Lariats and sautoirs
Layering gold jewelry has become a major trend, whether it’s rings on rings, long necklaces on short necklaces, or the curated ear (for those with multiple piercings). Of course, Chanel has been doing it for years, mixing chains with pearls and beads, but now designers from Celine’s Hedi Slimane and Yves Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vacarello to Roland Mouret and Donatella Versace have taken to mixing long sautoirs, tassel pendants and lariats to make a statement. It’s a style that hovers between ’70s bohemianism and ’90s bourgeois. So popular is the look that online luxury retailer Net-a-Porter says it has 840 units of chain necklaces lined up for the SS20 season.
There is plenty of scope for this trend in fine jewelry, from the mother-of-pearl and hardstone sautoirs of Van Cleef & Arpels’s Alhambra collection, to Pomellato’s Nudo range with its new chrysoprase lariat and its chalcedony and rose quartz sautoir. There are the long diamond and turquoise necklaces of Boucheron’s Serpent Boheme, while Piaget’s Possession collection features pendants in carnelian and white chalcedony. Woven gold mesh features strongly in Fope’s diamond-set offerings, such as the impressive tri-color gold Solo Mialuce lariat.
Pearls
Pearls have long been a fashion-show favorite, most significantly at Chanel, which has managed to keep the trend alive since Coco Chanel first flung a sautoir of pearls around her neck in the 1920s and sparked a trend among flapper girls. They remain firmly embedded in the DNA of Chanel’s costume and fine jewelry collections today, regularly re-pitched for a new generation and a new mood.
Away from the runway, Australian jeweler Margot McKinney offers impressive power-dressing ropes of pearls, mostly South Sea and baroque. Naturally, cultured-pearl specialist Mikimoto has several classic long strands.
Pearls are also a favorite of British designers such as Erdem and Simone Rocha, both of which take inspiration from Victorian styles. Erdem’s vintage designs feature big pearl and crystal earrings, some of which are so large that the brand offers the option of pinning them to a scarf as a brooch, while Rocha favors big baroque pearls for chandelier earrings and headbands. The chandelier style resonates well with Danish designer Sophie Bille Brahe, Australian pearl specialist Autore, and Yoko of London, all of which feature cultured-pearl clusters in their collections.
The pristine simplicity of a pearl stud or drop came through in 1980s-inspired designs this season — especially the Princess Diana look, as seen in New York-based Tory Burch’s baroque pearl earrings and gold sautoir necklaces. This could well herald the comeback of the classic pearl style, which has also found favor with Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton: Aside from having her pick of the royal collection, she wears pearls from Annoushka and Kiki McDonough.
However, there is also a trend for more avant-garde use: the sliced freshwater pearls of independent designer Melanie Georgacopoulos for Tasaki; Tasaki creative director Prabal Gurung’s spiky, provocative styles; and Los Angeles-based Hisano Shepherd’s hollowed-out souffle pearls at Little H.
Artisan
Sustainability is having a growing influence on fashion as designers look for alternatives to mined gems and precious metals. Stella McCartney was one of the first to adopt a sustainable attitude in her brand, and that includes the jewelry. The tribal-style earrings in her summer collection are carved from ethically sourced wood. So are those of jewelry brand Branch, whose rosewood earrings, bangles and pendants are produced by local craftsmen in Indonesia using traditional methods.
McCartney’s crochet earrings and Simone Rocha’s plaited raffia and pearl jewelry and headdresses served solely as showpieces on the runway, but they reflect a trend for homespun, handcrafted looks. Some ideas are simple to interpret, such as tying raffia bows between pearls on a necklace or crocheting small doilies for earrings, which can be adapted commercially.
Rather more refined are Giorgio Armani’s multi-row mesh barrel necklaces (filled with crystals and fabric), and silk-yarn disc neck pieces that are a sophisticated interpretation of the first steps of making a pom-pom. Another of his ideas, tapping into the trend for hoop earrings, uses three loops of silk rouleau attached to an ear stud. The one thing about catwalk jewelry is that there is no shortage of imagination on display.
Hoops
Slender gold hoops both big and small owned the catwalks. Mostly they were suspended from earlobes, but Valentino did show spectacular gold vermeil hooped collars (torques) dangling playful charms like an Alexander Calder mobile. Trinkets were similarly threaded on hoop earrings at Versace and Saint Laurent. Alexander McQueen presented asymmetrically sized hoop earrings of twisted metal, while Oscar de la Renta’s hoops were twisted with cloth and threaded with wooden beads, highlighting the versatility of a simple metal circle.
Earrings are sold in pairs, but that doesn’t mean they have to be worn that way — especially the jumbo hoops on the runways of Marni, Missoni and Alberta Ferretti in Milan. The oversized triple hoops from Gurung’s Atelier range at Tasaki are a foretaste of his next jewelry collection, which the brand is launching in July.
On the back of trends like multiple ear piercings, we’re seeing groups of small ear-huggers lined up the side. There are 18-karat gold hoops available in every size, from the smaller-diameter designs in Piaget’s Possession line, to the large and slender gold ones at Diane Kordas — the latter bisected by a row of diamonds, which elevate the look for evening wear. Nor do hoops have to be round; Thailand-based brand Patcharavipa’s range includes hexagonal designs in black or yellow gold.
Gold
After years of delicate silver and the subtlest platinum, tastemakers and trendsetters are now banking on bold and gold, especially yellow gold — shiny, bright and far from restrained.
The fashion world hasn’t touched it in years. Yellow gold had its heyday in the 1960s and ’70s before it was tarnished by the brash gilt costume jewelry of the early 1980s and the sobriety of the ensuing white-metal trend of the ’90s and the new millennium. Now we have come full circle, and catwalks are again awash in this warm, optimistic hue as a new generation discovers the joy of wrapping gilded chains around their necks and wrists.
The most notable return to the jewelry boxes of A-listers, supermodels and even royals is the gold hoop. Jennifer Lopez never gave them up, but celebrities like Rihanna are rarely seen in anything else, and the duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex have been known to sport them as well. These, along with industrial-sized chain chokers and the hippie-glam of long gold links, have put the yellow metal firmly back in the spotlight.
Chokers
Chunky chain chokers dominated the runways of the A/W19 shows and remain high on must-have lists for summer — as demonstrated by Daniel Lee, the new creative director at Italian brand Bottega Veneta. In his view, the bigger the links, the better. The gilded gourmette chokers in his collection mix 18-karat gold vermeil links with sterling silver or jasper.
Solid gold chokers are pricey, of course, even for luxury fashion labels. The vermeil and silver broaden the necklace’s appeal at brands like JW Anderson and Alexander McQueen. The same is true for Sacai, where designer Chitose Abe has played with scale by threading fine gold chains through the links of large silver chokers.
There were dramatic sterling silver examples in Hermès’s collection, too, but the luxury brand’s jewelry designer Pierre Hardy has also used its iconic chaine d’ancre (which is based on the look of a ship’s anchor) for a smaller link necklace in 18-karat rose gold. The statement choker recalls the Greek-inspired gold curb links of Bulgari’s ancient coin necklaces from the 1970s, as well as more recent high-jewelry pieces such as its gold Serpenti necklace with diamonds and emeralds.
Chains both large and fine are a specialty of Italian goldsmiths; Fope and Pomellato both feature fine gold-link chokers, including in Pomellato’s Iconica, Tango and Brera lines. Among last year’s additions to Iconica was the Bavarole necklace, which falls from high on the neck in three different lengths with different-sized links. Tango is the gem-set version of the chain necklace, while the Brera choker can double as a sautoir.
Image: Stella McCartney; Boucheron; Prabal GurungArticle from the Rapaport Magazine - February 2020. To subscribe click here.