Flower power

Flowers are definitely the thing to be seen in this season, and with sales on at many high street stores there are bargains to be had, here are a few of our favourite flower bargains from Wallis:

 

    Elsewhere on the High Street how about these cute flower studs for a subtle salute to the flower from Dorothy Perkins, and there are several pieces of flower jewellery on offer at H Samuels at the moment too (and there’s a sale on 😉 ).   If you’re feeling flush how about this amazing Tiffany rose gold and amethyst ring. Alternatively Van Cleef and Arples even have several floral collections, although the Socrate bouquet has to be my personal favourite. You could even branch into the world of jewellery incorporating real flowers with the fabulous Shrieking Violet

The stunning mix of real flowers with silver is emphasised even more in this beautiful (and adjustable) ring from the Purple Haze collection

Beautiful forget me nots in a butterfly pendant

Mixed flower heart shaped pendant

We’re always proud to support the #bringbackthebrooch campaign championed by the fabulous Jewellery Cloud and here are a few choice flower pieces from them!

For me this captures the season beautifully – look at those colours

With such great detail and bang on trend turquoise colours it’s hard to believe this wasn’t designed for this year

Can I interest you in a dainty piece of art deco-esq bunch!

Styling challenge #1 – summer wardrobe

Whatever you’re doing this summer you’re sure to want to liven up your summer wardrobe with some jewellery.  To help we’ve styled up a basic white t-shirt and jeans in two different ways to give you some inspiration.

This is the outfit we started with:

 

The first style is from the high street at H&M and is all about bright summer colours, both contrasting and complementing the outfit:

 

A bright necklace livens up the plain tshirt, and the bangles tie all the colours together:

 

                  

 

The earrings finally finish off the outfit with complementing colours.  The earrings are understated to draw the colours together without making being overpowering.

 

The second style is also about contrasts, but more the contrast of material rather than colour, it’s an edgier style, less beach and more ‘Camden on holiday,’ but also from the high street.

 

The chunky necklace is a mix of colours, sizes and materials, the matching bracelet has a fantastic contrast including a cotton type friendship bracelet, it’s a single piece but you could easily put something similar together with items you already own.

                

We’ve added bangles on the other wrist for a further embellishment, but these could be left out, they are layered with two bangles to maintain the heavyset, metallic style.

Again we’ve kept the earrings simple, so as not to overload the look.

 

Keeping the earrings simple and not using any rings means that the look isn’t ridiculous or overpowering, in the words of Coco Chanel:

“Before leaving the house, a lady should stop, look in the mirror, and remove one piece of jewelry.”

(Adventures through the Loupe’s top tip: don’t put it on in the first place 😉 )

 

Wood you consider non-metal jewellery…?

 

Traditionally we’re used to our jewellery being made out of one of the precious metals, but just looking through the high street wares jewellery now can be made out of pretty much anything.

Personally I’m a fan of wood, I love wood, it’s all over my home and I can’t resist a bit of wooden jewellery.  My favourite piece is this wooden bracelet, I bought it in Prague I think from memory and wore it continually for ages.

On the other hand I’ve had more of an issue with wooden earrings, I have 2 pairs but I can’t help thinking that they look a bit clunky when I wear them…perhaps I just don’t have the right look for them rather than the other way round…

Plastic beads are also always a pretty safe bet…although my baby does like to chew them (top tip try www.gumigem.co.uk if you also struggle with this).  It has the benefits of being relatively durable and cheap as well as fabulously versatile in terms of shape and colour.

Glass has been used for many years to imitate gems in jewellery and is great in terms of different colours and effects, just check out Working Glass Jewellery to see the stunning designs that can be achieved, some of their pieces are so beautiful I could actually eat them…but I won’t.

But there are also more modern approaches to jewellery, 3D printing has become useful in jewellery making and is allowing more unusual materials to be used in jewellery, for example the stunning Phase collection from Lynne MacLachlan where large statement items of nylon jewellery are surprisingly lightweight.

So while many of us may dabble with alternatives to precious metals, will they ever become our ‘go to’ material?  Whilst cost of the alternative is generally lower, particularly on the high street, high-end pieces can easily reach the same prices as gold and silver pieces.  Check out this amazing twister bracelet from Carolina Bucci, or Bex Roz Gina twisted bracelet.

In short I doubt that anything will ever completely remove our love of shiny metals, and the durability of these in contrast to many of the alternatives is clear.  But I think that the metals and non metals work at their best when they work together giving that stunning contrast.   I’ve failed to mention that fallback for jewellery makers of leather, the contrast with metal can be amazing and Givenchy certainly knows how to make the most of this with simple clean lines and minimalist look.  There’s something so beautiful about a worn piece of wood or soft leather which is so tactile and appealing and the contrast with other materials can be really striking even when on a smaller item of jewellery.

 

 

 

That said when my metal jewellery gets scratched or dull I can find it frustrating, it sometimes adds character but sometimes completely detracts from the item of jewellery.  We certainly “wood” consider alternatives and love the innovative ways jewellery is being made out of all sorts!

 

Gorgeous fabric can really add an unusual look