Jewelry Industry and Retail News
We permanently get informed by our friends and partners from around the Web - about news, trends and/or best practice advice, loosely related to the jewelry retail business. Therefore, we present you here the most interesting or most useful of this information every month - from the following 3 top categories:
| Trends | Sales | Tech |
|---|---|---|
| Hot new/continued jewelry trends as presented to your customers from around the Web. See what they see when they scour the Web and think about your inventory. | Marketing news and related info that you could use in your daily operations. How to get your name out there, wherever you can and get people to know about your business. |
Tools and Trends (mostly tech related) that can make your business life easier. These are tools or trends that can help your business grow, get more organized, save more money, and/or streamline operations. |
Hopefully, you will get some tips/suggestions for your own business activities from this!
January 2016
Chokers and Collars: A new artistic vision
There are an incredible number of different accessories in the casket of every woman – from the plastic ringlet, that was presented to her at secondary school, to an expensive necklace with genuine jewels. And in the same way in the “treasure chest” of almost any young girl can be found a so-called “choker”. By now probably lots of us bethought how they had bought reticulate hats and velvet chokers after watching the legendary “Leon” with Natalie Portman for the first time.
If it is so – then you can safely open your “boxes of youth”! After all, fashion has an inherent way to get back in time. That is how chokers and other jewelry like collars returned into the ranks of trends for the winter of 2015/2016.
In the world of modern fashion, the choker’s revival began already in autumn 2013, but at that time their main features were pretentiousness and audacity. Almost all of the models were made in glam-punk style: variations on the themes of studs, rivets, chains, screws, leather; even bandages transitioning into something resembling a sword belt. For today chokers are no longer gothic; no longer childish jewelry made of beads and fishing line, imitating a tattoo on your neck. (And once again all of us remember how we walked hung with rubber bands around the neck, bracelets and colored threads.)
Today this kind of jewelry is represented by such famous companies like Louis Vuitton, Dior and Givenchy. And now we can find chokers from metal, leather, lace and with pendants from precious stones. The new collection of Valentino (Spring 2016) presents even some experimental items as “BonePlate chokers”, (of course) made from artificial materials. But it looks very natural and bright. Some people say there is a complete introduction of the choker into the world of high fashion, but only a small percentage of the great fashion houses give a piece of their talent in order to please the informal fans with their art.
Therefore, a lot of designers are trying to return this accessory to its “original” appearance – the first jewelry resembling a choker was splashed on the necks of aristocrats, titled persons and royal families. And these chokers performed a great mission – it was supposed to be making a subtle aristocratic neck more tender, elegant and fragile. And from a psychological point, a girl, wearing such jewelry becomes more attractive to men, thus showing her femininity and sexuality, hidden behind an elegant adornment. An adornment, which by itself attracts great attention.
Hence, a choker is an integral part in the wardrobe of any woman. After all, this jewelry (choker) acts as an autonomous part of the image, giving any monotonic attire a hint of chic, splendor and beauty. Metal chokers will give you a “threatening” elegance, leather chokers will make you act as queen of glam rock. Well, chokers with elements of colored fur – are a perfect addition to your image on any winter party.
The fashionable choker and similar jewelry is gaining momentum, going beyond its name. Now chokers are also ribbons, thin scarves and any jewelry in rope style that were previously overlooked in your closet! Nowadays Fashionistas are particularly pleased with the new choker’s reputation as not being the jewelry of flagellants, representatives of subcultures or provincials. Today’s choker is a canvas, for artists, futurists, surrealists and rising stars of “neo-design”.
Stylists advise to wear a choker with plain hairdo, monotonous dress and nude makeup. In spite of the enormous changes in the style and artistic sense of the choker, it is important not to forget that this jewelry is still something similar to the collar. I have already pointed out the autonomy specific to this accessory – that’s why it attracts such a lot of attention. Therefore, if you prefer not to look provincial or tasteless – the choker should be an object of elegance, but not audacity in your image.
Also, under no circumstances you should forget that the choker has an unpleasant property – it can make your neck shorter or even heavier, so “your own” choker should be chosen very carefully and thoroughly.
The most popular choker of the season is considered to be an elegant evening chocker made of pearls.
And this is very predictable – in this season the majority of accessories, which we are used to refuse and rather wore them to the brutal style of Steampunk, are now made of pearls. This symbol of refinement and femininity presented the modern ladies “evening” with big bracelets, huge rings, and now of course – chokers.
London fashion shows presented chokers of all colors and materials. The most unexpected version was proposed by Christopher Kane. His models came with a necklace in the form of thin strips of plastic with his name on them - the same strips that you can also see in European garbage bags. Therefore, the choker can be called not only the most bloated adornment of the season, but also the most controversial.
And what necklace variation do your customers prefer?
By Kseniya Gulko @ trend.jewelry
