On The Hunt For Jewels To Collect And Wear
To bring you the trends in ready-to-wear, fashion editors and reporters attend the fall/winter and spring/summer fashion weeks in New York, Paris, Milan and London. There are approximately four weeks of shows for each season. Fine jewelry journalists trek out to the desert heat of Sin City for five to six days—where the cha-ching of the slot machines, the flow of champagne and the shows on The Strip as well as in the hotels are upstaged by the major jewelry shows of the year: Couture, JCK and The Las Vegas Antique Jewelry and Watch Show.
And, in jewelry, whatever happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas—it travels to global high-end boutiques and specialty stores, online shops and magazines and blogs. Here is where the brightest of the new designers shine, the established houses unveil new concepts and collections and rare and signed antique and vintage jewelry will be discovered.
I have been attending and reporting on these shows for many years, scouting out trends, the most talented emerging designers and for authentic and exceptional antiques. This is the first year, I will be covering these shows for BEJEWELED (I covered other shows throughout the fall/winter and spring) but I am super excited.
As I type I am en route to LV and will be taking a brief hiatus writing articles until my return on June 8th.
Upon my return home, I’ll bring you stories brimming with new discoveries of all the jewels you will want to wear, own and collect, as well as a few trade secrets, tips and advice from the designers and antique dealers themselves.
I thought it would be fun if I had some photos to share in this post before I hit the ground running (when I finally land on the ground) I am at present 35, 000 feet midway into my 4 hour and 47 minute flight. The photos are of my personal travel charms, talisman I have been gifted and collected over the years, which I wear every time I fly. I took the photos last night while packing and this morning on board while waiting to take off.
Around 20 years ago, I worked hard to conquer my fear of flying,which started when I was 12, after an extremely frightening emergency landing. I was alone with my younger brothers on the aircraft. My parents had recently divorced and I was going to visit my dad who had moved out to LA.
When I began to fly again my grandfather gave me my first charm- a gold coin he had mounted into a medallion so I could wear it and know that he was “keeping me safe”. This grew into four different charm necklaces as friends, family and I bought other charms for protection, direction, love, luck. It also helps to play with them whenever I hit turbulence – they are a bit distracting like worry beads.
If you have read some of my other first person articles or my memoir, My Charmed Life, you will already know I am suprstitious, but do I really believe that weighty necklaces that give me a stiff neck everytime I fly land the plane or is it really the careful pilots and control towers? I’d like to think I have more faith in this then I once did. And that this added to my love for jewelry, the people who gave me they symbolic charms when I needed them most and the significance that they have are why I wear them each time I fly. But then again there’s always room for feeling just a little bit safer.
So while you peruse these I will be walking the shows and be back shortly. I will still be posting live from the show on Instagram at bethbjeweled.
In the meantime have a wonderful weekend, safe travels always and may you always have a charmed life!
