STYLE

My Three Day Expedition Led Me To Designers Who Style Their Jewels To Perfection August 23, 2017HOW TO WEAR, STYLEOff

Bejeweled Mag debut its first article on how designers wear and style their own jewels during the Las Vegas Jewelry Week 2017 shows in June. (read here)

And, after covering three shows this past week,  Melee: The Show, Metal & Smith and NYNow, we are bringing you another edition of how to bejewel like a designer from established leading independent designers to emerging talents who are bursting with creativity in both designing and styling their jewels.

First up is Gwen Meyers from Eden Presley. The beautiful designer is a rock star when it comes to creative combinations of colors, shapes and cuts for all classifications of jewelry.  If you aren’t familiar with her collection, please check out her website and Instagram page for her ideas in mixing up unexpected colors and for stacking and layering. I met her four years ago and she continues to evolve and get better with each new collection.   Above she is wearing her earrings in a warm, sunny mix of colors and some cool ear stacking.   Here, she dons her other signature looks, cuffing her wrist in one of her flexible message bracelets, which are also a big part of her collection as well as a hand bracelet that decided to wear on the day of the eclipse when this photo was taken at the Metal & Smith show. Gwen knows how to wear just the right amount of pieces and accessorize her looks with down-to-earth sophisitication.

There is a reason Stephanie Gottlieb has over 150,000 followers on Instagram, her own bridal collection and an online store featuring a range of talented emerging and independent designers. She is a pro at modern jewelry styling. Just take a look at her fingers in this photo–a mix of her own designs and a few additional pieces from other jewelers. She is also wearing a few bracelets but allows the focus to be on one part of her body–her hand. Take a tip if you are a women who loves rings–Yes you can wear them on every finger and yes you can stack too. Photo taken while Stephanie was shopping the Metal & Smith Show.

The Best tattoos mixed with either colorful, bold yet feminine jewelry on Ananda Khalsa and an edgier look on Teresa Khares. Each designer knows what works best for them and what sets off their clothes and the beauty of their body art.

When it comes to snapping a photo of Polly Wales, you need to be quick. Luckily I was able to get this shot. She is wearing one of her delicate necklaces, asymmetrical ear stacks,  a larger skull and a minimal stack of rings. While the rest of us might want to pile on as many of her rings as we can, Polly wears a minimal amount of jewelry when she is working so that she can freely move about. It’s important to think about your everyday life when styling your jewels. If you work a lot with your hands then you might want to save the fingers full of rings or stacks for special occasions and evenings out.

I am a huge fan of meaningful charms and in our story about Melissa Joy Manning’s personal jewelry, she described her charm necklace (here). She is wearing it while she shows her new MJM Fine collection of bespoke and responsibly sourced and reclaimed gemstone jewelry at Melee The Show

Gloria Rank from Onirikka pulls her long hair back in a ponytail and styles herself with one pair of stand out earning–her 18K gold spiral stunners with diamond accents and one gold cuff studded with colored gemstones.

Pam Zamore of Chasseur Fine Jewelry is a sterling silver girl through and through. She often mixes pieces handed down from her mom like an Elsa Peretti silver bone cuff with her own empowering, soulful and bold jewelry that mixes ornamental and figurative details, all with symbolic meaning.  Pam never looks overdone–she is usually wearing one large ring as in this photo, a cuff or a few bracelets and simple pair of earring and/or one long oversized pendant, keeping her clothes simple:  here she wears all white–and a colorful ethnic scarf.

Jamie Joseph can pull off bold color in large statement earrings and big juicy cuts of gemstones in rings.  She is the poster girl for mixing up colors you wouldn’t  necessarily think of wearing together. Not only does it work for her own look,  she has been styling women at trunk shows throughout the country and teaching them how to confidently wear colors they wouldn’t ordinarily think of for themselves.

The Wonder Women of the bracelets stacks– Both Julie Romanenko of Just Jules and Nicole Rimedio of Variance Objects go light on top half of necklaces and earrings and heavy on the wrist action. Nicole is also one for stacking wide and thin rings with stones of beautiful irregularities to perfection.

Sarah Swell is a perfect example of wearing jewelry on each part of the body without it seeming at all overwhelming or allowing the jewelry to outshine her. Take some lessons about working with delicate pieces for layering on the wrist and fingers –with everything from white to black to champagne diamonds to her version of the statement necklace. The movement of the necklace and the mixed metals also allows for Sarah to sparkle in her jewels.

 

Ashley Childs and Thea Miller are both proponents of black blazers white T-shirts and jeans as uniforms. Ashley was also wearing a black blazer but had taken it off just moments before the photo was shot.

Both these beauties are California-based designers and each has a completely different aesthetic on how to bejewel their individual statement in style.

Ashley goes for sensual sculptural shapes with the fluidity of movement to the form of each of her designs. The curved hoops and choker with the finest of diamond accents in the steely allure of platinum offers a subtle unstudied look.

Thea is all about taking big bold antique religious medals and wearing them layered and which bring a different kind of sex appeal and is equally nonchalant but in a gutsier bohemian way. Thea also designs her own charms with symbolism as well as a new line of message signet rings in different shapes with gemstones surrounds. Two of which she is wearing pictured here.

Lene Vibes is in a class by herself. She can pile on the jewelry on every part of her body in stacks and layers and never look overdone. Instead she looks stylish, chic and always with an edgy elegance.  My advice to you is that you do not try exactly how Lene wears her garden party of whimsical floral and insects which buzz around diamonds and South Sea and natural pearls in multiple stacks and layers on every part of her body,  but that you definitely can take some tips.

Why not try wearing a an amazingly detailed pearl with some other charms on the leather lanyards she creates with a smaller necklace of charms on a chain. Definitely, do as Lene does with her mismatched earrings and try and capture some of the carefree ways she can stack her rings.  The worst that can happen–you might have to take a piece or two off before you leave the house –as I paraphrase another pearl girl (Coco Chanel).

Julie Lamb has created a following with her wit and tongue in cheek approach to design. It’s won her a loyal following and keeps people coming back for her NYC subway tokens in various metals. A good NYC Girl–who “grew up riding the subway” (lyrics from the ’70s song by Oddessy, Native New Yorker), Julie has made her pendant part of her uniform, whether she wears it alone around her neck or layered with other pieces from her collection. Here, she is also wearing various delicate earrings climbing up her ear from her collection.

Both Kelly Bello and Gigi Ferranti take a delicate, feminine approach to styling their jewels. Kelly layers chokesr, one with colored gemstones on a chain that hangs down sexily to just skim the decolletage. It’s pretty dainty and completely layer-able.
Gigi also likes to keep her pieces simple and symmetrical–and she even chose a ring and pendant that matches and it works! Suites are back; therefore wearing a ring and pendant with the same motif has become elegant again. We also loved the small diamond shaped Huggies that feature melee diamonds surrounding them and come in a variety of gems as the middle stone.

We hope that having a peek at what the designers themselves are wearing provide inspiration as you make you fall into holiday choices. The most important things to remember is that they all have a great sense of themselves and what looks good on them yet they  will test new things-because you never know what might work in with you look until you try out different variations.

It’s time to go jewelry shopping…

.