Fall is here…when I was a Kid, I used to Get a New Wardrobe

I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, the only good thing about fall was new clothes, and often new shoes and jewelry to match.  Not expensive jewelry, just stuff that I could wear to school.  It was the 70′s and 80′s – we wore lots of earrings.

Now I am looking out my window at the changing leaves of autumn (which are a little early this year), and feeling grumpy because I can’t afford a new wardrobe.  Heck, I can’t afford much at all this year.  Well, I guess it is once again time to try to perk up my old stuff.  But how…

All new style trends have certain headlines.  Whether it is about the shape, or the specific colors, or a line, all seasons have certain things about them that make things look new and not like the previous season.

So the first thing to do is figure out the ‘headline(s)’.  This year, from perusing through Vogue and InStyle and various other magazines, I see some very specific trends in jewelry: on the large side, chunky, chain is heavy, and often there are rows of it in metals other than silver or gold (think copper, brass and gun-metal).  Jewelry and other accessories are all about making a bold statement this fall.

Another thing: Steampunk has moved on over to mainstream.  If you have never heard of Steampunk, let me give you a brief primer.

As the Gothic movement began to lose momentum a few years ago, a new kind of dark fashion began to hit the underground scene: Steampunk.  Think of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Victorian science fiction, strange engines that are used for dark purposes.  And the clothing for this movement – you may have guessed, has a lot of Victorian influences.  You might see a Victorian top hat and top coat mixed with jeans,  ruffled poets shirt with a vest that is covered in straps and buckles, high boots, a variety of hats and gadgets – LOTS of gadgets.  Goggles are a big thing for the Steampunk crowd, along with sword canes, pocket watches and anything else that has a vaguely Victorian or 1890 meets an alternative future kind of feel.

The jewelry that began as Steampunk was often Victorian inspired as well.  Cameos, Pocket watches worn on long chains, chandelier earrings, any kind of pearls and elaborate multi-strand necklaces are all part of the Steampunk look.  Specific items that were prized for use in Steampunk creations were old keys, watch parts including gears and fobs of all kinds, old radio tubes, cameos and lockets.  The look could be as simple as a necklace from your grandmother’s trousseau or as complex as a one-of-a-kind ensemble hand-made from parts you collected for years.

I knew Steampunk had graduated to mainstream when I opened the pages of Vogue magazine one day only to be confronted by an ad for Tiffany and Company that showed jewelry in the form of little platinum keys, crusted with diamonds (1).  That is SO Steampunk! (Although obviously far out reach for all but the most entitled follower of the trend…)

1. Tiffany and Co. "Keys"

As this season has moved on, and the fall catalogues and magazines have been arriving, I am seeing more and more that tells me Steampunk is here - at least until spring.  Jewelry is heavy and made with multi-strand chain, and there are MANY pieces out there made from non-precious metals.  The look is fun, a little edgy and totally funky.

So, now what…I love new trends, and I love wearing fun jewelry and clothes, but I have a day job as an engineer.  Not really the place to break out my gothic black clothes with a Victorian hat and jewelry (mores’ the pity).

Well, there are still ways you can make your wardrobe and your jewelry look new without spending a fortune every year.  Reinventing older items by applying a little crafting skill or hunting in antique stores or even at flea markets can turn up some surprisingly wonderful accessories.   Tune in during the coming weeks for a series of installments on how to re-use last year’s trends to make this year’s must have wardrobe items!

What (if anything) Makes Designer Jewelry Worth So Much Money?

Happy spring!

Now it is time for me to start talking about topics and getting into some actual information!

If you are anything like me, and you read magazines like Vogue and InStyle, you have seen some fairly amazing prices quoted beside apparel, accessories and jewelry.  I often see prices listed as ‘deals’ that make my hair stand on end.  How can they say that $1,000.00 for a gold filled bracelet is a ‘deal’?!

Well, the answer is complicated. 

First, what does gold filled mean?  There is a good write-up on eBay that says:  “When deciding on a gold jewelry item there are always many different terms that come up.  The most popular are Solid Gold, Gold Filled, and Gold Plated.  It is important to know the differences between Gold Filled jewelry and Gold Plated jewelry when making your choice.  Solid gold is of course an exquisite piece of jewelry.  Gold filled is the next level and is an amazing, quality alternative to solid gold.  Gold plating is the lower level and these items tend to tarnish and can often times turn the skin green.”

The write-up linked above is a good place to start when trying to decide the value of an item and will explain the government regulations about gold content.

So, now we have established that gold filled can be pretty nice, but is it worth hundreds of dollars?  Not by itself probably.   So now we need to assess what else the piece is made of…

• Is it stone?  and if it is stone, how rare or costly is the material? 
• Is the stone faceted?  or merely tumbled. 
• Is there glass or plastic in the piece?  and if so, is it hand-made? or is it factory made?
• Is there other metal in the piece, and if so is that metal expensive? (example sterling silver)
• Is the piece one of a limited edition? 
• Is the artist well known?
• Is the piece numbered or marked in some way that makes it unique?

These are all standard ways in which art work of all kinds may be distinguished and separated from other works, making some more valuable than others.

For the sake of argument, let’s say we are looking at a bracelet.  This bracelet is made from gold filled wire, beads and findings and it has glass beads or embellishments.  The glass beads are not unusual, and appear to be made from a mold on close examination*.  There is no signature or edition number on the piece.   The bracelet is from a line by a designer you have not heard of and is being sold in a high end department store, priced at $700.00.

Is it worth it?  Well, the short answer is probably no.  You would probably never get $700 back for the bracelet were you to choose to sell it.  It does not have any inherant value of its own based on the materials and lack of markings.

The long answer is maybe.  If you love it, and you feel you will wear it for many years and get a great deal of joy and satisfaction from it, then it may be worth the price to you.  So long as you realize that the only resale value would be for the aesthetics of the piece, or possibly for a collector of pieces from the specific designer or period of time when it was made.  And there is no guarantee that the period or designer you see today will be of any interest to anyone tomorrow.

So, in the final analisys, if you love it and you won’t be using your rent money to buy it – go ahead and buy it.  Wear it and enjoy it.  But if you are trying to buy jewelry that will retain a portion of its purchase value based on the materials – this is not your bracelet.  You would do better to look into buying a solid gold chain that will at least retain the value of it’s weight in gold.

One final note about resale:  you get very little when you attempt to resell gold and silver.  Even most stones are not able to be sold for anything like what you pay for them.   The markup on a lot of  jewelry (particularly 14 Kt gold) is very, very high.  Most smaller stores cannot compete with the prices offered by large chain stores on diamonds and gold.   And, even at those big chains, those wonderful sales they offer never involve pieces of great value.  Sale items tend to be made from inferior stones, and are often made from very light weight gold chain or stock.

Best bet – buy jewelry you love because you love it.   Wear your jewelry whenever you feel like it,  then give it to someone you love when you are ready to upgrade or move on to a new style or material.   Don’t think of it as an investment, think of it as fun!

Welcome to the Jewelry Blog!

Hello all,

  This is my maiden voyage at blogging!

   I am a jewelry designer.  I love jewelry, always have.  I love style and new fashions, but as I am…let’s say…not built for high fashion, jewelry allows me to be a part of current trends and fashions when I might not be comfortable with the current clothes.  Thank God for jewelry, purses and shoes!
   I began making my own jewelry when I was a teenager – earrings, bracelets and necklaces, often from seed beads (hey, it was the 70′s) and by the time I was in my twenties I started selling jewelry on the side as a part time job.  Even though I was making a TON of jewelry, I still often purchased pieces made by other jewelers at craft fairs and in galleries.  This is because my favorite kind of jewelry is always the unique and unusual pieces you find when you shop for hand-made jewelry.
   My goal with this blog is to write about topics that will be of interest to me, and to you.  Some ideas I am working on are: 
 
   Gold Filled vs. Gold Plated – what’s the difference anyway?
   How can I tell if I am getting a good price on jewelry?
   What (if anything) makes designer jewelry worth so much money?

   If you have ideas or questions about jewelry, let me know.  Or, if you just love to buy and wear jewelry, tune in and hopefully I can provide some useful information in the coming months.

Alison