For some, Fashion Week is a time to be proud. A time to wave that designer flag and show them what you are worth. For others, not so much. I found some designers quite boring. I love Michael Kors, but I must tell you, even my poodle fell asleep watching his show. If it weren’t for the splashes of hot pink, hot yellow and hot red, I would have thought it morbid. Unfortunately, I found that with a lot of designers. Black was definitely the color of show for Fall of ’09. This was the case with other celebrity designers such as, Cynthia Rowley, Vera Wang and so on and so on.
Betsy Johnson had an almost cartoonic appeal to her designs for the fall but I must say, they caught my attention. The combinations she styled for her fall collection reminded me of being back in high school and looking at a crowd of Artists dressing themselves. The individual style was funkingly cool but the combo was dreadful. I loved the leggings and tights. Betsy Johnson and Cynthia Rowley had wonderful “tight appeal”. Not to show my age too much but I remember the last time tights were in. I loved and wore all the crazy designs offered. I am sure Betsy Johnson did the same and that is why she has soared to great heights in this category.
I did have some all time favorites, however. I loved Diane Von Furstenberg’s collection. She also did wonderful things with tights and leggings but so much more. I loved her prints and color! It made me forget I was looking at fallware but looking at an artist’s palette. One thing I thought so unique and yet only an accessory is her pom pom hat! Every outfit she showed had different colored pom poms hat which coordinated. Loved it! Almost made me wish I lived in NY instead of FL. Another thing she had going for her is her jewelry. I call it American Indian Funk. The choker necklaces were made of what looked like wood or stone beading and then had leather strands with wooden beads on the end. As a matter of fact I found several designers using a similar design and that is the dangling strands.
Another designer, whom I loved as well, did the same thing with his necklaces, Isaac Mizrahi had a wonderful COLORFUL selection and his jewelry also had the dangle. His necklaces were multiple strand and yet had two long dangling tassels. I saw tassels on several necklaces but I loved what he did with it. Another unique accessory he added was, like DVF, a hat. I can’t say I loved this hat design as but it did catch my attention. You have to see it to believe it but it is a leather tote bag hat. No kidding. I couldn’t help but wonder if you can keep your car keys in it and a tube of lipstick as you would a purse. Just a thought.
Another tassel lover was Oscar de la Renta. As always, his style was classic but he had a gold necklace, which I believe was made of tassel “yarn” and full of classic tassels. Sound tacky? It really wasn’t. He also had an incredible necklace which was full of gold chains, seed bead strands, and medallions throughout the necklace. Quite stunning.
The few things one designer had with the other are layers, chunk, seed beads and gold. I saw no silver. Some feel silver is a summer metal but I disagree; however, I do find I wear more gold than silver in the fall and winter.
Fashion Week has given me lots of fodder and no, I am not speaking of the falling runway models. I had some other likes and dislikes but I will save that for another day. Until then…..
Anita Shaw
Nita’s Gems, www.nitasgems.com
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Personality of Jewelry
If I have noticed one thing once I started Nita’s Gems and that is how many different styles of jewelry there truly is AND how it reflects the person wearing it.
First, you have the person who buys some good, solid pieces and then never takes them off. You know the person, the one with the lovely gold (rarely silver) chain with a heart or small precious or semiprecious stone dangling from it. The woman who wears a watch that goes with everything and small gold hooped earrings. Why do they not change out their jewelry, because it goes with everything they have and they either don’t want to or don’t feel they have the time to change their jewelry when dressing. This person is a Traditionalist. They are the person you want to bounce ideas off of because they will bring you down to earth if your ideas are floating too high. They are also the ladies who wear the comfortable shoes and can walk for miles in them. The Traditionalist will normally wear more classical styles, such as twin sweater sets, straight leg pants and trench coats when the wind gets chilly.
The second group is the Sentimental. These are not to be confused with the Traditionalist because the sentimental person wears the same jewelry all the time because each piece they are wearing means something to them. This may be a necklace in which a parent gave them. It may also be bracelets with no true sentimental value but haven’t taken them off since the ‘80’s. What makes their style different from the traditionalist is they may wear certain pieces all the time, but they sometimes will add less classical pieces to their wardrobe. A good example is the person who never takes off her bracelets but will match fashionable necklace and earring sets. They will also linger even closer to the sentimental piece by adding a fashionable watch or additional bracelets to go with the others. I think the Sentimental person loves deeply. This person is not afraid of change they just associate certain pieces of jewelry with a person, place or time in their life.
The third group is the Classic. The Classic jewelry wearers are those who ONLY wear jewelry if it has a diamond or semi-precious gemstones in or around the white or yellow gold setting. These are your label lovers. The Classics love their designer wear. They are the ones who do not bat an eye (or appear not to) at spending $500 for a purse, $250 for a sweater and $300 for pants but they are also the ones who will have the same sweater, pants and purse in their closet for the next century. The reason why I say, not appear to, is because in today’s time of Designer Outlet Malls, the Classics also like to save money. The Classics I know will spend $200 on a coat which has been marked down from $800. They will buy a purse for $200 which has been marked down from $500. They do not normally go for trends because they love the timelessness of their wardrobe.
The fourth group is the polar opposite of the Traditionalist and they are the Fashionistas. The Fashionistas are the ones who love to follow the trends. They are the ones with the bib crystal or diamond necklaces, 5” chandelier earrings and bracelets up their arms. They change their jewelry and style of the jewelry every time they change their clothes. The Fashionistas celebrate Fashion Week like a stalker. If they aren’t in NY they will either fly up, down or over for “the week” or follow the blogs, videos and news as if their life depended on it. The Fashionistas wear the thigh high boots, Micro-minis and their hair style is out of the latest fashion magazine. As a person, the Fashionistas are fun, full of energy but have a tendency to wrap their entire world around their world and not see what else is there.
The final group I have found is the Trendsetters. I love the Trendsetters. They are a mixture of all the above but make it their own. They don’t follow the latest magazines, blogs, videos so they can follow them but to see what is out there and then make it their own. Once in a while, they are also the ones who are reported about in magazines, blogs and videos. Some may think they are truly out there with some things they wear or “design” but they will always have a following because they are unique and have the confidence to pull off whatever they are trying to pull off at the time.
I think I am a bit of all the above. I have my favorite pieces such as my engagement ring and my sentimental such as my wedding ring but I also love the ever changing style of jewelry. I go to stores online and off to see what trends are coming and what trends are going. I also take a look at some of the trends coming and then try to make it my own or design something cost effective to sell to my online and in boutique customers. What style are you?
Anita Shaw
Nita’s Gems
Http://www.nitasgems.com
First, you have the person who buys some good, solid pieces and then never takes them off. You know the person, the one with the lovely gold (rarely silver) chain with a heart or small precious or semiprecious stone dangling from it. The woman who wears a watch that goes with everything and small gold hooped earrings. Why do they not change out their jewelry, because it goes with everything they have and they either don’t want to or don’t feel they have the time to change their jewelry when dressing. This person is a Traditionalist. They are the person you want to bounce ideas off of because they will bring you down to earth if your ideas are floating too high. They are also the ladies who wear the comfortable shoes and can walk for miles in them. The Traditionalist will normally wear more classical styles, such as twin sweater sets, straight leg pants and trench coats when the wind gets chilly.
The second group is the Sentimental. These are not to be confused with the Traditionalist because the sentimental person wears the same jewelry all the time because each piece they are wearing means something to them. This may be a necklace in which a parent gave them. It may also be bracelets with no true sentimental value but haven’t taken them off since the ‘80’s. What makes their style different from the traditionalist is they may wear certain pieces all the time, but they sometimes will add less classical pieces to their wardrobe. A good example is the person who never takes off her bracelets but will match fashionable necklace and earring sets. They will also linger even closer to the sentimental piece by adding a fashionable watch or additional bracelets to go with the others. I think the Sentimental person loves deeply. This person is not afraid of change they just associate certain pieces of jewelry with a person, place or time in their life.
The third group is the Classic. The Classic jewelry wearers are those who ONLY wear jewelry if it has a diamond or semi-precious gemstones in or around the white or yellow gold setting. These are your label lovers. The Classics love their designer wear. They are the ones who do not bat an eye (or appear not to) at spending $500 for a purse, $250 for a sweater and $300 for pants but they are also the ones who will have the same sweater, pants and purse in their closet for the next century. The reason why I say, not appear to, is because in today’s time of Designer Outlet Malls, the Classics also like to save money. The Classics I know will spend $200 on a coat which has been marked down from $800. They will buy a purse for $200 which has been marked down from $500. They do not normally go for trends because they love the timelessness of their wardrobe.
The fourth group is the polar opposite of the Traditionalist and they are the Fashionistas. The Fashionistas are the ones who love to follow the trends. They are the ones with the bib crystal or diamond necklaces, 5” chandelier earrings and bracelets up their arms. They change their jewelry and style of the jewelry every time they change their clothes. The Fashionistas celebrate Fashion Week like a stalker. If they aren’t in NY they will either fly up, down or over for “the week” or follow the blogs, videos and news as if their life depended on it. The Fashionistas wear the thigh high boots, Micro-minis and their hair style is out of the latest fashion magazine. As a person, the Fashionistas are fun, full of energy but have a tendency to wrap their entire world around their world and not see what else is there.
The final group I have found is the Trendsetters. I love the Trendsetters. They are a mixture of all the above but make it their own. They don’t follow the latest magazines, blogs, videos so they can follow them but to see what is out there and then make it their own. Once in a while, they are also the ones who are reported about in magazines, blogs and videos. Some may think they are truly out there with some things they wear or “design” but they will always have a following because they are unique and have the confidence to pull off whatever they are trying to pull off at the time.
I think I am a bit of all the above. I have my favorite pieces such as my engagement ring and my sentimental such as my wedding ring but I also love the ever changing style of jewelry. I go to stores online and off to see what trends are coming and what trends are going. I also take a look at some of the trends coming and then try to make it my own or design something cost effective to sell to my online and in boutique customers. What style are you?
Anita Shaw
Nita’s Gems
Http://www.nitasgems.com
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