EditorsJul 14, 2022
In ‘The Radiance,’ 13 Talented Designers Offer Distinctive Points of ViewTrendsJul 25, 2022
Current Jewelry Trend: Color Craze
At the Couture show, designers told colorful stories with gemstones, enamel, and gemstone beads.
At Couture 2022, designers were feeling bold color. Pictured from left to right are a cuff by Brent Neale, a necklace by Rosa Van Parys, and a ring by Retrouvaí.
Las Vegas—Like everyone, the jewelry designers who descended on the Couture show this year have been feeling cooped up.
Many skipped the 2021 Las Vegas jewelry trade show due to COVID-19 fears or international travel restrictions. Most have enjoyed a bustling couple years of business. These factors led to a joyful Sin City reunion featuring collections bursting with color.
Among the current jewelry trends in the market, color was the reigning theme at Couture 2022, and expressed in different and compelling ways per designers’ unique visual identities and inclinations.
Below are the dominant ways designers showed off fine jewelry’s recent bout of prosperity, in every shade of the rainbow.
The New Enamel
Buddha Mama 22-karat gold rings with enamel and aquamarine ($5,900) and tourmaline ($6,400)
Susanna Martins ring in 18-karat white gold with 5.55-carat Zambian emerald, diamonds, and enamel (price upon request)
Selim Mouzannar one-of-a-kind bangle from the Aïda collection in 18-karat gold with orange enamel, a 30.26-carat spessartite garnet, and 0.99 carats of sapphires ($100,570)
Tariq Riaz 18-karat white and rose gold ring with enamel and diamonds ($6,300)
Nadine Aysoy “Catena” earrings in 18-karat yellow gold with topaz, emerald, and turquoise enamel ($6,535)
NeverNoT 14-karat gold and enamel pendant necklace with blue topaz ($1,690)
Emily P. Wheeler 18-karat yellow gold “Cheshire Earrings” with 34.24 carats of aquamarine and enamel ($68,000)
Bea Bongiasca “Double B Vine Ring” in 9-karat yellow gold with 0.68 carats of marquise-cut topaz and enamel ($1,050)
Enamel has enjoyed renewed industry prominence for the better half of the last decade. It allows for color experimentation that simply isn’t possible when sourcing colored gemstones.
So, while enamel is nothing new, brands are pushing the medium in new and exciting ways.
Take Selim Mouzannar, for instance. Enamel jewelry is a mainstay of the Lebanese designer’s collection, but his continued experimentation with guilloche enamel and the metal patterns beneath it represent continued innovation, as seen in the above slideshow’s spectacular monochromatic cuff.
Susana Martins, the designer behind the eponymous line, made her Couture debut this year.
The Dubai-based creator’s adventurous eye for color felt completely modern, thanks to shades of curry red, lime green, or turquoise blue enamel, the latter particularly compelling when paired with emerald.
Emily P. Wheeler embodies joyful, you-only-live-once color. Her most unexpected enamel showed up at the recent jewelry trade show in the form of white stripes, which lent an ever-more-playful energy to bold gemstone pieces.
In Couture’s Design Atelier, Tariq Riaz showcased his flexible “Circle of Life” rings that prove no color combination is off limits. The brand offers more than 100 shades of enamel and encourages mixing metals as well.
Year-Round Gemstone Beads
Jacquie Aiche pink and purple opal beaded necklace with pink tourmaline trillion-cut center stone and diamond pave set in 14-karat yellow gold ($4,625)
Renna “Lobster Clasp Bracelet” in 18-karat gold with diamonds, tourmaline, beryl, and emerald ($7,800)
Harwell Godfrey “Rainbow Baht Foundation Necklace” in 18-karat yellow gold with malachite, apatite, lapis lazuli, amethyst, jasper, sandstone, moonstone, agate, quartz, angelite, aquamarine, and garnet ($7,950)
Ananya “Chakra Bracelet” in 18-karat rose gold with 74.29 carats of kunzite, 3.10 carats of diamonds and 0.77 carats of quartz ($9,550)
Emily P. Wheeler “Cinderella Necklace” with Ethiopian opal beads and 14-karat rose gold removable locket with 17.41-carat rubellite cabochon and 5.49 carats of diamonds (price upon request)
Sauer “Sofia” necklace in 18-karat yellow gold with emerald, rubellite, jade, and pink opal ($42,630)
Sorellina one-of-a-kind 18-karat yellow gold and opal bead necklace with diamonds ($6,800)
Gemella pink tourmaline and aquamarine beaded necklace with pink opal and aquamarine cabochons set in 18-karat gold ($3,060)
Azlee 18-karat yellow gold necklace with approximately 130 carats of sapphires ($4,840)
Jewelry’s current mood for color translates to chains, with lots of designers rolling out gemstone bead necklaces and bracelets that aren't just for summertime.
Ananya’s signature piece is a luxurious gemstone bead bracelet, available in a huge variety of gemstones and fixed with an 18-karat gold and diamond closure.
Jacquie Aiche is synonymous with sinuous, second-skin bezel-set diamond chains. After myriad iterations, gemstone bead chains were a logical next chapter for the designer’s neck mess, providing a substantial counterpart to more delicate diamond layers.
Now, the designer has a plethora of gemstone varieties that combine a faceted gemstone for an elegant-yet-bohemian silhouette.
Azlee boasts a muted gold and diamond color palette, occasionally dipping its toe into emerald pieces, and, as of Couture 2022, sapphire. Sapphire beads are a new take on the “big three” gemstones, providing a more organic and unisex energy to the gem.
Renna, the brand that provides a sophisticated and sentimental take on sea-inspired jewelry, proves large, tumbled gemstone beads are a perfect match with her ocean motifs.
Cocktail Hour
Brent Neale one-of-a-kind ring in 18-karat yellow gold with peridot and multicolor sapphires ($9,800)
Sauer “Chakras” necklace in 18-karat gold with onyx, emerald, topaz, citrine, orange citrine, amethyst, garnet, and diamond ($10,080)
Beck Jewels’ “Grotto Ring” in 18-karat yellow gold with 3-carat blue topaz ($3,450)
Nadine Aysoy “Rainbow Bracelet” in 18-karat yellow gold with topaz, citrine, green amethyst and pink sapphire ($10,470)
AnaKatarina “Blue Valentine” ring in 18-karat gold with opal, peridot, amethyst, and blue sapphire ($6,640)
Gemella 18-karat rose gold necklace with Mandarin garnet ($6,960)
Robinson Pelham 14-karat yellow gold “Arena” ring with yellow beryl, enamel, and ceramic ($4,800)
Melissa Kaye one-of-a-kind “Lenox” pendant with 2.44-carat Mozambican Paraiba-like tourmaline and pastel pink enamel over 18-karat yellow gold ($28,450)
Retrouvaí one-of-a-kind “Heirloom Ring” in 18-karat yellow gold with mint tourmaline (price upon request)
In this editor’s opinion, the most compelling trend under the overall color mania umbrella is the cocktail jewel: a necklace, bracelet, ring, or pair of earrings defined by the presence of at least one bold and juicy colored gemstone.
See: Brent Neale’s peridot ring, replete with delicate gold bead and gem halo, or Nadine Aysoy’s fancy-shape gemstone bracelet.
AnaKatarina adapts the style to its aesthetic via textured, sea urchin-like gold and inverted accent gemstones. Beck Jewels is more straightforward with its solitaire gemstone encompassed in a multi-level gold setting.
Melissa Kaye’s new foray into bespoke pieces, thanks to carefully sourced stones set in an enamel halo, show the intersection between the cocktail jewel and new enamel trends.
More Is More
Harwell Godfrey one-of-a-kind earrings in 18-karat yellow gold with opal, blue tourmaline, coral, beryl, and morganite (price upon request)
Rosa Van Parys “Dagger No. 8.5 Pendant” with diamonds, pink and yellow sapphires, aquamarine and tsavorite set in 18-karat yellow gold on the “Links 3.5” necklace in 18-karat gold ($36,200)
Brent Neale “Wide Braided Friendship Cuff” in 18-karat yellow gold with multicolor sapphires (price upon request)
M. Spalten “Gemfetti” earrings in 14-karat gold with turquoise, tanzanite, amethyst, and pink opal ($2,880)
Paul Morelli “Wild Child” necklace in 18-karat yellow gold with diamonds, multicolor sapphires, aquamarine, spessartite garnet and tsavorite garnet ($28,000)
Robinson Pelham “Zouk” earrings with 3.7 carats of multicolor sapphires in 18-karat yellow gold ($9,990)
Milamore multicolor sapphire and diamond necklace in 18-karat gold ($5,200)
Three Stories Jewelry “Elongated Starburst Charms” in 14-karat gold with multicolor sapphires and diamonds ($3,960 for the pair; hoop earrings sold separately)
Some color is simply an energetic milieu of shades, thanks to nature’s candy.
M. Spalten’s “Gemfetti” jewels, featuring a mix of colored gem varieties, sizes, and cuts, follow designer Melissa Spalten’s personal color preferences, resulting in an aesthetically pleasing and gem-diverse array of stones.
Robinson Pelham is a champion of the rainbow jewelry trend, proving time and time again the complementary effect of every major hue combined together.
Rosa Van Parys started her collection shying away from bright color but has now branched into its many possibilities in her signature “dagger” necklace silhouettes.
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