Rapaport Magazine
Style & Design

Las Vegas looks

Multiples, mixed metals, links and long cuts – a rundown of the biggest trends at the JCK show.

By Rachael Taylor

Bold gold
The price of gold might have risen more than 7% in the past six months, but this has done nothing to dampen JCK designers’ enthusiasm for large swathes of the metal. Cuffs proved a particularly popular splash point, with brands such as I. Reiss using yellow gold — often embellished with some sort of texturing — to create Grecian-like adornments. Ohio-based designer Marika presented a collection of its Desert Gold jewels: statement designs in sandblasted 14-karat yellow gold galvanized to create a color closer to 24-karat, with constellations of colored diamonds.

With buyer confidence high this year — 86% of US jewelry retailers are very or somewhat optimistic about business in 2019, according to the JCK Jewelry Industry Confidence Index — there were also more commercial ways to tap into the trend. KK Jewelry Lab, for example, offered a more accessible and contemporary take on the bold gold trend, using geometric cutouts in thick designs to lessen the weight.

Affordable fine layering
Layering of delicate jewels such as necklaces and bracelets continues to be popular, and it ties in with a consumer-driven desire for lighter, more affordable fine-jewelry pieces. Brands including Meira T, EF Collection and Unison Jewelry all offered delicate gold chains dotted with tiny diamond-set motifs like stars and hearts, as well as miniscule gemstones such as opals within diamond halos. The sweet spot for buyers seeking budget-friendly fine layering at the show was to find simple diamond-accented jewels that could sell in-store for “a couple of hundred dollars,” according to Rustin Yasavolian of Masina Diamonds in Atlanta, Georgia. These designs appeal to cash-strapped millennials, who have yet to prioritize diamonds over holidays and tech, Yasavolian added.

Colored gemstones
The latest Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index has suggested that colored gemstones are outperforming the wider jewelry market in terms of growth, and there was plenty of evidence of this at JCK. Charles Krypell, which sells in 150 US stores, has made a concerted effort to introduce more colored gemstones into its diamond-dominated collections to sate retailer demand. Designs such as split-shank rings tipped with emeralds, or cluster earrings set with sapphires, are appealing to a younger demographic, it said. Emeralds were a popular gemstone at the show, as were opals. Other greenish gems, such as the tourmalines and tsavorites in Graziela Gems’ award-winning titanium earrings, were also prevalent. Suppliers such as Parlé Jewelry Designs showed a leaning toward gems that embrace and showcase gemological phenomena, including peacock tanzanite, alexandrite, watermelon tourmaline and peacock aquaprase.

Angular cuts
Long, angular gemstone cuts, such as emerald, baguette and step cuts, were a prominent feature of designs at JCK. This style can be versatile, working well as clusters of tiny baguettes — a formation that jeweler Simon G used to create a bezel swirling around larger central stones. In luxury collections, larger versions of these cuts adorned cocktail rings, such as those at Spark Creations. And with the bridal market increasingly moving away from traditional solitaires, these contemporary cuts appeared in diamond engagement rings by brands like Kirk Kara. First-time exhibitor Fei Liu embraced the trend as well in its Victoriana collection, commissioning a bespoke rectangular cut for colored gems that was 30% longer than a standard emerald cut. Another excellent example was a pair of earrings by Rahaminov Diamonds, which won Best Earring Design in the over-$10,000 category of this year’s Jeweler’s Choice Awards. The white gold earrings featured emerald-cut diamonds on a long, simple line of metal, leading down to a pair of elongated kite-shaped diamonds.

Stacking rings
One of the strongest trends that emerged from the JCK Industry Trends Survey was stacking rings, and there were plenty of great examples at the show. New styles by Beverley K included diamond-set rings in yellow and black gold (another notable trend at the fair was the use of mixed metals in black and gold colorways — either silver and 18-karat gold, or solid gold with rhodium-plated sections). The brand also had stacking bands with round diamonds in hexagonal settings to create a geometric look.

The influence of stacking has touched bridal jewelry as well. Some suppliers — such as the new wedding-focused brand Little Bird Bridal by Doves — grouped together stacks of rings to go on the wedding finger. In addition to multiple thin bands in place of the traditional two — often marking other milestones such as anniversaries or the birth of a child — there is the concept of boosting bridal bands and engagement rings with flamboyant jackets for special events.

Chains
Chunky gold chains were one of the key trends that JCK magazine editor Victoria Gomelsky highlighted during a presentation at the show — a tip backed up by designer Virgil Abloh’s recent decision to dedicate an entire Louis Vuitton jewelry collection to heavy curb links. At the fair, jewelry brand Shay tapped into this trend with links smothered in diamond or colored-gemstone pavé, while Rudolf Friedmann and Doria & Rose offered more elegant interpretations featuring looser, hammered links with outsized coin charms. At supplier Metal Marketplace International, president Tony Acquaviva confirmed that sales were following through at a commercial level for some of its heavier Miami Cuban chains, with sales of both hollow and filled links spiking recently.

Lab-grown diamonds
There were a striking number of lab-grown-diamond suppliers at JCK, mostly clustered together in their own subsection of the fair. Along with companies offering loose stones — some as large as 6 carats — there were specialist finished-jewelry brands such as Lark & Berry and The Diamond Library, the latter of which launched at the show.

Perhaps the largest presence in the lab-grown section was Altr. The brand used JCK to debut its Altr X cut, which displays a pattern of 10 hearts and arrows.

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - July 2019. To subscribe click here.
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