2003

Jewelry Design: A Taste for Diamond Drop Earrings, and Unusual Ideas

April 2003

While many of the jewelry designers hoping for plumb product placement on Oscars celebrities went home disappointed after a cancelled Red Carpet, starlets at the awards ceremony nevertheless chose diamond jewelry--albeit less dramatically than in past years.

The product of choice was--without question--diamond chandelier earrings. Adorned with dangling briolettes--smaller than past years' eye-popping stones--the earrings were a statement on their own and many celebrities opted out of necklaces, bracelets and rings.

The style is romantic and feminine--a continuation of spring fashion and the on-going taste for dropping or dangling silhouettes.

Earlier shows this year also proved that the drop style ear--primarily with small briolette stones--is still the rage, and another celebrity-driven fashion, fancy colored diamonds, are also something to take notice of.

While the fascination with last year's brown and black diamond jewelry seems to have waned--with champagne and cognac-colored stones used only as pave accents and black diamonds virtually non-existent in 2003 collections--the styles has helped pave the way for other "colors" in diamond jewelry. In response to the famous pink, heart-shaped diamond engagement ring that Ben Affleck gave to style maven Jennifer Lopez late last year, for example, pink diamond jewelry is making a splash among designers. With large pink stones being price-prohibitive for many, pink melee is being used in pave pieces adorned with white diamonds. Another trend--a spinoff of the on-going taste for three-stone styles--features small pinks as side stones to larger white oval center stones.

Among the popular shapes for stones this season are those ovals, along with pears--which fit in nicely with "drop" style earrings and necklaces. In a nod to both fashion's latest "retro" influence--Art Deco designs--geometric shapes are also important this year. Along with the ever-popular round stones, and the ever-growing taste for princess and emerald cuts, jewelry designers are favoring other fancy shapes--from triangular trillions to unusual cuts--like square pyramid-inspired cuts.

Nostalgic cuts--Asscher and rose cuts, or cushion--for example, are also a fashion statement as a sign of the times, offering the pop of a diamond with the brilliance of the more faceted modern stones.