Jewelry Fashion Reports
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Bloomin' wild
By Victoria Gomelsky
November 11, 2009
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| The "18K925" collection from Tacori, which includes this ring, combines 18-karat gold and 0.925 silver in full jewelry suites priced between $400 and $3,000. The collection premiered exclusively at Club Tacori in Los Angeles on Sept. 15. Tacori.com |
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If you've ever sat through a fashion trend forecast, you know how bewildering it can be when analysts veer into kitchen-sink territory, venturing so many predictions about what's going to be hot next season that it seems it would be more effective to simply declare what's not.
Regarding this fall's accessory market, the forecasts have proven no less sweeping. It's all about red and purple, fur and femme fatales, studs and sculpted silhouettes. But that's just the opening set. Recurring themes highlight strappy bondage looks; burnished, antique accents; and fashion's never-ending obsession with the 1980s, rendered in a blitz of day-glo and Dynasty-inspired shoulder pads.
If the polarity of trends spotted on runways last spring and destined for stores this fall is any indication, we're in for one hot mess of a season--literally.
"Chains are bigger and gutsier, and they're worn tangled and thrown on," says Sharon Graubard, senior vice president of trend analysis at the trend forecasting service StyleSight. "Pearls are worn in non-classic ways with plenty of unconventional styling, with a lot of shorter strands and chokers mixed with fabrics and tangled on."
The overarching look recalls nothing so much as a curious child knee-deep in her mother's jewelry box, draped in an artfully styled jumble of necklaces made from every conceivable material--silver, pearls, brass, fabric.
Another of the season's ubiquitous, and incongruous, pairings sees sliced geodes--the kind of cut and dyed agates found at the Tucson gem shows in plastic tubs, $20 for a kilo--decked out with tiny rows of diamond pave. They're one example of the growing appreciation for fine jewelry featuring offbeat elements, such as fabric, feathers, horn, wood and exotic skins, which add a touch of tribal eclecticism to an ensemble, while simultaneously respecting the need for affordability.
Given the mix mentality currently dominating fashion, it should come as no surprise that fine jewelers will compete with costume jewelers for consumer share of wallet this Christmas. If forecasts are to be believed, the resulting aesthetic, a bold combination of high and low styles that takes its cues from Chanel, will serve one theme above all: individuality.
"We're moving away from trendy and toward self-expression," Graubard says. "We're looking for things that have lasting emotional appeal, the idea being we don't want landfills stuffed with our discarded baubles."
Vive la difference
Richard Kasdin, a longtime sales rep in the jewelry industry, saw the writing on the wall earlier this year. After a winter sales season that verged on disastrous for just about everyone in the trade, he decided that to survive the recession, a change of tack was in order.
"I racked my brains," Kasdin says. "I'd been on the road for 24 years, mostly selling traditional diamond and gemstone product. But I knew that would no longer benefit me. Traditional stores would need something for fall, but they wouldn't buy the same things they'd been buying for the last five to 10 years."
Kasdin approached two designers whom he thought perfect for this moment in retail history: Alex Sepkus and Sarah Graham. The former, a talented jeweler of Lithuanian heritage known for his mosaic motifs and finely etched goldwork, appealed to Kasdin because "customers who still have money would want to buy something of quality--understated but still high-end jewelry," and Sepkus' idiosyncratic style fit the bill.
Graham, a pioneer of the blackened metal treatment, with an artsy range of oxidized cobalt chrome and 18-karat gold jewelry inspired by patterns found in nature, also struck Kasdin as a good buy because "her product is classic enough so [retailers] could take a chance," he says.
Kasdin's hunch was right. At press time at the end of August, Graham was seeing sales rise.
"All of a sudden [business] really picked up--a lot of stores were holding off, and this last week, our August sales doubled over last year--still down for the year, but we have a busy two months in front of us," Graham says. "Our sales rep continues to write with big stores that are trying to reach a younger market with edgier jewelry at a better price point."
It doesn't hurt that Graham's trademark blackened finish is the undisputed look of the season. She uses it to great effect on her new signature "Clover Chain" necklace featuring organically shaped links of blackened chrome and yellow gold. It wholesales for $1,350 (at a 2.5 average markup).
"We've all tried to shift to what we think is happening in the market," Graham says. "Price points have not really been an issue on the retail level, but the stores at the wholesale level are staying away from the most expensive pieces."
'Prices the world can afford'
Interviews with independent retailers around the country suggest that, for the time being, the price divide will only widen. At Underwood Jewelers in Jacksonville, Fla., a guild store with core products ranging from David Yurman to Mikimoto to Rolex, the buying focus has shifted to very low price-point lines that can be sold in volume.
"We carry Pandora in one door and are expanding into a second door," says Underwood President Clayton Bromberg of the inexpensive charm line that's now carried by scores of high-end retailers. "They have charms for $25 in silver. That's not a common price point for our store, but it's one that opens it up to prices the world can afford."
Inventory management wasn't always such a minefield. Up until September 2008, jewelry--even, or perhaps especially, expensive jewelry--rarely stayed on shelves long enough to prompt this much consternation.
"Two years ago, the challenge was building assortments priced over $1,500," says Marion Davidson, president of Slane and Slane, a pearl and sterling silver designer brand based in New York. "Now, if a brand doesn't have a significant offering under $500, it may be difficult to keep meaningful real estate in national and independent accounts."
The new price regime is a direct consequence of the 2008 holiday--that--wasn't. Retailers, by and large still sitting on inventory from last Christmas, are reluctant to stock anything but pieces that have guaranteed sell-through.
"A lot of merchandise, if it ever became stale, became stale to our sales staff and not to customers because the traffic patterns were so light," Bromberg says.
Such a single-minded devotion to price has stirred a debate in the trade over the most effective way to appeal to the post-recession luxury consumer. Kasdin, for one, thinks a buying strategy designed exclusively around price is bound to fail.
"The retail sweet spot is $3,000 to $4,000, but retailers are looking for price points of $600, $700, $800," Kasdin says. "They're going for easy sales. I don't think people who have $600 are going to buy jewelry this year. Those customers aren't going to show up."
In fact, all evidence pointed to their absence this summer--and therein lies the problem. Coming up with the cash to pay for high-end holiday goods during the dog days of summer has left many retailers with no choice but to stock lower-end products.
The mass-market haven
One arena seeking to escape the retail doldrums is home shopping. The HSN collection "Rarities: Fine Jewelry with Carol Brodie," which uses silver and inexpensive faceted stones in styles that take their inspiration from iconic jewelry pieces, is an example of a successful attempt.
Brodie, a charismatic blonde whose resume includes a longtime gig as a spokeswoman for Harry Winston and a three-year stint at Robb Report, where she served as chief luxury officer, has made a clean break with her uber-luxe past. Rarities, marketed to HSN customers as "both wearable and affordable," carries an opening price point of $29.
Brodie is hardly the first refugee from the high-end to find opportunity in the mass market. The pressure to make reasonably priced jewelry has lured many designers who once aspired to the upper echelons of the business back down to earth. Ken Leung and Dana Chin, the designers behind the Bylu fine-jewelry collection, expanded into brass fashion jewelry about a year ago. Their new spin-off line, B-Side by Ken and Dana, features, among other things, a chunky brass and Indian scarf necklace that can be worn eight different ways, at a retail price of $260.
"The question to ourselves was: How can we soften our big pieces without sacrificing on size and look?" Leung says. "This is how we came up with pairing scarves with metal components. The scarf necklaces will be a big focus for us [for the holidays]. Everything we do and sell now is with affordability in mind."
Shaesby, an Austin, Texas-based designer, has followed a similar arc. The company started out exhibiting on the accessories circuit then graduated to the 2007 Couture show in Las Vegas, a crossover that coincided with its general ascent up the price-point ladder. This year, Shaesby, like so many high-end designers angling for customers, reintroduced silver into its collection.
"I'm sure his market plan was to go up and up, but [designer Shaesby Scott] made a smart move and did a U-turn," says Cindy Edelstein, founder of the Jewelers Resource Bureau, a designer consultancy.
Even brands that have weathered the downturn with aplomb are placing their product emphasis on accessibility. Tacori, the bridal line best known for its engraved platinum settings, has created a Club Tacori for its best customers, who, on Sept. 15, were treated to a launch event for its new "18K925" collection. The name refers to the mix of 18-karat gold and 0.925 silver that makes up the rings, necklaces, pendant enhancers, bracelets and earrings in the collection, all priced between $400 and $3,000, with an average price point of $1,500.
"The bride who spent X amount of money on an engagement ring isn't looking to buy fine jewelry again for years," says Michelle Chila, director of public relations and strategic planning at Tacori. "We wanted to capture a feminine, casual and sexy vibe in pieces that she can wear now with confidence."
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