Gold, bold and beautiful
Art Nouveau, Retro and 1980s excess are reborn in the year's masterful mix of styles

October 01, 2007

Bapalal Keshavlal bangle bracelet in 18-karat white and yellow gold with round brilliant-cut diamonds.

It is impossible to know what jewelry historians of the 22nd century would call the design aesthetic of the decade we are now in, but suffice it to say that in describing it, they would cite three earlier eras: Art Nouveau, Retro and the 1980s.

Contemporary designers have liberally mixed and matched elements from all three periods in ways best suited to pushing their own collective vision forward. The result, on display at the string of jewelry shows that kicked off in Las Vegas during market week in early June and culminating with the JA New York show in late July, is a mélange of voluminous yet delicate jewels that worship nature, above all else.

From Art Nouveau, a stylized celebration of Mother Earth symbolism that flourished from 1890 to 1910, jewelers have borrowed the use of esoteric colored stones, such as the Mexican fire opals in Vicente Agor's beguiling Volcanico collection. Still clinging to their crystal matrices, the opals sparkle with psychedelic colors that epitomize nature's fluidity and movement.

That longing for a sensual, organic touch is affirmed by the popularity of rough-hewn and textured metals, such as the textured gold of Fern Freeman's stackable, diamond-set rings. It's no surprise that when stones are introduced into these metal-intensive designs, the understated look of bezel settings prevails over flashy, in-your-face displays of gem wealth. The same logic applies to designers' choice of diamonds—more and more are opting for champagne-colored stones over their colorless counterparts, if only because the colored diamonds exude an earthiness that bling clearly lacks.

Diamond in the Rough Iceberg ring featuring a 9.10-carat raw diamond in 18-karat white gold with 1.77 carats of diamond pave.

Nothing, however, beats the trendy allure of diamonds au naturel. Raw stones, such as the iceberg-shaped piece crowning Diamond in the Rough's pavé-set solitaire ring, have upstaged their more refined, faceted cousins in recent months thanks, in large part, to the call of nature. Even when designers stick to bling, they diffuse it with a softer glow, as in Armand Jacoby's Solare diamond earrings, uniquely set in a space-age, carbon-based resin.

The flip side of the new Nouveau is a return to looks introduced during the postwar Retro period, when designers—without access to the Asian markets and their bounty of colorful rubies and sapphires, and lacking platinum, which was deemed a strategic metal during World War II—looked to South America, especially Brazil, for stones that could be set in yellow gold to create big looks at reasonable prices. The result was bold and gold designs featuring quartz and cabochon-cut gems.

Nicole Landaw Bubble medallion in 14-karat gold with diamonds.

With the gold price nearing $700 an ounce, the same urge to create volume without mass applies today. Witness the open work that graces everything from Maya Jewels' large-scale Buddha earrings to Bapalal Keshavlal's 18-karat white- and yellow-gold bangle bracelet.

Another lingering influence over contemporary jewelry design comes to us via the 1980s, an era of excess tastefully revived in dramatic medallions such as Nicole Landaw's 14-karat gold and diamond Bubble pendant as well as swinging three-dimensional pieces such as the tiger's-eye quartz marble pendant by K. Brunini Jewels.

The best-known '80s staple to come back around? Hoop earrings, of course. The freshest incarnations of this classic bauble feature asymmetrical curves and rose-cut stones, as in Alberian and Aulde's white-sapphire-studded Crescent Hoop earrings.

Alberian and Aulde Medium Crescent Hoop earrings in 18-karat gold with round rose-cut sapphires.

The pervasiveness of rose cuts speaks to the final all-encompassing trend evident in this season's jewelry: the growing appreciation for an Indian aesthetic, alive and well in vintage-inspired pieces such as the Bochic bangle bracelets favored by Hollywood's bright young things. Whether it's 22-karat gold or the ubiquitous bangle, Indian style is all over the place, offering an intriguing and global counterpoint to the period pieces that have inspired today's cutting-edge talent.