Wednesday 20 October 2010

A little somthing: CA & LOU Deco Loulou ring

Just spotted this CA & LOU Deco inspired Loulou ring on the Browns website. Lovely lovely, and definitely up my street as I (somewhat impatiently) await the new Holly Fulton for ASOS collection which hits the e-shelves on Friday. Tick, tick, tick.

A little something: 8LA - channelling your inner-Prince

8LA is a fun new jewellery brand by designer Lucy Holbrook. Skulls, crosses and pearls feature throughout her jewellery, which is catholic-meets-rock'n'roll-meets-prettypirate-meets-NottingHill. Yep - it's wearable and subtle, but with character. Loving these Prince-inspired 'Becca' hoops; check out more at the 8LA shop here.

Thursday 14 October 2010

A little something: Disaya Kiss mask necklace

Like something straight out of Nacho Libre, this little Kiss Mask necklace by Disaya made me smile. Love it even more that it's a long necklace!

Monday 11 October 2010

A little something: Giles Jewellery

That's right. Giles Deacon has taken a step into the world of jewellery design (a bit better than Cheryl Cole for De Grisongono, no?), creating a new label Giles Jewellery. His cute collection has taken some recognisable designs and scaled them down into wearable pendants, earrings and bangles. His own little mouse motif, named Eek, also features as does his infamous triceratops Dino - better known in handbag form... Loving it! Available later this month from Dover Street Market and Selfridges.



Sunday 10 October 2010

New designer: Merle O'Grady

Merle O'Grady is a talented up-and-coming designer, already making waves with her stunning jewellery collections. Hailing from Dublin and presently based in London, Merle's jewellery is a striking mix of texture, colour and shape. Swarovski crystals and perspex contrast one another, resulting in jewellery she describes as "armour-like and ultimately luxurious".

Here's a sneaky peek at her new SS11 'Poolside' collection. I'm loving its futuristic feel, which clashes with kitsch colours and shapes reminiscent of 50s motel pools, candy-coloured swimsuits and plastic flamingos all with a nod to the Navajo... Bliss!





Jewellery at London Fashion Week - SS11

Finding myself back at Somerset House for London Fashion Week a few weeks back, I was excited to this time have a partner in crime - my workmate Rainy - to come and lust over next season's jewellery.




We stepped in from the rush of traffic along the Embankment, and straight into Nicholas King who whisked us along to his stand, excited to have us as his first familiar faces of the day. Neon seemed to dominate, as did pastel florals. With a nod to Christopher Kane's lacy neon numbers, orange and lime seemed to fizz in his bold resin cuffs and bangles, while a striking new range of necklaces and earrings got Rainy very excited indeed. Check out her modelling skills, below.




Next up we had a quick browse over Lola Rose. I was instantly drawn to the pale, pea green and rose combination of carved stone bangles and necklaces. Lola Rose always seem to come up with something a little bit bold but still really easy to wear - their pieces pretty much work with any style. Love the large stone Elsa collar, as below...



Moving onto the wonderful Fiona Paxton there was a gorgeous new collection for SS11 including coral cut-out leather bangles and earrings (super lightweight and wearable) alongside collars that Rainy absolutely fell for, with its nod to ancient Egyptian jewels. A new collection of longer pendants also stood out. Fiona modestly explained how she's been selling a number of pieces to Cheryl Cole (noted previously on X Factor auditions, check out the necklace). A great collection I know I'll continue to covet....





We stopped off for a quick coffee and some free ice cream, and attempted some celeb spotting (um, Jason Gardener anyone?). Lacking in success on that front, and eager to get back inside we headed back in to Zoe & Morgan,  a little favourite of mine. 



Ruth, the youngest sibling of Zoe and Morgan was busy displaying  their fine collection as we stopped by for a look. Loved the little silver necklace with the record on it, and the new collection of animal mask rings. Posed for their 'usual suspects' blog posts, tried to get my Zoe & Morgan skull ring in, but ended up just looking a bit special!! 


Akong London was at the special Kickstart stand at International Jewellery London in early September, and it was great to see her pieces again at LFW. Fur and feathers and chains and gemstones made Akong's works pretty stunning. Each piece in entirely handmade, making them rather unique and very covetable. The new season collection features lots of gemstones, while the feathered and fur-trimmed neckpieces definitely had a regal feel.





Joanna Cave was up in the Esthetica section, where ethical jewellery, fashion and accessories are on show - a growing section each year. Great to see Joanna. She had her wayfarers in hand, so we asked her to pose (such a shame it came out so blurry!) but also got some great snaps of her new collections, including her continued project with ethical fashion label Partimi, and a new focus on minimal vs detail. Loving the earrings this season (as ever!) and the gorgeous little heart necklaces. A great show!!




Tuesday 5 October 2010

A little something: Elisa Solomon jewellery

Cute cute cute. Having another little browse at Cat Bird recently I spotted a delicate black diamond ring by Elisa Solomon; checking out more of her work I was hit with a real sense of the 1960s; flower power and free love, cute handmade rings with multicoloured gemstones and playful shapes.

 
Think butterflies, hearts, daisy garlands. In fact, reading more about Elisa and her style, she explains "[my] designs reflect the pure belief in love, freedom and kindness of the 60s... These symbols are a subtle reminder of what is important to focus on in daily life". Though she's based in New York (and our nearest stockist is in France!) I can definitely see the appeal this side of the pond. Looks like I'm feeding my sapphire addiction again... Oops!

Silver Butterfly ring set with pink and orange sapphires

Yellow gold Peace necklace set with multicoloured gemstones include sapphires, garnets, emeralds, aquamarine and iolite

Yellow gold Heart ring set with sapphires and turquoise gemstones

Yellow gold Moon pendant set with pearls, rose-cute diamonds and opals (my birthstone!)

Friday 1 October 2010

Jewellery Street-Style at Bestival

I know, I know. Quite a weird idea considering it was a festival and (oops) almost a month ago! But here's a little round up of some of the gorgeous gals'n'jewels at Bestival this year.  With over 50,000 attendees and its annual fancy dress party taking on a 'Year of the Fantastic' theme, there were so many tremendous looks going on - big necklaces, loads of bangles - that it took me a while to choose who to approach and ask to photograph their jewellery. My highlight had to have been spotting a girl wearing a gorgeous white gold Ungar & Ungar floral ring amidst all the mud; I started asking her all about it and probably scared her half to death getting all technical. Poor thing... Anyway meet Bisi, Elly, Sophie and two other girlies from Guildford whose names I never got. Fabulous.



Bisi - 25, Bristol
Bisi rocked the 'stacked' look with faux leather and chain bracelets from Swedish fashion retailer BikBok - a great high street find!




Elly - 23, London
Keeping things simple Elly's bespoke silver name necklace caught my eye, as did her dusky rose quartz ring from Portobello Market. Love its detailed setting.




Sophie - 22, London
Sophie's jewellery style is cute and quirky, mixing her 'S' wax-seal pendant with a crawling soldier necklace from Topman.




Girl from Guilford 1
Firstly, the ice cream totally made this look - but her striking glam-goth black feather necklace is actually a Primark steal!




Girl from Guildford 2
LOVED this outfit - cute shorts, amazing sunglasses. I spotted her from about 30ft away and ran over to take her pic. The necklace itself is entirely hand-beaded and from Afghanistan.


P.S. Me in my 'fantastical' home-made butterfly costume. Really works with wellies, no?!