Sad about SAG

The Screen Actors Guild Awards last night, popularly known as the SAG Awards, might have described my spirits watching the usual parade of A-Z list celebs sadly underadorned. Or maybe SAG just stands for Strenuously Avoiding Glitz.

If you had access to stylists, and jewellers happy to open their vaults and lend you something sparkly and gorgeous … wouldn’t you take advantage of that? I think celebs are so afraid of being called out on a worst dressed list, they opt for what they think is tasteful but is just plain and boring. In the rush to be considered elegant they are just bland.

But lest you despair totally, here’s a photo of  Sofia Vergara, of Modern Family, wearing just about the only glittery item larger than a pea that I could find. And the bling is real, dolls – courtesy of Lorraine Schwartz. Vergara gets extra points for the stunning matching cuff bracelet.

Ten questions with William Welstead

1. How did you come to jewellery design?

In the mid nineties I was travelling in the Himalayas and became very interested in antique tibetan turquoise and cornelian beads and this started a quest  to learn more about gem stones. I studied gemmology at the Gemmological Association in London and when I completed my course I went to India to buy diamonds in all shapes and sizes.

2. Which comes first, the stone or the design?

The stone always comes first. When I see a stone that is right for me I usually know what I am going to make with it.

3. Who inspires you and why?

There is a certain glamour that existed in England  in the 1930s that is typified by the Mitford sisters and I always think about them when I am working on a collection. I do have a number of clients who I find very inspiring and I love to see them wearing my pieces but I choose not to name them!

4. What jewellery do you wear?

I don’t wear anything other than a watch but I often have a jewel or two in my pockets.

5. If you had unlimited access to materials, what would you create?

I would really enjoy making a necklace with a beautiful and large Indian cut briolette diamond but I really like working with stones which show their natural origins and I find great beauty in natural imperfections.

6. What is your creative process like when you work with a client on a custom piece?

Clients tend to come and see me at the offices of Harry Fane in London to discuss commissions. It is particularly enjoyable for them if I have just returned from a buying trip. I will show them my stones and discuss how I see them being used. Often I will have pieces that have already been made which will help inform the choice of settings. I really like to work with flat stones which sit close to the finger or make very light delicate earrings.

7. Which of your designs is your favourite, and why?

I love these flat diamond earrings with a fine pave surround. They have an almost glacial quality to them and they are so beautiful on.

8. Are there any commissions you would turn down and if so, why?

I really don’t work with modern brilliant cut diamonds because I like stones that whisper rather than shout.

9. Which jeweller/designer is someone whose work you admire, and why?

Cartier in the 1930s when they worked with incredible Indian stones belonging to the Maharajas was wonderful.

10. Which stones do you most enjoy working with?

I love Indian cut diamonds, Burmese spinels and sapphires.

Academy Award jewellery; the best of the rest

After last night’s snoozefest (both in terms of show production and fashion and accessorizing) I came to the conclusion that celebs are more afraid of being on a worst dressed list than they are willing to take chances and go for a look that’s memorable for all the right reasons. In other words, too many stylists spoil the broth. Or, in the case of co-host Anne Hathaway, stylist Rachel Zoe worked exclusively with Tiffany jewels, many from the company’s archives. Did you really notice any of them? I know I didn’t.

Helen Mirren usually is the one celeb I feel I can count on to show up at events looking polished and perfectly turned out but she also literally missed the mark with a Cartier pendant necklace whose end point fell too low on her dress.

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 Loved the Tiffany ruby tassel earrings worn by Natalie Portman; I just wish she had worn a delicate pendant necklace or bold ruby cuffs to match.

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And Nicole Kidman DID wear a necklace, over 150 carats of vintage diamonds from Fred Leighton. Now, if only someone could have coordinated all those earrings, necklaces and the profusion of diamond bracelets that seemed like an afterthought (There! I’m accessorized!) we might have had a look going on.

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Academy Awards – hire me, please

Yes, this is an open plea to the stylish of Los Angeles. Please hire me (or someone who knows how to work jewellery into an outfit) to put some glitter into your glam events.

I just spent the past half hour looking at photos of Oscar red carpet arrivals. Correction: enlarging photos, because you had to make them huge to see most any kind of jewellery being worn. Mostly, there wasn’t much. And when there was, well, is it wrong of me to bitch that if someone actually made the effort to wear a dazzling emerald (or is that jade?) and diamond necklace they paired it with the wrong neckline? Yes, Amy Adams, I’m looking at you. Stunning necklace and bracelet, love the contrast of the green against the blue sequins. But for the love of all that’s accessory worthy, a neckline that high doesn’t need a necklace like that.

I think it’s wrong that Maria Menounos and Cheryl Hines had (so far) the most eye catching accessories. And I did love Amy Adams’s pieces. Just not with that dress.

Photo TMZ.com

Sandra Bullock looks spectacular no matter what. But can you reimagine this outfit with a ruby and diamond collar, a diamond sautoir, or killer emerald earrings like the ones Angelina Jolie wore to such great effect?

Golden Globes – where’s the sparkle?

I am seeing swathes of bare skin on the red carpet for tonight’s Golden Globes and no, that isn’t titillating. If you can’t wear some well chosen bling on an awards night, when WILL you pull it out of the jewelry box (or Harry Winston’s safe on loan)? I spot one or two demure bracelets, a few pairs of shoulder duster earrings (yawn), and I am certain that Helena Bonham-Carter’s disastrous Vivienne Westwood dress and mismatched red and green shoes will come in for their share of “fashion don’t” criticism tomorrow. Ladies, if you spent all that money on … ahem … enhanced decolletage, at least show it off with a statement necklace.

At least Eva Longoria used Neil Lane’s bling in an inventive way on the waist of her Zac Posen dress.  Here’s hoping the Oscars offer more in the way of true star glitter.

Photo from http://www.com

Jewel of the day: Penny Masquerade typewriter necklace

As much as computers and word processing have made writing much easier, I miss typewriters. In particular, I miss the old IBM Selectric. I took one typing course in grade 10 and became the idiot savant of typing – over 150 words per minute the last time I was tested on a Selectric and no doubt faster on a computer keyboard since so much less pressure is required.

So I was drawn to this sweet little typewriter necklace. My guess is a lot of people now wouldn’t even know what it is. Go ahead and baffle the young’uns. Available here for £21.00.

Seeing beauty

As the days of this year wind down to this one, these last few hours and minutes (and for some, already celebrating the arrival of 2011) it’s worth taking a moment to stop. And breathe. And see.

If you don’t already know about The Washington Post’s experiment in how (or even if) people see beauty, this is a great read, one which I stumbled on at a sweet blog called Annekata. Even if you heard about this when it happened in 2007, it’s worth remembering to stop and, in this case, hear the music. And appreciate the beauty in every day life.

A happy, healthy, and wondrous 2011 to all.

Pink diamond update: world record price

The Sotheby’s auction today for a very rare pink diamond culminated with a winning bid of USD $46,158,674, the highest piece ever paid for a jewel. Famed jeweler Lawrence Graff is the new owner and the stone is to be named the Graff Pink. It will join the historic Wittelsbach blue diamond, also owned by Graff.

The auction itself was a record breaker, with the largest amount sold in a single sale, $105.1 million.

See more about the sale here.

Where have all the brooches gone?

Boucher flower pin, circa 1950s

I spend a lot of time surfing web sites and looking at jewellery and have noticed a new trend – no brooches anywhere. There are necklaces and earrings and bracelets galore (and even the occasional anklet) but not a pin to be found.

After the vintage brooch craze touched off by the first Sex and the City movie, I figured it was a matter of time before they became relegated to the “so yesterday” bin of tossed aside fads. But … I find it somewhat sad that designers seem to have stopped even making brooches.

There seems to be a perception that pins say “granny” and I think that couldn’t be further from the truth. As with anything else, it’s all in the way you wear something. A grouping with a similar theme is fun – I used to pair a vintage sunflower with a small bee pin. On a jean jacket, I have five small sterling gem set dogs and about three or four other brooches clustered together. On a blazer, I’ve worn a bunch of vintage dress clips down one lapel. A brooch can instantly change the look of what you have on, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot. (But please, please, please, avoid the stripper pasty look that can unfortunately be achieved when a pin is worn too low down on the chest and instead aim for just under your shoulder).

I guess this is good news for vintage jewellery dealers – they have scads of wonderful brooches from years gone by. Because it looks like you may have a tough time finding anything new at jewellery counters this fall.

But don’t be fooled into thinking brooches are only for prim and proper older women. Buck the current “no brooch” trend and showcase your own style.

Not a classic….

Was reading the other day about what a classic jewelry wardrobe should contain: diamond stud earrings, a good strand of pearls, a good watch, pearl stud earrings…. They’re all certainly serviceable for most (but not all) women. But it reminded me of the feedback I had when someone read one of my scripts several years ago. “Not a complete waste of time,” she wrote, “but not a classic, either.” It made me think that if ever I was to start my own production company, it would have to be called “Not A Classic Incorporated”.

I love good basics, like the pearls and yes, diamonds. But I’ve come to love them sort of twisted – the Mikimoto Pearls in Motion, whose pearls slide up and down a chain and can be worn in different configurations. A spindly stick of gold set with tiny cubic zirconia, with a slightly larger one below – the look of diamonds without the price. My favourite watch is a Swatch set on a mesh sterling band – I get a ton of compliments on it, and it’s hardly “good” in the sense of Cartier or Hermes. But it’s great in that it goes so well with the other silver bracelets I wear on the same arm and, with the face of the watch on the inside of my wrist, is usually mistaken for another bracelet.

I used to think only gold could be considered classic and then became enamoured of silver. Like this fabulous Antonio Pineda sterling cuff with a pearl …. It practically demands its own airspace when wearing it because the wing juts out a good three inches. But it’s fantastic and classic in its own way.

So … classics or not? In 2008, what defines a classic? I love pearls, have a couple of simple strands and some more outrageous, gumball sized ones. Fake diamonds, real ones. Good watches and ones that are slightly naughty. How do you define classics in your own wardrobe, or do you shun them completely? Inquiring minds want to know…