The ears drew the eye on the runway when the 2018 collections went on show in New York, London, Paris and Milan. If there was one trend that spurred the imaginations of designers in all four fashion capitals, it was statement earrings that swung, sparkled and swished as the models strutted their stuff, a perfect reflection of the overtly feminine styles coming back into fashion.
Earrings are the ultimate vehicle for diamonds, considering so much of the stones’ allure derives from their efficacy in lighting up complexions.
And while the chandelier variety has been around for more than a century, linear drops and ear cuffs offer a modern take on how to let the ears do the talking with maximum sparkle.
Chandelier earrings
As the name suggests, these are to the ear what their namesake is to the ballroom — elegant tiers of gemstone drops, pioneered by Tiffany & Co. to spruce up the lobes of socialites at grand 19th-century parties.
This year, Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs marched their own chandeliers down the New York catwalk, and both Burberry and Chanel loved this style in London. In Switzerland, Sutra wowed Baselworld with chandeliers that dramatically contrasted white diamonds against hoops of rubies and arrays of sapphires. Dior opted for the cooler contrasts of emeralds or opals in its designs, while Chanel, launching a collection based on lions’ heads, had a diamond-encrusted king of beasts form a central tier.
New Yorker David Yurman, meanwhile, has created ultra-modern chandeliers featuring two tiers of concentric, diamond-studded gold squares. These are suspended from a faceted cube of garnet or tanzanite.
Ear cuffs
Until recently considered an oddity, ear cuffs have gone mainstream since attracting attention on the red carpet courtesy of actresses Scarlett Johanssen and Emma Watson. Far from a new invention, this form of ear decoration was first documented in 2000 BCE, and French émigré jeweler Marcel Boucher revived the trend in New York over 60 years ago. Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball and Carmen Miranda were early celebrity adopters.
Today, some jewelry designers, led by Repossi of Paris, are designing for the whole of the ear rather than merely dressing the base of the lobe. While some designs wrap the entire ear with a diamond-studded curve of gold, others are rings that perch on the apex, sometimes marching up the curve in tiers. Other models incorporate a gold chain as an anchor.
This year, Repossi, which has several US boutiques, is swathing the whole ear in curves of small diamonds set in black or white gold. The brand has also created small rings to run in sequence down the ear, like those actress Diane Kruger showed off on the red carpet.
Linear earrings
Oscar de la Renta’s liberal use of tasseled chains on this year’s catwalk shows just how suited diamonds are to multiple strands of brilliance. Inevitably, these designs feature a hero stone from which the chains swing — or, in the case of the new Chanel collection, a diamond-encrusted lion’s head.
While tassel designs are hot this year, delicate chains in multiple shades of gold are serving to showcase larger diamonds. Pieces by designers Suzanne Kalan and Diane Kordas feature cascades of stones strung onto white and rose gold. Brooklyn-based Wing Yau of Wwake thinks of her diamonds, hanging from thin yellow gold chains, as “floating in time.”
Sometimes, small diamonds form the backdrop for bold color. David Yurman has used a long diamond-studded chain to punctuate a drop of blue topaz in contrasting shapes for Nordstrom. He is also showing a double chain of yellow gold accented with pavé diamonds and descending to a single South Sea pendant pearl.
Asymmetric earrings
An unexpected trend on the catwalks this year was the asymmetric ear: either a single earring, or two mismatched ones that complement each other in color palette, though rarely in size. This new fashion opens up an opportunity for vintage-diamond specialists who hold spectacular singleton pieces, as these can astonish alongside a suggested companion earring.
Image: Giovani Cardenas for Marc Jacobs International, LLC.Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2018. To subscribe click here.