a re-creation of the Maltese Cross cuff and a pendant version.  These however are not costume jewelry -- the pendant is $22,500!  (below a Verdura Maltese Cross cuff)

Here's an easy way to add a bit of the metal/stud/grommet look for Fall.

Andrea Lieberman Pyramid Hoop Earrings at Barney's, $550

Definitely rather expensive, but they are 18k rose gold. (they don't look like rose gold here, but maybe they do in person)

The pyramid shaped stud has been very popular, even since the Sex and the City movie where Carrie wore the studded belt...

I love these elegant pearl drop earrings from the Chanel Spring-Summer 2009 Pre Collection.   I love earrings with just a little big of dangle and I'm totally a sucker for the Chanel Camellia flower!

Glasstone pearl, metal and resin camellia earrings.

I also love this variation on the classic double C long necklace.  Most often they're done with pearls but here they've used some stones and the Cs are in blue, which is unusual too. Metal, enamel, glasstone pearl and natural stone long necklace

I was also browsing through their Spring-Summer bags.  Their bags can often look kind of Grandma-ish, well you know very classic, but a little boring.  This denim tote is a very modern take on the classic Chanel quilted look.  Quilted Denim Tote with a large stitched Chanel signature double-C motif.

Detail:

Of course, they never publish prices on the Chanel website, so you have to go to a Chanel store to find out... 

I thought Gwyneth's Goop auctions on ebay would be over by now... but there are still several items.

Among them is this fabulous Chanel bag, whose auction ends tomorrow!  Right now it's bid up to 530 GBP, or about $770.46... that's still very reasonable for a Chanel bag.

There's also this super cute Sonia Rykiel owl pendant.

I just love owls!

I ran accross King Baby by accident a while back while on zappos couture site.  A lot of it is way too biker-look for me, but they have some great fleur dy lys pieces and even some skulls that are pretty cool.  It's all made in sterling silver, the prices condsidering that are very high though.

Here are a couple of the designs that I really like.

Fleur de Lys Padlock, $437

Large Fleur de Lys Pendant, $434

I'm not sure that I'd really wear this one, but I love the intricate design. Dia de los Muertos Skull Necklace, $605.

These two Dior rings, both on sale at eLuxury, would both make great Valentine's gifts.  Any girl would love these because they're Dior!

Dior Heart Box Large Ring, regular $275, sale $165.

Dior Heart Small Box Ring, regular $275, sale $165. (It's funny, the prices for both sizes of the ring are listed as the same.  One of them must be a mistake???)

Both are rhodium plated metal and have the quilting design that Dior uses on their handbags, and come in a Dior gift box.  Hearts are kind of goofy, but I like these anyway.

To add just a bit of color to an outfit, I'd wear one of these rings and the Stuart Weitzman red pumps with jeans and a black shirt, simple but cool.

These Jessica Elliot earrings caught my eye in the Feb. issue of In Style magazine. Sterling silver, graduated open clover earrings, $76.

I love the quatrefoil design and these are certainly a lot more affordable than anything from Van Cleef's Alhambra collection!

I've written before about pearls like the affordable ones they sell at Ross-Simons, but as many know, the ne plus ultra of pearls is Mikimoto.  Why? Honestly, I never really knew.

During the mid 1800s in Japan natural (non-cultured) pearls were over-harvested and a pearl crisis was imminent. Kokichi Mikimoto spent decades researching seeding oysters to create pearls, he finally succeeded in 1893. And the cultured pearl was born.  Unlike freshwater pearls which can be very odd shaped, sea pearls are round. Mikimoto pearls are perfectly round and lustrous.

A classic 18" Mikimoto strand with 6.5 - 7 mm A quality Akoya cultured pearls with an 18k gold clasp (in either white or yellow gold) is $2,600.

So my birthday was over the weekend, I am getting frightfully old, but thankfully still look young enough to get carded (sometimes at least). I had a wonderful day walking around the Upper East Side and into Midtown and finally made it to the Mobile Art Exhibit in the park (see next post). Anyway, along my walk I got these wonderful Chanel earrings, they're from the Chanel store on 57th Street (betw. 5th and Madison).

These are Chanel costume jewelry, so they are genuine "metal" and cost $350.  Funny, ha?  These particular ones are made in Italy, others they had in stock were made in France.  They come with a little fabric pouch for storage and a beautiful Chanel box, they tied it with Chanel ribbon and put a big white camelia flower made of fabric on top.  The flower was just part of the wrapping, but I think I'm going to make it into a pin.  I don't have a link for these because they don't seem to be for sale online anywhere.

David Yurman's Fall catalog has some seriously gorgeous rings in it!  Yes, lately I'm obssesed with cocktail rings... and these are super fabulous [and expensive].

Just in case the jewelry wasn't beautiful enough on its own, Yurman has hired Kate Moss, Natalia Vodianova and Daria Werbowy... and Amber Valletta is the face of the new perfume. Here are some of the rings that I love:

Pave Champagne Citrine Ring, $5,200. 18k yellow gold with a 20mm champagne citrine stone and pave diamond bezel, from the Albion Collection.

14mm New Albion Ring, Smoky Quartz, $1,500. Sterling silver and 18k gold with 14mm smoky quartz and pave diamond bezel.

Olive Quartz Cushion Cocktail Ring, $2,100. 18k gold with 15mm olive quartz stone and diamond accents at each corner, from the Quatrefoil Collection.

Champagne Citrine Ring, $1,050.  Sterling silver and 18k gold with a square 15mm champagne citrine stone, with cable detail.

Large Noblesse Ring, Citrine, $850. Sterling silver and 14k gold with citrine stone.

From Tuesday's post, in the "statement jewelry" category... here's a find.  Again, from Ross Simons (NO I don't work for them, I just love their selection and reasonable prices!) I found this 10 carat Cognac Quartz Ring in 14k gold with tiny diamond accents on the band.

It's an unusual colored stone, but I like it. I've been liking yellow and orange lately... this seems to be a brown/orange. This ring would be even more perfect if it was just a smoky quartz, that beautiful rich brown color. But this color makes it even more unique perhaps.

Some of the lady-like profiles of Fall (like the pencil skirt) are to me, crying out to be paired with multi strand pearls.  I've written before about covet-worthy Chanel pearl necklaces but there are plenty of reasonable options out there too.

J. Crew has a nice option, this Double-Strand Jeweled-Flower Pearl Necklace for $250.  It's made with real 10 mm freshwater pearls, hand knotted on silk thread with a metal flower clasp.  It's 20" long.

Or at Ross Simons, their Double Cultured Pearl Strand with 14k Gold Clasp, $156 for 16 inch length, $180 for 18 inch length. The pearls may be anywhere from 7.5 - 9 mm in size, hopefully they do a reasonable job of matching them...

It's kind of funny how "Grandma" pearls can be. There are probably a lot of younger women that would never even consider wearing them. But I love them, I think they're Grace Kelly classic and as long as you know how to dress, they're fabulous!  Like this:

How cool does that look?!

In the summer, I find when you're wearing less clothes and your hair up more often, jewelry becomes more important, more visible... What I think would be fabulous right now are these beautiful platinum pieces from Blue Nile.

This gorgeous lariat style necklace, $575:

And matching bar drop earrings, $250.

They look modern, but not too crazy... and platinum, it's just the ultimate metal! Wouldn't these look great with the Bobi dress V neck dress (see June 11th)...

J. Crew released their new items for May today.  Among them I particularly like the enamel lobster bracelet. Maybe it's because I'm from New England, but I just love lobster and crab designs.  I think I love them just as much as I like to eat them, weird, ha?

Enamel jewelry has made a come back over the last year or so. I really like this bracelet because it's not a bangle, but a hinged style with a snap closure and safety hook and chain. It's $88 at jcrew.com.  This is a great piece because it's quirky.  Not everyone is going to like this (or have it) so it's really something that's unique.  Wearing this with say, a casual all black beach dress for a splash of color would be great!

Louis Vuitton's Spring 2008 collections are out.  They're featuring some spring-y colors and designs.

Freesia Platform Sandal $740.  I love the wood heel and platform! I love walking on shoes like this, I even like the "clomp, clomp, clomp" noise they make when you walk on a hard floor, and how you feel sort of like a geisha. (does anyone else know what I mean?)

Monogram Inclusion Ring $215.  I don't usually like pink at all, but this would be fun to wear and would be okay to add a little color to an outfit.

Cadenas Key Holder $325. I just love this keychain... a bit pricey, but it's so cute with the lock and key and convenient with a clasp and a key ring.

Last, the Monogram Tisse Beach Towel. $425 Other than Hermes, this has got to be the ultimate beach towel! An homage to the classic LV trunk.

In the spirit of Saint Patrick's Day, here are some festive green things to wear/carry. 

Bezel set emeralds and diamonds on a 14k chain @ Ross Simons on sale $1,015.75

Theory rayon tank dress in shamrock green @ Bloomingdale's $285

D&G Woven Straw Tote @ zappos.com couture $949

Lately, I'm feeling like I'd really like a big clunky stoned cocktail ring.  What is a cocktail ring you ask, well according to Wisegeek and Wikipedia, the cocktail ring is a dramatic, large ring set with precious or semiprecious stones, worn at cocktail parties. "The cocktail ring was especially popular during US prohibition at illegal cocktail parties. Such a ring flaunted not only the fact that one was drinking illegally, but also that one was doing it with style."

Surprisingly enough, you don't have to spend a fortune to get a decent cocktail ring. What I mean by "decent" is NOT a ring that is "costume" jewelry. www.Ross-Simons.com is a great place to find reasonably priced jewelry, they often have 20% off sales too. Here are some examples (with sale prices - there is a sale now through March 9th).

10 carats Cognac Quartz in 14k $280

12 carats Smoky Quartz in 14k $468

9.45 carats Smoky Quartz with White Topaz in 14k $292

But, if there were no budget, I would definetly go for something like this (see below): Gucci 21 carat Smoky Quartz Horsebit Cocktail Ring in 18k $3390!

I have to admit that I am something of a history geek.  I love reading about European history in particular. Even historic fiction can be great.  (the good authors do tons of research and don't change history, just embellish the details surrounding it)  So what I'm getting at is that I've had a long love of heraldry.  I ran across a great jewelry company called Pyrrha.  They're based in Vancouver, Canada and they cast pendants and rings from antique wax seals in either 14k gold, silver or bronze.  They use many of the common symbols of heraldry:  lion, dragon, griffin, fleur de lys, stag, anchor and crown, among others.  

Historic heraldic coats of arms often featured mottos. Some of Pyrrha's designs include a motto in Latin or French like "Vitrus Sibi Premium" (virtue is its own reward), "courage sans peur" (courage without fear) and "L'espoire me reste dans l'orage" (my hope remains even in the storm).  You can check out all of their designs on their website, www.pyrrha.com.

Keeping on the jewelry vein from yesterday... the jewelry piece that I am dying to get right now is pretty much anything from the Alhambra line from Van Cleef & Arpels. It comes in both white and yellow gold in a lot of different styles, some with inlays of mother of pearl, onyx or tiger's eye.  I love the quatrefoil shape, which they call a "clover" presumably because they figure the average moron doesn't know what a quatrefoil is.  (Art history anyone???) The quatrefoil was common in Moorish architecture (thus the name for the collection, Alhambra) and later in Gothic architecture. Years ago I went to the Alhambra Palace in Granada (Spain), wow, seriously beautiful place.  The courtyard of the lions there is amazing. Everyone must go!

Van Cleef doesn't have prices on their website, but according to InStyle magazine, this 18k bracelet goes for $1,500.  That seems quite reasonable to me.

I love tiger's eye, so maybe I'd get the single pendant in tiger's eye and yellow gold. 

Here's Reece who apparently has 2 different styles. I wonder if she actually bought them, or if they gave them to her?  It looks like mabye the Byzantine Alhambra style in the first picture and either the Vintage Alhambra or regular Alhambra in the second.

You can check out all the styles here: http://www.vancleef-arpels.com/en/van-cleef.html#/alhambra/  Happy shopping (or dreaming).  Cheers.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend, but it's good to mix things up right? I was recently given the Elsa Peretti Teardrop earrings and this gift has caused me to have a Tiffany sterling renaissance. I dug out my collection and polished it up and (re)realized that I LOVE this stuff.  I'm not sure why I hadn't worn any of it in so long.  (okay maybe because it's annoying to have to polish it, more on that below) Tiffany's designs are so classic. My favorites are the Atlas collection , the Peretti bean and the Peretti teardrops.  And buying them in sterling makes them affordable to most people... although "affordable", it is kind of an outrage when you consider how much 925 silver costs (its dirt cheap), the markup Tiffany has is INSANE.  But hey, they have to pay for the nice blue boxes and their designers, and for some really expensive real estate. 

Frank Gehry even has a line now!  Tiffany's calls it "a bold new vision of arresting shapes and forms".  I guess that's what you'd expect from the man who designed Bilbao [Guggenheim]! I like the Torque line. (3 pendants in that collection at left) He's also doing some bone china bowls and vases that are really cool.

Note to guys everywhere: if you don't know what to get your girlfriend/wife/mistress etc. you cannot go wrong with something from Tiffany's.  (note of caution - do NOT buy Tiffany on Ebay, it's most likely FAKE and made in China) 

Oh, last quick note on polishing sterling... I learned this a long time ago. Take a pan and line it with aluminum foil, boil some water and get out some baking soda.  Put your jewelry items in the pan on the foil, pour hot water over it and dump in a few teaspoons of baking soda.  It will fizz... let it sit there for several minutes then take your stuff out and buff it with a soft cloth and it's like new!  This works if the tarnish is not really bad - if it's really bad then you can do this, but you'll need to use silver polish too to get all of the tarnish off.  Don't use this method on soft stones or pearls though!