The year 2008 is chock full of exotic and oversized pieces of jewelry whose sole purpose is to stand out and make a unique statement about the wearer. In fact, five new ideas about diamond and jewelry trends are sweeping the nation and the world.If you want to fit in with the trendy wave of jewelry fashion, you should know five major ideas that comprise the year’s trends. These five ideas revolve around chunky cocktail rings, diamond studded geometric shapes, exotic ethnic showstoppers, crests and coat of arms symbols and statement bangles and cuffs.
In 2008, Hollywood stars and starlets may be wearing less jewelry, but the jewelry that they are wearing is bigger and makes more of a statement than ever. If the only piece of jewelry a Hollywood starlet is wearing is a chunky, one of a kind design, she will make a big splash on any scene she enters.
These cocktail rings bear stones deep in color, whether color diamonds or other gemstones decorated by or embossed with diamonds. In fact, Mary Kate Olsen showed up at an after screening party for the movie 21 wearing a chunky green gemstone on her right forefinger highlighted by a chunky diamond bracelet that graced her wrist.
If you love diamonds but you want to stay in style, stay away from the junky looking “bling” trend from last year. These days, diamond studded Art Deco geometric shapes such as the jewelry worn by several women at this year’s Oscars are all the rage. It was at this event that Renee Zellweger wore a Cartier’s circa 1930’s Art Deco diamond bracelet valued at $563,000.
Using an animal or ethnic design with gold, gemstones and diamonds is another trend for 2008 that is getting people’s attention. These “showstopper” pieces of jewelry are making their way on to red carpets and fashion magazines everywhere. When supermodel Kate Moss modeled her sheer look for a highly specialized fashion magazine, she sported an exotic ethnic necklace that had the chunky signs of the time all over it.
When Yamila Riaz, another supermodel, posed for a prominent jewelry company, she not only wore and exotic gold, diamond and ruby “Cleopatra” bracelet, she also sported a chunky and intricate signet ring. While Heraldic symbols such as crests and coat of arms symbols are most common as brooches, pins, badges and embroideries, the diamond-studded signet ring is a great alternative to the over-sized cocktail ring.
Statement jewelry is making a big comeback this year because of the trend to choose larger, more noticeable jewelry. Statement jewelry is simply jewelry that is so provocative or over-stated that it makes its own statement about you when you wear it. Several ladies wore diamond statement necklaces at the Oscars back in February of this year, including Marion Cotillard, Keri Russell, Kimora Lee Simmons, Nicole Kidman, Vanessa Paradis and Jennifer Garner, but the trend since then has scaled down somewhat.
Probably because of how large and expensive diamond statement necklaces are, most Hollywood personalities that favor the look have scaled it down from larger necklaces to statement bangles or arm cuffs. One of the most popular designs for statement bangles or arm cuffs this year has been Art Deco utilizing the beauty of diamonds and other gemstones.
Even though statement jewelry has been scaled down from its re-emergence at this year’s Oscars, most of the jewelry trends began there have held up nicely throughout the year. Many women wore diamonds of many sizes at the Oscar Award Ceremony that set the trend for the entire year.
Women who wore trendsetting earrings include Amy Adams, who wore diamond and flower earrings, Anne Hathaway, who wore 10-carat cushion cut diamond drop earrings, Jessica Alba, who wore Diamond and Yellow Creole hoop earrings and Cameron Diaz, who wore diamond pendant earrings.
Those who wore trendsetting diamond bracelets to this year’s most famous award ceremony included Hilary Swank, wearing snowflake diamond bracelets, Kristin Chenoweth, who wore a wide cuff diamond bracelet to match her diamond drop earrings, Jennifer Garner, who wore a 1925 Art Deco diamond bracelet and Calista Flockhart, who wore a diamond bangle bracelet.
A few men also set trends at the Oscars this year. No man could outdo Forrest Whittaker at the Oscars though, as he wore platinum and diamond cuff links valued at $35,000 and a platinum and red gold five time zone watch with diamonds, valued at $75,000.
Probably the trendiest and most noticed piece of jewelry for the evening was the incredibly unique diamond statement necklace that Nicole Kidman wore. This stunning sautoir necklace is comprised of seven thousand six hundred forty-five diamonds, some rough and some polished. The one thousand three hundred ninety-nine carats of rough, polished and faceted diamond on this necklace was truly the beginning of this year’s trend toward bigger and more unique jewelry.
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