What Are You Wearing? 003: Elly 20.07.09

Elly is the darling of this month's What Are You Wearing? A good friend from home, Elly currently lives in Roehampton and is my fortnightly dinner date for a good food and good conversation.

I've watched her jewellery collection grow into a pretty selection of sentimental sterling silver pieces, which she wears day-to-day, often mixed with chandelier earrings and statement rings.

Elly has - for it seems as long as I've known her - worn an unsual square-shaped silver ring, a present from her stepdad. On her wrist she wear a classic silver Tiffany bracelet, an 18th birthday present from her Mum which, like the ring, she never takes off.

On her right hand she currently wears a ring from All Saints. This pretty statement ring has a starburst detail, and a vintaged look. Really something!

Around her neck Elly wears - much like myself and Holly from the previous What Are You Wearing? post - a name necklace. Elly's is sterling silver, and comes from a great store on eBay, based in Israel. I've shopped a few times with them, too, both for myself and for gifts for others - highly recommended, with great prices from £14

UK Jewellery Awards 2009: The Winners!

Well, it's finally come and gone! Thursday 16th of July saw the glitz and glamour of this year's UK Jewellery Awards at London's Grovesnor House Hotel.

The Awards - which are part-organised by Retail Jeweller magazine - were a close contest this year, with a high calibre of shortlisted entrants as blogged about here a few months back.

Model, part of the evening's catwalk entertainment, wearing Missoma. Image courtesy of ukjewelleryawards.co.uk

I have to say that although the Awards are tailored to the mainstream jewellery market, this year's winners are thoroughly deserving of their awards, especially Monica Vinader and Missoma, who have really gone from strength-to-strength during 2008-9.

So, the winners of the main categories are as follows...

Best Catwalk Jewels of the Year - Kirt Holmes

Kirt Holmes, holding her Award, with the host Nick Ede (left), and Nadja Swarovski (in skirt suit). Image courtesy of ukjewelleryawards.co.uk

Independent Retailer of the Year - Nicholas James, Hatton Garden

Jewellery Brand of the Year - Monica Vinader

Retail Employer of the Year - Beaverbrooks (various UK locations)

Young Designer of the Year - Bobby White

Jewellery Website of the Year - Missoma.com

and finally, the big one..!

Jewellery Designer of the Year - Shaun Leane (his hatrick!)

Shaun Leane (centre), with Nick Ede and Frances Murch of Retail Jeweller magazine (in purple). Image courtesy of ukjewelleryawards.co.uk

Congratulations to the other finalists, including Kabiri, Alex Monroe and Astley Clarke. The level of both design and branding of the entrants this year was so high, it was quite a tough one to call, with (for some I'm sure), some surprising winners. Nevertheless, the awards demonstrate how much talent there is in UK jewellery design and retail right now. Who knows, maybe next year they'll have to throw in a few more categories, for good measure!

New Designer: Hannah Livingston

Hannah Livingston, a recent Duncan of Joradanstone College of Art graduate, is a quirky new talent - just what the jewellery industry needs more of.

Taking her inspiration from antique furniture and the sentimentality produced by the history and stories behind wearing jewellery, Hannah's designs incorporate secret compartments in which the wearer can store whatever they wish.

'Antiquarian' boxes by Hannah Livingston. Image courtesy of HannahLivingston.com

You can really see Hannah's talent, not only in the quality of her designs - each pieces is hand-made - but also the detail and thought which has taken an antiquarian style and turned it into something wearable - most definitely heirlooms in the making.

Of her designs, I really love the simple 'Box' necklace, which appears to be unisex in its styling and is a great way to hide a little something from a loved one inside (oh, the romance of her designs is evidently contagious!)

Black oxidised and brushed silver 'Box' necklaces by Hannah Livingston. Image courtesy of HannahLivingston.com

Hannah's use of oxidised silver gives a somewhat Gothic look reminiscent of old European cathedrals. In fact, as I looked through the designs on her website, I was reminded of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and the animated furniture running amok in Beast's chateau! Looking forward to her next collection already!

Oxidised silver 'Casket' ring with white topaz and crystal, by Hannah Livingston. Image courtesy of HannahLivingston.com

Trend: Best of the summer sales!

At last, the summer sales are upon us, and although we're probably all entering the shops a little more tentatively than last year, there's some great jewellery bargains to be had.

Here's my pick of just some of the bargains to be found online (perhaps a little less scary than crossing the threshold into a store, but maybe that's just me!)

Over at Asos, they've recently taken time selecting a number of semi-precious jewellery designers, and I applaud their choices; Dogeared, Zoe & Morgan, Laura Tabor and Monica Vinader are just some of the fashion-inspired designers they've been stocking, and just a few of those in their current summer sale. Of the Monica Vinader pieces, they're selling a fabulous moonstone-set Square Facet ring, below, at almost half price, for £87. Also worth checking out are the pieces by The Branch, which I adore for their use of sustainable redwood pine, with chunky semi-precious stones.

Image courtesy of Monica Vinader

EC One have also got a great summer sale on, with many pieces from their SS09 collection. Designers include Fiona Paxton, Alexis Bittar, Karen Morrison and Becca. Of EC One's sale pieces I adore the Ginette NY necklace, below, for its simplicity and use of French - which I'm a sucker for! - and the fact that it's now half price at £215. The tri-colour, chunky acrylic bangles by Belgian designer Catherine De Groote have also caught my eye for their interesting colourways and unmissable size, they're 30% off at £31.

Images courtesy of EC One

Others I've spotted which unfortunately I have no images for include a cute sterling silver tennis racket necklace by Bark, at Beyond the Valley, in the sale at £61, timed perfectly for the climax of Wimbledon! Liberty currently has some fabulous Wendy Mink semi-precious stone earrings, with gorgeous pieces from £80.50. After rent, council tax and food I hope I've got some left...!

Retail Jeweller... and beyond!

The last few weeks have been a busy old time, and ooops I've neglected Like Gold Dust again... My apologies! But things are back on track and, following the rest of my time at Retail Jeweller, I'm now able to start writing again.

So, Retail Jeweller was a really great experience; I got to do some writing both for the site and the magazine, put faces to names and meet some new ones as each day passed. Yesterday my copy of the July issue - the one I worked on - came in the post and it was a great feeling to see my name in print. I might just take Sarah, Frances and Rachael up on their offer of going back...!

Back to the jewellery, then. The last few weeks, with SS09 in full swing, new designers and new summer-inspired jewellery has hit the shops. Of these I've been excited by Kabiri's new arrival, Lauralaura, whose fabric-covered bangles are a step above those on ASOS and in Accessorize.

Large 'Painter' and medium 'Meadow' fabric-covered bangles by Lauralaura. Images courtesy of Kabiri

I'm a bit of a florals fan, or should I say I'm a fan of anything where a lot of colours are clashing in an unusual pattern. So Lauralaura's bangles are definitely on my wishlist come pay day!

At the opposite end of the scale, I've fallen totally in love with Tom Rucker's platinum Geo collection. His pieces have been displayed in-store at EC One's Exmouth Market branch for the past couple of weeks, in an ongoing exhibit since Coutts London Jewellery Week. Tom's German roots are evident in his work; the pieces in the Geo collection are laser-welded, demanding hours of work from Tom but creating truly unique pieces. I especially love the Geo Galaxy platinum earrings, and the Wired Moon rings, below. Stunning.

Geo Moon gent's ring and Geo Galaxy earrings, both in platinum by Tom Rucker. Images courtesy of Tom Rucker

Retail Jeweller: My internship so far

Currently I'm halfway through a 3-week internship with Retail Jeweller magazine, and so far it's been really rather interesting.

June 2009 Issue. Image courtesy of Retail Jeweller

With the Coutts London Jewellery Week well underway, tube strikes, 30th birthdays and - of course - lots of gorgeous jewellery to write about, I'm rather enjoying the experience. I never realised just how small a team was behind the monthly magazine; there's the editor, Sarah Carpin, deputy editor Frances and news and online editor Rachael. Those three lovely ladies write the bulk of the magazine themselves (as well as their blog), with only the layout and advertising arranged separately.

The iconic Greater London House - home to Retail Jeweller and Emap. Image courtesy of Property Week.

Having done an English degree, and having worked in jewellery retail for the past seven years (and counting!), I felt the magazine might be a good chance to see whether combining the two loves of my life (cringe!) would be as good as it sounds. From what I've learnt so far, I've still got a long way to go if I wanted to make a career out of it... and there's a great deal of dedication involved - I really admire how hard the RJ girls work!

Just a quick one....

So I just logged on to Astley Clarke to check out the new additions to their site... and I was so astounded by the new Peacock collection by Pippa Small that I felt inclined to write a quick post.

The collection - which is exclusive to Astley Clarke - features fabulous 18ct gold peacock design pieces, set with shimmering labradorite. The stone was selected for its iridescent peacock-like colours; just one stone can vary in colour from deep grey, to vivid blue or even acid green.

18ct gold and labradorite Peacock necklace by Pippa Small. Photo courtesy of Astley Clarke

I adore labradorite, but sadly the Peacock collection is not recession-friendly; the 'cheapest' piece is a ring, at £2,200... whilst I did a double take at the price of the bangle - an eye-popping £14,000. Maybe I'll put it on my Christmas list... Christmas 2019, that is!

18ct yellow gold and labradorite bangle, by Pippa Small. Photo courtesy of Astley Clarke