Design This - On Trend and Trending Jewelry

A good friend and customer of mine has had me design several pieces of jewelry or accessories for her over the years that represent a current fashion trend, a favorite fashion element of hers or to honor a family member or family event. Earlier this year I was pleased to work with her to create two pair of earrings and two necklaces that incorporated all three.

It had been a while since she had mentioned wanting to incorporate fleur de lis into some jewelry in honor of where her husband hailed from. This was the easy part. I had had my eye out for some fleur de lis that I liked since her earlier comment and had some to show her when we met to catch up and discuss potential new jewelry pieces. She liked them too and wanted a pair of earrings made out of them. One of the other components that I showed to her was a filigreed moon. (Moon, sun and stars are a favorite fashion element of hers.) She loved it and shared a photo of a necklace that the moon made her think of and that she wanted me to use as inspiration for her project. She also wanted me to incorporate at least one star into the design.

It turned out that the inspiration necklace was actually two layered necklaces. Layered necklaces that can be worn independently or together have been trending lately. Unfortunately I did not have any star components that really spoke to my friend so I looked towards my suppliers and an upcoming trade show. I also needed to see if I could find some antiqued silver chains as my selection of silver, silver plated and gunmetal plated chains did not seem to be quite what was needed either. The right stars were difficult to find! I was beginning to despair when I came across some wonderful pave stars and a pave moon and star combo. I also found an antiqued silver chain I thought would be perfect for the project.

Now it was time to make up the earrings and mock up a couple of necklaces for the layered look. After looking at the first image in this post my friend said yes to the earrings but wanted to see the components in person. I brought along the components in the photo as well as some stainless steel chains I had recently purchased. After seeing everything in person she decided a simple single star on a stainless steel chain was what she wanted to layer with the moon and star necklace as pictured in the mock up. She also decided that another of her signature fashion statements, mismatched earrings, would be perfect for some of the other pave charms. Once we had all of the details in place, I created the necklaces and earrings to those specs.

I have seen my friend several times since then and she seems to be having fun pairing different necklaces for the layered look. I have always appreciated her great sense of style. I found it quite interesting how much of a trendsetter she seems to be when I read in a recent jewelry trade mag, "Mismatched earrings and name jewelry was big on the fall runways…", since she has rocked the mismatched earrings look for some time now.