Individuality Rules
Mia Moross owner of Theoneilovenyc.com wearing a pair of antique earrings (photo courtesy of Little Wolf Collective @littlewolfcollective)
It’s always fun and inspiring to see what jewelry celebrities, royalty, and/or socialites own and wear, whether a queen or princess, socialite or Hollywood actress from the past or present day. For many of us jewel obsessed, it’s equally addictive to check out our icons as well our cyber friends on Instagram. I also scope out the pieces and personal styles of women I see on the street, in the subways, airports as well as on social media.
But what defines persona style? In a prior article for indesign.jewelry on the subject I wrote:
“Personal style is about choosing pieces with meaning and motifs that speak to us. It’s about knowing our day-to-day life and what we will wear, or what will sit our jewelry boxes. It’s also about knowing what looks best with our height, frame, shaped faced, and what we can pull off. Although these aspects are a big part in the way in which we should select our pieces — rather than what’s hot or what’s happening — wearing our jewelry rather that allowing it to wear us—is perhaps the most important aspect of all.
Lindsay Salmon’s arm’s with two antique bracelets
What we look for in our jewelry is also related to the special meaning a piece represents and the ability to feel more confident, powerful, feminine and sexy. We also want jewelry that livens up our mood and in doing so adds some sparkle not only around the face, but to our lives — that becomes part of our persona but doesn’t take over who we are.”
This still holds true for me.
Jewelry week in Manhattan, held at the end of July represented both the antique and modern worlds. There were cocktail parties at shops, collections launches at showrooms and three major consumer and industry shows. These were perfect venues to survey those in the business of jewels: designers wearing their own creations, antique dealers wearing different time periods, collectors mixing modern and vintage. There were jewelry publicists, stylists and journalists who report on trends and create looks for top magazines and celebrities and are are pros at projecting their own personal styles. Here are several women of varying ages who caught my eye with their imaginative touches and ability to individualize their looks.
Partner/Antique Division Lindsay Salmon/ Erica Weiner knows how to rock a handful of antique rings and particularly memorial and other styles of the Georgian period. She also has an eye for scouting out the best bangle bracelets and can mix silver and gold with abandon. When Lindsay wears antique it feels current and relevant (photo taken at Doyle & Doyle cocktail party)
Owner/ Designer Erica Weiner/ Erica Weiner shows us that not everything has to be off the charts expensive to offer a great antique or vintage look. Her charm necklace features her talisman and she wears it often. The snake bracelet, she reported is a new find that she snagged while hunting for her two shops and online store. It’s a snake with a huge faceted garnet eye. Everything is in proportion—and although we might want to take a closer look at the jewels—it’s Erica we are focusing on first. (Photo taken at Doyle & Doyle cocktail party)
Owner/Designer Mia Moross/theoneilovenyc.com might features stacking and layering of Georgian rings and a diversity of pendants that start at choker length and graduate down the neck as well as the creative talents modern designers for her online shop. But, when it comes to her own personal jewelry, its simplicity at it’s best. Two pinky rings—one a Cartier trinity and a period hallo gemstone style, worn with a Cartier watch (and a Georgian pair of earrings not shown). Mia’s toned down approach allows her luminescent beauty to shine through. (Photo taken at The New York Antique Jewelry and Watch Show)
Owner/ Antique Dealer/Designer Eden Daniels/ The Eden Collective knows how to stack and it never looks overdone. Her wrists are often a mix of metals and time periods and it all works together. She is of the mind to layer on one body part, while still wearing her favorite rings and a super cool charm necklace. (Photo taken at the Summer JANY show)
Owner/Designer Gwen Myers of Eden Presley leaves her neck and ears bare and raises her hands to personal style, which includes mixed color gemstones in an array of pretty feminine styles. She wears them with a vintage dress and bag. (Photo taken at the Summer JANY Show)
Owner/Vintage Jewelry Dealer Robin Katz of RK Vintage Jewels has style to burn. She accessorizes with big bold mid-century through 1970s signed pieces and her signature look is to wear one or two stand out pieces. Here she is wearing a Paul Flato wide signed bracelet. She can also be spotted in large Bulgari pendants and David Webb earrings, to name just a few of her rotation of personal jewels. (Photo taken at The NY Antique Jewelry and Watch Show)
Co-Owner Elizabeth Doyle of Doyle & Doyle balance statement pieces, like the bold gold and turquoise Victorian cuff bracelet pictured here, with smaller antique and newly designed pendant layers and two of the rings that work in the color scheme of her jewels. Bringing in similar colors allows Elizabeth to wear multiple pieces including drop earrings. The ecru lace dress is simple enough to be a backdrop for her jewels, yet with textural interest so all works to define her affinity for sentimental pieces of the late Georgian and early Victorian eras. (Photo taken at Doyle & Doyle Cocktail Party)
Owner/Designer Elizabeth Buenaventura, of the collection of the same name, designs delicate, pieces that are meant to be mixed and mismatched, worn in layers, climbing up the ears or on the wrists. She’s also a fan of charms and mixing antique with modern pieces. She is the perfect model for her customer base and never leaves the house without her ears draped and studded and her long fingers sporting pretty versatile rings. (Photo taken after the Summer JANY in Rockefeller Center)
Lawyer by day and jewelry collector at all times, Yvonne Look usually layers necklaces and stacks rings and has a penchant for early portrait, cameo and fob jewelry as well as a way with wearing antique chains and stacks of five stone rings. But during July’s heat wave in NYC, Yvonne took a singular approach to jewelry going with one brooch in cut steel to highlight a black dress with straps that looked like graduated necklaces. She had the right idea and always looks chic and modern in her antique jewels. (Photo taken at Doyle & Doyle Cocktail Party)
Armed and Dangerously jeweled: From left to right designer Ruta Reifen’s gemstone studded wrist, antique dealer Lenore Dailey’s Georgian bracelets—no one does Georgian chains and padlocks like Lenore, designer Jules Bryant’s arm stacked with her feminine rocker chic jewels, designer Monica Rich Kosann traded out her signature charm bracelet for more delicate styles from her collection with her wear-everywhere watch and sculptural rings, Designer Alexis Kletjian stack of various color metal and gemstone bangles, NYC’s favorite downtown girl, writer and collector Lynn Yaeger’s stack of antique rings plays off of her vintage dress and openwork crochet top. Designer Dana Bronfman’s double mixed metal, combined witdths wrist stack and publicist at Simon Teakle, Christine Cheng’s antique emerald and diamond singular bracelet
