Pet bling a big thing with owners

According to this article on diamond jewelry, jewelry for pets is becoming more and more popular with pet owners:



Blame it on Paris.


The spoiled celebrity hasn't just had influence over the raising of the human hemline; she's practically single-handedly responsible for the mass posh-ification of pets, too.


Using her four-legged friends as dressed-up accessories, Paris Hilton has spawned an industry explosion of blinged-out bulldogs and chi-chi chihuahuas.



"You can trace it to the Paris Hilton thing for sure. I think that's when it really took off. You go to these trade shows nowadays, and there are tons of these booths full of this kind of stuff. It's in the last five years it's really taken off," says Michael Hoeper, manager of Pisces Pet Emporium.


The shop carries an array off accessories for the pampered pooch, including Chloe's Canine sparkly collar charms that look like diamond-encrusted bones and dollar signs.


The popularity of dog clothing has also skyrocketed, and both male and female pet owners purchase everything from precious leopard-print jackets with matching tutus and pillbox hats to tough stuff like leather jackets and bandanas -- Pisces carries a whole line of Harley -Davidson brand dog gear that includes leather collars, T-shirts, bandanas and leads.


Montreal-based Poochey Couture (poocheycouture.com) is a brick-and-mortar shop that also offers online shopping. The place is a howl, decked out in bubblegum pink and lemon yellow, stocked with racks of fashion for Fido, whether your dog tends toward geek chic, punk princess or trendsetter.


Many pet owners are content to just shampoo and brush their animals and call it a day in the looks department, but Hoeper says a lot of people like adding that attention-getting wow factor.
"I think it's that people see pets as an extension of themselves and dress them up. But they also just like to spoil them."

Fine Jewelry News Launches Weekly Poll on Jewelry Trends

From an article on diamonds and jewelry:



Fine Jewelry News has launched “A View from You,” a weekly opinion poll on its website, allowing visitors vote for their jewelry and fashion favorites, such as gemstones and metals, and weigh in on industry issues such as conflict diamonds and gem treatments.

The company, based in Wisconsin, says that the poll “gives visitors an opportunity to find out what they have in common with jewelry lovers around the world.”

In addition, the website features a forum called “Fine Jewelry Connection,” where they can ask questions, get second opinions on potential jewelry purchases and share stories and swap ideas with other visitors.

Fine Jewelry News provides jewelry news and information online and through its subscription-based bi-monthly e-newsletter, at http://www.finejewelrynews.com/. The company offers a free sample issue of the newsletter, and six bi-monthly issues are available for $15.95.



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Diamond Congress: Agreeing on Generic Marketing and Synthetic Labeling

From an article on synthetic/cultured diamonds:



The 33rd World Diamond Congress saw the release of new International Diamond Council (IDC) rules for grading diamonds. The rules, standards on nomenclature for lab-created or synthetic diamonds, were prepared by a joint committee of IDMA and the WFDB, and stipulate that diamonds created in a laboratory environment must be labeled by approved terms.

Lab-grown, lab-created, man-made and synthetic can all be used to describe a created diamond, and these terms must be accompanied by ‘diamond.’ The committee emphasized that the term ‘cultured’ may not be used in reference to synthetic diamonds. Fischler said during the final press conference this was due to the fact that the word can be very easily confused with cultured pearls, which could imply an element of natural growth in the process.

“The intrinsic value of diamonds is based upon its uniqueness,” Fischler said. “Each diamond is unique. Lab-grown diamonds are in no way unique, and I think it is very important for everyone to understand the difference.”

The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), said in a joint statement issued by with the WFDB and IDMA that it acknowledged and accepted the IDC’s regulations relating to the nomenclature of synthetic diamonds.

Blue and Pink Cultured Diamond Jewelry Line Launched

According to this press release on cultured diamonds, Renaissance Diamonds announced Thursday that it has designed a new jewelry collection incorporating fancy vivid pink and blue colored lab-created diamonds. Gemesis, which supplies Renaissance, has yet to officially announce these new diamonds, though the development has been expected for some time.

Dubbing them “environmentally friendly created diamonds,” the “Breathtaking” collection comprises of fashion and engagement designs with pink and blue center stones set with micro pavé.

A Gemesis spokesman told IDEX Online that the firm could comment no further than to say that, as previously stated, Gemesis plans this year to begin producing and publicly selling cultured diamonds in colors other than yellow.

The source said that these colors included blues and pinks and that the announcement would take place sometime “in the next six to eight weeks.”

I was at dinner last night with an old dear friend of mine. We discussed many topics in our catch up process but the one that still catches and replays in my mind is this.

He wanted to know if I was to look at a diamond, could I determine if it was mined or lab made. I pondered this for a while, even after dinner; and my conclusion was I don’t know.

I figured the only way to determine the origin of a diamond is with highly expensive equipment or a trained eye that can determine a growth pattern in the diamond, through the inclusions or lack of inclusions in the diamond. All of this can not be done with a 10x loupe; you would need a microscope to determine this.

Even after this little discovery of mine, I questioned people to ask what they thought. Some where stubbornly in the thought of, if I don’t get it form the earth and man has a hand in the process then it is not real, the old saying of, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck is it a duck?
Then there was this one person I spoke to, the type that thinks they know everything, you know those type I am sure! Well after debating this issue back and fourth he finally agreed I was right, it is a diamond, but then to burst my bubble said, “but it want ever catch on”.

I am here working successfully at Jewelnet Inc and can say; guess what, it is catching on and it is a 100% diamond. Hey no one believed Christopher Columbus or Marco Polo when they said the earth was round and look at us today!

Men can wear jewelry too

According to this article on fashion and jewelry, "Flashy male bling has reached a level of acceptance not seen since the 1970s."



IF you need proof that the old rules of man bling are dead, look no further than the recent dinner GQ magazine held in Beverly Hills for designer Scott Sternberg. Host Jason Schwartzman sported a silver beetle lapel pin with a spot of turquoise that perfectly complemented the shade of his Band of Outsiders suit.



A few tables over, a fellow let his French cuffs flap free while his beefy neck supported a chunky sterling silver Chrome Hearts cross. Next to him a thirtysomething sported a silver diamond pavé ring (also Chrome Hearts) -- on his middle finger. Two seats away, actor Gabriel Mann fiddled with the pair of thin black leather and silver Marc Jacobs bracelets on his right wrist.



Men's jewelry has traditionally been limited to the functional: watches, cuff links, wedding bands. But today Ashton Kutcher gazes out from the cover of the May Details magazine, adorned with a thin cord and single bead around his neck; Johnny Depp layers on the leather, silver and cloth bracelets at press junkets; Jeremy Piven chews on a Soffer Ari Star of David necklace in Gap T-shirt ads; and Brad Pitt hits the stage of "Idol Gives back" sporting a thin metal chain.



Granted, these guys could probably sling a pair of jumper cables around their neck and make a fashion statement, but they aren't the only men shopping for upscale hardware; U.S. sales in men's jewelry doubled to $6 billion from 2004 to 2006, according to Unity Marketing, a Pennsylvania-based market research firm.



Just this month, the 160-year-old jeweler & Co. opened its second and third men's-only boutiques in Japan; the company declined to comment whether it was the beginning of a global rollout. So what's behind the gold (and silver) rush?"



Men have become more comfortable with embracing fashion," says Michael Macko, men's fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue. "Guys are caring more about their appearance, and jewelry is definitely a part of that. David Beckham is a perfect example of a guy who wears a fair amount of jewelry."



At the same time, workplaces and social gatherings have generally become more casual. Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, points out that wearing a strong piece of jewelry "is a serious way of saying: 'Take notice of me.' "Jay Bell, senior buyer of designer men's collections for Barneys New York, said jewelry sales were up "triple digits" each of the last three years, and at a level of acceptance not seen since the '70s. "I give rap the credit," Bell said. "People like Diddy and Jay-Z started embracing it in the early '90s, which has led to the popularity we're seeing now."



"Necklaces first," he said, ranking popularity. "Then bracelets and then rings. Men are realizing this is an easy way to get instant membership in the fashion club."



...as Macko pointed out, "women tend to buy jewelry to go with an outfit. If a man buys a piece of jewelry, first of all it won't be costume jewelry, and second, it will be more as a talisman." What kind of talisman? Think God and country: "There are few motifs that have the sustainability of dog tags and crosses," he said. "We do incredibly well with both of those. We also have these spiritual beads by David Yurman, glass beads on a chain, in both necklaces and bracelets that are really strong."



Darren Gold, co-owner of Alpha Gear for Gents in West Hollywood, has noticed a similar trend locally. "Buddhist charms, the om [symbol] and anything spiritual like that has been huge."