Tag: trunk shows

Dominique Cohen: Designer

I have been a huge Dominique Cohen fan for years, so I was especially excited to meet her in person at a recent trunk show in San Francisco.

Hanging out with Dominique Cohen
Hanging out with Dominique Cohen

I’ve always considered Dominique’s jewelry as perfect layering pieces. Although she makes all different types of jewelry, I associate her most with her necklaces. She has core collection chains in rose and yellow gold. To these you can add a variety of pendants.

She features semi-precious and precious stones, as well as stunning pearls to her jewelry. By adding different layers and stones, you get completely different effects. It’s wonderful (and cost-effective) how you can keep adding different necklaces to your collection over the years, yet they all mix and match perfectly, both with themselves and with other necklaces you already own.

I also love the fact that her jewelry is made right here in the USA. It is hand made, and she casts each gold piece in her Los Angeles facility.

Here are a necklace and some earrings from her spring 2011 line:

beautiful Dominique Cohen necklace

beautiful Dominique Cohen earrings

You can find her jewelry at Neiman Marcus, Sak’s Fifth Avenue and various smaller boutiques. Read more about her and her line at Dominique Cohen.

Trunk Shows

I think jewelry trunk shows are one of the most under-utilized events for jewelry lovers. When a jewelry line is brought to a department store or boutique, by either the designer themselves or a rep, that is considered a trunk show. Usually a store only shows a small portion of a designer’s line, so when a trunk show is scheduled, they bring all sorts of beautiful baubles that you normally wouldn’t get the opportunity to see or try on.

Whenever I attend one of these shows, I feel like I’m playing in the big jewelry box of the designer. You can try on whatever your heart desires with no obligation to buy. It’s also educational to try jewelry on with the expert from the company there, as they can often tell you things such as the inspiration for the piece, show you other ways to combine their jewelry, etc.

Shows are normally scheduled for a few hours, and typically no appointments are needed. I’ve noticed that on occasion, in the smaller boutiques, a discount is offered on the pieces during a trunk show. If this sounds like something up your alley, be sure to get on the mailing lists of your favorite local stores so you won’t miss out on any jewelry opportunities!