Time for a little prediction here.

Bratz Dolls are going to be on the outs. Sweat pants with cheeky sayings across the seat are going to be passe. Skin won't be in. Instead, for the next couple of years or so, we're going to see a return to demure, even Edwardian/Victorian fashions. I foresee a charming fusion of tailored feminine and masculine elements in style.

We've been seeing a very slow movement towards this in some sectors over the past couple of years--as a mother I'm relieved to see that retail giants Target and Walmart no longer carry so much "prostitot" fashion for little girls. (And yes, I do apologize; I may have been a bit hasty in saying the HoD girls' line was okay, after having seen a few more adverts.)

Fashion, and hopefully the imitators, will look less to people like Eminem and more to folks like Andre Benjamin and his 'rebel gentleman" concepts. Yeah, I know Andre's Benjamin Bixby is a luxury clothing line, but if it does well, then some of the elements will sift downward.

From Past Perfect Vintage
As for color, it appears as if we're going to be seeing a gentler palette--saturated, softly intense color such as caramel, cocoa, rose, iris, kingfisher teal. If it's a color that looks as if it could be found in an 1880's silk evening gown, chances are it'll be à la mode.

And for jewelry? Colors that complement or contrast. I see a rise in brown gemstones.

Brown gemstones are pretty rare--brown is a color not often associated with jewelry. Yet brown diamonds are become more popular, and the so-called "chocolate pearls" are flat-out hot. If you're interested in brown as a gemstone choice, but are concerned about your pocket book, may I suggest smoky quartz?
Smoky quartz is a variety of quartz found in brown, grey, and black shades. The gemstone-quality stones, when well-cut, possess a peaty glow that mingles well with diamonds. The Scots
have revered this stone for centuries. Once mined out of the Cairngorm massif in the eastern Scottish Highlands, smoky quartz goes by that name in Scotland and is regarded as the national gem.

Smoky quartz doesn't get the usual attention that the brighter gemstones receive. It's used more in gemstone therapy and New Age healing than in jewelry. I'm hoping that with the advent of change in the air, jewelry using this darkly elegant stone will become more prevalent.

So Friday I was snooping about looking for trends, jewelry, etc--when I saw that Claire Danes is this fall's face of Gucci. Gucci's creative director, Frida Giannini has been quoted as saying that "Claire Danes is a modern icon."

Uh--what?

Not even to us costume drama geek girls is Claire Danes a modern icon. Maybe she was for a few minutes after that Romeo + Juliet movie, but that came out a long, long (how embarrassing) long time ago. Really, the last thing she ended up doing was happily watched by my ten-year-old. She's kind of in the Vin Diesel category--eagerly watched at the onset, but falling oh so short of hopes and expectations. 

And this is coming from a person who really liked Stage Beauty. (And now who are they harnessing her up with in the Orson Wells period pic due out next year? Zac Efron. Lord.)

Anyway, so I toddled on over to the Gucci site, to look at their ads--and what I see confirms my belief that not only have we not come a long way, baby; in some ways we are oh so far behind.

Mind you, this isn't aimed at the pain old clothes campaign--the clothes (while modeled by individuals who bear no resemblance to actual human beings--in fact The Steel Closet nailed them as having "a rocker, hippie, bloodsucking vampire thing") are very attractive, in an unrealistic boho way.  (Don't you love how the romance with the pastoral has been going on since before Marie Antoinette? Silken petticoats and no actual sheep. But I digress.)

Readers, I give you the Gucci ad that aroused my contempt:


Yes, that was Drew Barrymore (Drew Barrymore!) in Fall 2007 for the Horsebit Line. Now she's accompanied by Claire Danes also writhing around on the beige (beige!) carpet of this Casanova's pied-a-terre.



To some, these ads may be playful, plastic-fantastic, whee money is fun. Sure, I can see that. But for a certain segment of us, in these ads there's a very unpleasant element of "Get her this jewelry and she'll ball your socks off." Or, "Yay he bought me jewelry, I will reward him with very blonde blue-eyed sex! With glitter!" (To which the converse is "O Woe! I'm not a blue-eyed blonde; I will never be able to have either jewelry or sex." Say goodbye to a demographic with $$$$$.)

Really, folks, didn't we get over that in the 60s?

And I think to myself: Pirates are in--couldn't we have Claire Danes as a pirate? Relieving some hunky nameless dude of his fine Gucci jewelry at the tip of her cutlass?

That woulda been hot.

With no carpet burn.


Kit Passmore is a content writer for Lifetime Jewelry based in Wichita, KS,
who tries to pass on her passion for both history and jewelry to her 2 daughters.

Because nothing says couture leather like gold plastic 16th century armor....




I'll be ranting about this next week.

My breasts are too big for Autumn.

Hmm, perhaps I should back up here.

Autumn, my favorite time of year, has arrived.  Cool weather, with actual cold around the corner.  This means I get to slip into one of my favorite articles of clothing, the turtleneck.  More specifically, the ribbed turtleneck.  Paired with boots and jeans, hair up or down, hoops or studs, I'm ready for anything.

Except--I'm being told I shouldn't wear turtlenecks because the twins are too big.

Excuse me? 

I guess it's got something to do with making them too much the focus of one's appearance.  

So then why the multi-million dollar industry devoted to breast size?  If it's not implants, it's padded bras, creams, God knows what else.  Those of you belonging to a certain generation may remember the arm & chest exercise accompanied by the chant "I must, I must, I must increase my bust."

But God forbid that you draw attention to them.  God forbid you benefit from whatever hard work or genetic gifts you might have suffered gone through.

Kinda like the whole jewelry industry and advertising.

Who wears jewelry, for the most part?

Women.  The most gorgeous and god-awful pieces of jewelry are aimed at women.  Liquid silver chokers, soft fiery opal earrings, Mystic Fire Trillion-cut rings. 

And yet it seems whenever I surf the net, or flip through a magazine, the images for jewelry depict a man and a woman.  Is the woman giving the man something lovely and platinum?  Nope.  Is the man congratulating the woman on her fantastic taste and dollar savvy?  Nope. 

What's happening is the woman is getting all teary-eyed because her guy has finally bought a clue and gotten her the bracelet, brooch, choker, what-have-you that she's been admiring in the dealer window for 3 months.

I used to feel bad because my husband refused to buy me jewelry.  He didn't want to make a mistake, he'd tell me.  He didn't want to give me something I might not like.  So if I wanted jewelry, it was up to me to get it.

It took me a long time to get over that.  After all, we've been conditioned (thanks, DeBeers) to believe that our spouses, fiances, boyfriends, etc., have to be the ones to buy us the pretty. 

Just like busty women shouldn't wear turtlenecks, nice women with men shouldn't have to go out and buy their own jewelry. 

If it's the 21st century, I'd better have a job, and I'd better be able to reward myself with a little more than the occasional mani-pedi from time to time.  If I want something unusual, such as a CyberLite™ ring, or an 'endless' string of chocolate pearls--or a nice demure peridot in sterling silver and gold--I'm getting it myself.


 

October's one of my favorite months.  Unfortunately, not my birth month.  I would've liked to have delivered one of my children in the month of October (wouldn't a kid like to have his or her birthday in the same month as Halloween?) but reproductive fate was not so kind.  Come to think of it, I don't know anyone born in October.  Er, that I know of.    
In 1912, the American National Association of jewelers chose Tourmaline as the October birthstone. 

The whole birthstone idea seems like a great marketing ploy, but it certainly was in use before the 20th century--it's pre-Christian, in fact.  First came the astrologers and self-proclaimed magicians--trying to impose some sort of order on a mysteriously--and sometimes frighteningly--complex world.  

I've seen many, many references to the Breastplate of Aaron, described in Exodus.  This breastplate had 12 stones, rows of 3 in 4 columns.  Apparently the first century historian Josephus draws the parallels between these stones and the months of the year, the signs of the zodiac, and the 12 tribes of Israel.  Being a Roman citizen and a Jew, he would've had access to a variety of cultures that would allow him to shape his hypothesis. 

Certainly those who dabbled in allegedly occult knowledge in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance would've suscribed to the powers already attributed to gemstones.  One could certainly be a student of both Pliny and the Kabalah in the 15th century. 

What we have now that's comparable is the New Age belief in gemstone therapy.  Apparently pink tourmaline and green tourmaline promote balance for females and males, respectively to color.    According to www.sobrietystones.com, tourmaline is an Eleventh Step stone.  I say whatever works, don't knock it.

So for those of you who want to get your October-born friend, lover, or partner a gemstone that's not an opal, try tourmaline.  It's unusual, beautiful, and apparently promotes love, compassion, and balance.  And in these times we can all use some of that, no matter when our birthday is.

I was talking with a friend the other day about purity rings.  Mind you, I'm always leery of a promise not to do something, but the way my friend explained things, it made a lot more sense to me.  And then the light bulb went on.

"The idea," she said, "has expanded to more of a spiritual and life purity concept.  Just because you're behaving in a chaste fashion doesn't mean you're behaving well in other ways.  So  some people have adopted purity rings as a promise towards honesty, kindness, integrity--those ideas as well as chastity."

"Oh!"  I said.  "Chivalry!"

Many people think of chivalry as the 'old-fashioned' courtesy a man of certain generations shows women.  Opening doors, that kind of thing.  And so they don't really think of chivalry applying to women and girls.  But take a look at the real components of some knightly virtues:

• Courage
• Generosity
• Moderation
• Justice
• Honesty

Now those are qualities that are appropriate for both boys and girls. 

After I had this conversation, I wanted to run right out and buy a purity ring for my daughter.  She may be a little young for this particular piece of jewelry yet, but I'm considering next year I may present one to her on her first day of Middle School (what we old-timers used to call Junior High). 

Then of course, I begin daydreaming about what sort of ring I'd get her.

I think this pearl ring is charming.  She would probably prefer pink! 

Both rings I can get in a child's size at Gemstone Rings Direct.  Young women in high school, however, may require an adult size.  When I did a quick search, I found some appropriate rings in the category of  Promise Rings.

In my opinion, I believe such a ring should be graceful without  being gaudy.  Simply because a promise is made in a whisper makes it no less binding.