Jewelry…own it, love it, wear it!
I have to say that interior design is my second love after style and bling, so anytime I find a killer home store, I have to check it out! Abode is the best interiors store you’ll find on the San Mateo County coast, and I can attest to the quality, as I have a few pieces in my place. They have a mix of modern and vintage, AND they have a nice selection of baubles as well.
The first time I became acquainted with Jennifer Miller Jewelry was when I just happened to be strolling up Lexington Avenue in NYC, and I stopped in my tracks when I saw the sparkle through the window in front of me. As I entered this jewel box of a store, I honestly didn’t know where to look first. Well much to my delight, I was invited to a Jennifer Miller trunk show on Wednesday at the fabulous home of Alexis Traina in San Francisco, whose home I had admired in the pages of Elle Decor and Vogue.
Jennifer herself was there, and I was thrilled to get a first hand tour of the collection.
Three different displays of bracelets caught my eye right off the bat.
For both myself and my clients, Babette on Sutter Street near Union Square has been one of my go-to boutiques for years. Their modern, often pleated, clothing line is just fantastic. It never goes out of style, and I’ve yet to have one of their pieces wear out — now that’s saying something! Well imagine my delight when I recently entered the shop to see a jewelry case right in the middle of the store!! Knowing how unique the clothing is, I was sure I’d find some treasures that I’d never seen before, and I was definitely right!
While I like to think that I’m pretty in the know about different designers, I must admit that each and every designer shown was new to me. Wow! Elizabeth Shypertt is the curator of the collection, and has the pieces on consignment at the store. One of the first items that jumped right onto my wrist is this killer silver bracelet by Elisa Bongfeldt.
Then there’s a group of jewelry made from smooth river rocks by Terri Logan. Take a look at this stunning necklace and bracelet. Though they are made of stone, they are still light-weight and very comfortable.
If you’re into color, then these ball necklaces by Rosario Merola will be right up your alley. The red beads are made of lava rock!
I know that people who wear a more autumnal color palette and have a creative personal style will want to try on the collection by Brooke Battles.
And how unique are these necklaces by Kristin Lora made with brushes as pendants? These would definitely be a conversation piece!
There’s much more for you to see, so I encourage you to stop by the store and try things on in person. Have fun!
Kara Ross, who opened her own storefront on Madison Avenue in NYC this past fall, is a designer I was so excited to interview at the Couture show in Las Vegas.
Kara’s love of gemstones began early in life, when her parents let her buy a tourmaline during a trip to Africa. When she returned home to the States, she designed her own ring, setting the stone in gold with diamonds. What a generous and creative opportunity to give a young woman! Clearly, this sparked a life-long love of stones and design, and I am blown away by her collection.
Most specifically, I was mesmerized by the Pangea ring. First of all, take a look at some images of the ring, and then I’ll tell you all about it.
Pangea is the land mass on our planet that existed about 300 million years ago, consisting basically of all the Earth’s continents melded together in sort of a puzzle formation. Plate tetonics then spent the next couple hundred million years separating the land into the seven continents that we know today. Here’s a neat visual to show how this happened.
Using this concept, Kara designed this ring as a tribute to the world we live on. Made of 18K gold (in yellow, white or rose), the jagged diamond-encrusted rows, “…reflect the shifting continents beautifully fusing together, and despite the drift all the pieces remain enveloped in one mass, continuing to come together and forming a harmonious whole.” Making each of these rings takes 10-11 weeks, and utilizes the expertise of 7 different craftsmen. Just drilling the hole through the large cabochon “Earth” is incredibly difficult. One little error, and the gem will shatter.
On the sides of the rings, you see a mosaic of hand-cut gemstones with angular pave diamond boarders, “…which represent the cultures and ethnicities of the world all living peacefully together.” The intricacies of these rings, along with their powerful message leaves me breathless — it’s truly a work of art and a labor of love.
This ring is the centerpiece of her Petra collection, which has over 100 pieces. The overriding design element seen across the collection includes jagged zig-zag motifs. Here are a few more pieces from this collection.
I just adore the juxtaposition of the raw rubellite and the polished amethyst in this last necklace, don’t you?
Kara also has both a fashion jewelry line, Kara by Kara Ross and a sterling silver line. I’ve tried on some of the sterling pieces in various shops, and they’re quite spectacular. Here’s a sterling cuff with black mother-of-pearl and black sapphires.
And this pair of earrings has a modern Art Deco vibe, for sure.
Kara has a huge celebrity following, and includes the Obamas among her private clients. She made pieces for them using the wood from a fallen magnolia tree from the White House garden. These coveted pieces were made for the First Lady and are also given as unique gifts to visiting heads of state and other important people. How cool is that?
I cannot fail to mention Kara’s gem-tastic handbag collection, either, which includes everything from clutches to day bags. Here are a couple of my favorites.
And because a pop of celadon is hot for spring…
I hope that you are as intrigued by this designer as I am. If you want to see some of her things in person, she sells at various retailers across the nation, as well as having her online shopping site. I cannot wait to see what she brings to Couture this spring!!
I recently returned from a girl’s weekend in Seattle with my cousin Rachel and my “cousin-to-be” Megan. We had a blast, despite the rainy weather, exploring this beautiful and friendly city. Since they were hanging with me, a professional shopper, I know that they weren’t surprised when I pulled out my page of hand-written notes on all the shops I wanted to visit. And bonus, Megan had a rental car! So off to the Fremont neighborhood we went, which is about a 15 minute drive from downtown Seattle.
One of the shops on my “must see” list was Essenza, which is a unique combination of jewelry, bath/skincare products, sleepwear, and some kid’s items. I knew I liked the store before I entered, which was painted in a pale aqua-blue (my favorite color).
And my thoughts were confirmed as I entered this charming store, with a central fountain surrounded by beautiful cases of jewelry.
So many of my favorite designers were represented, from Megan Thorne to Rebecca Overmann to Sarah McGuire.
Peering into the cases from Zoe Chicco and Jamie Joseph definitely brought a smile to my face!
I was excited to find a new men’s jewelry line, The Blue Hound. It’s so rare that I see a men’s line represented at a store like this, and I loved it! It was very industrial, and had a great price point. Here’s some bad-ass skull cufflinks and a couple edgy bracelets.
If you’re in the Seattle area this coming week, then it’s the perfect time to stop by the store. They will be hosting an Anne Sportun (oh, how I love her and her line!) trunk show. Here’s the details on the show.
I hope that the next time you’re in Seattle, you’ll make the effort to visit Essenza. I met Wendy, the owner’s sister, and she was just charming. And in a typical small world style, it turns out that she used to live in the San Francisco Bay Area and knew tons of people in common with my cousin. Go figure! I love how the universe keeps connecting us all in that special way.
During my recent girl’s weekend in Seattle, I finally got to visit Les Amis in the Fremont neighborhood. Just reading the list of clothing designers that they carry which I love (Gary Graham, Pas de Calais and No.6 to name a few), I was psyched to walk in their darling front door. So I guess that I shouldn’t be surprised that one of the cool sales gals rocked my boho world with her jewelry choices. First of all, I loved her statement necklace by Annie Costello Brown worn with a simple cream top.
You may know the name Diana Broussard from her work at Calvin Klein, Christian Dior and Gucci. While she is certainly famous for her shoe line (she used to design shoes for Gucci under Tom Ford), she is also the designer of some fabulous necklaces, currently available at both the Los Altos and Palo Alto locations of Crimson Mim. (Gotta love when you find cutting-edge fashion close to home!) Her feather-light resin chain-link necklaces are the perfect centerpiece for this spring’s minimalist look.
Handcrafted by Italian artisans, they come with just the links or with an added padlock pendant, and range in price from $275-$375.
Here’s Miroslava Duma, the former editor of Harper’s Bazaar Russia, modeling one of the necklaces.
They are selling like hotcakes, so if this rings your jewelry bell, then definitely rush to Crimson Mim and give them a try. It might be the perfect go-to accessory for your spring wardrobe!
I recently wrote an article about the spring 2014 trend of layering delicate necklaces. (If you missed it, click here to read it.) I told you that I was going to go through my jewelry box and see what combinations I could come up with. Well never wanting to let you down, here are a few of the mixes I came up with.
This first trial includes a labradorite bead necklace (worn doubled) by Flying Lizard, a bezel-set diamond chain I got years ago from Ross-Simons, and a sort of boho creation that I got at a boutique somewhere in Santa Cruz.
The next incarnation combines a painted crystal purchased at Crimson Mim quite a few years ago, and a newer raw diamond necklace by Ali Grace, acquired at Carrots.
Next, I paired the same Ali Grace necklace with a petite pendant by Adel Chefridi, from Gallery of Jewels.
I wanted to make a mix with a longer necklace in it, so I pulled out a long sterling silver bead chain, also by Flying Lizard, and paired it with my Armenta horseshoe from Head over Heels and a tiny diamond disc on a black cord which I purchased through Gilt.com a couple years ago.
Finally, I wanted to see if I could bring my Nordstrom diamond circle pendant necklace (circa 2005?) back into rotation, so I coupled it with a Chan Luu silver and gold leaf long necklace, worn doubled, from Leaf & Petal.
I’ve definitely been having some fun with this, and I plan on creating more mixes in the weeks to come. What about you — have you tried it yet? I’d love to see what you’ve come up with!
I must admit that I never did very well in my history classes, but if Coomi Bhasin had been my teacher I would have rocked it, no doubt! During the course of our interview at the Couture show, everything from the Mesopotamian Era to Alexander the Great was thrown into the mix. This beautiful, highly intelligent and evervescent woman really wowed me, as did her jewelry line.
Now let’s take a closer look at some of her work, which she describes as “important, yet wearable.” Here’s her Lucy necklace. Lucy was one of the oldest skeletons every found, and Coomi designed her skeleton in gold, just as it was found, backed by an arrowhead, over 10,000 years old. (See what I’m saying about the history lesson?!) Have you ever seen anything quite like it? I sure haven’t!
This diamond cuff is honestly a work of art. Each diamond takes two hours to set by hand, if you can believe it. That’s one labor-intensive bracelet!
Another necklace she showed me was this one from her Serenity collection. It depicts the desert rose from the Kalahara desert in Africa, which blooms only once every 100 years. The diamonds represent the water droplets that get trapped in the bottom, center of the flower, and the texture of the gold represents the dryness of the desert sand.
Jewelry inspiration struck while working with one of my clients in NYC this season. I’ve always admired this stack she wears, with an inscribed ring for each of her four children, book-ended by two diamond eternity bands.
While we were out shopping one afternoon in Soho, she picked up this skinny ring with a black diamond bar at Michele Varian. Paired with the slimmest of rings that she was already wearing, it felt just right.
So back in California, I had to dig out my thin stacking rings and see what I had to work with. I have owned these three gold and diamond stackers for years. The top one is by Nina Basharova, I have no clue who made the middle one, and the bottom one is by Armenta.
I do love these rings, but I needed to mix it up a bit. So I headed over to the Gallery of Jewels on Fillmore Street in SF. There, I picked up these silver rings by Amery Carriere. One is oxidized, and three have a tiny diamond accent.
Then I decided, why stop at just silver and gold? How about throwing in a little rose gold? This slim ring by Zaiken Jewelry did the trick.
The final addition was a silver ring with a tear-drop raw, green diamond found at Upstairs at Pierre Lafond in Montecito. (One of the benefits of having clients all over the place is the chance to jewelry shop outside of my ‘hood!) Now, I can really start getting creative. Here are two different stacks I’ve worn in the past week — one with more of a silver vibe, and one veering more towards gold.
With my interest completely piqued, I’ve also been searching around Pinterest for more stack-tastic ideas. I love this combination by Blanca Monros Gomez, sold at Catbird. Elegant!
And what about this collection with black diamonds? Fab-ooo!
I think I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg with the skinny stacks. I will have to try and restrain myself the next time I’m in a jewelry store…or not. 😉