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 Former Fashion and Personal Image Consultant turned Jewelry Designer, Juliet Renee Williams previews her Spring/Summer 2005 Collection with an evening of luxury and libations.
On an average day, it's quite normal to find jewelry designer, Juliet Renee Williams in a white t-shirt and jeans working diligently, stringing precious gemstones on silk thread or sketching designs on a pad of art paper in her design studio in Jersey City, NJ. But on Thursday, February 10, 2005 from 6 PM - 9 PM, she will put on a little "glam" to present a preview of her Spring/Summer 2005 Jewelry Collection at The Muse Hotel in New York City. This event will mark the 7th major collection Juliet has designed and presented since the 2001 inception of her company, JulRe Designs.
Known for her bold, colorful and exquisite wearable art, Juliet's latest collection, which will officially launch in late March, does not disappoint. Using an eclectic mix of unusual gemstones such as lepidolite, kyanite and chrysocolla with the better known garnet, ruby and topaz, she has created amazing multi-strand necklaces, lariats, stiletto earrings and bangle bracelets. The Collection retails from $65 - $450.
Guests who attend the 'by invitation only' event will enjoy carefully selected wines from the Sonoma, CA wine region, sumptuous hors d'ouevres and the sounds
more JulRe Designs to Host Jewelry Trunk Show in New York added by Levent OZLER
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 Gold is no longer the metal of choice for the adornment of the ruling class.
Rappers, hip-hop artists and youngsters copying their pop icons are gold's new poster-children and the move downmarket could hurt the gold price in the longer term, according to analyst Jessica Cross.
Cross believes that gold jewellery is losing its gilt-edged status.
Quoting from a British website, she defined the modern British jewellery lover as someone who drapes their body with "hunks of worthless 9 carat gold crap".
Britain's "chavs" -- new slang for the urban underclass -- and their "bling-bling" and hip-hop U.S. cousins buy high-fashion brands of clothes but bargain basement pendants and rings.
This is putting off the traditional -- and wealthy -- gold buyer, according to Cross.
Some might call this snobbery but there are signs that demand for gold jewellery, which makes up around 80 percent of annual demand for gold, is waning.
Over the last five years gold "as a proportion of retail expenditure has been losing share", said Philip Olden, managing director of international marketing at the World Gold Council.
In September last year, the Council launched a 10 million pound advertising campaign called "Speak Gold" to address the problem.
While pop fashion icons have only a limited effect on the longer-term price of gold
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 Emerging market jewellery makers like China, Thailand and Turkey are improving design flair and manufacturing to enter markets dominated by Italy, the world's biggest exporter.
"The Asian market is definitely getting better -- high quality jewellery may be the only market for us in the future but we are still innovating," Fabrizio Filippi, CEO of Superoro, a major Italian jewellery maker said at the Vicenza jewellery trade and gem fair.
Global jewellery fabrication, by far the biggest component of bullion use, rose by four percent in 2004, according to figures released last week by consultancy GFMS, with India, Turkey and China accounting for much of the increase.
Asian companies displaying at the fair said they could now hold their own against Italian jewellery makers, who experienced an up-and-down export year in 2004.
Feyza Celik, area manager with major Turkey-based jewellery group Goldas said the company's market share was growing in Europe, Asia and the United States.
"We have our own creative design department. We can definitely compete with the Italians on manufactured gold jewellery, it's not a problem," he said. (Reuters) added by Levent OZLER
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 The Italian designer Giorgio Armani, who revolutionised women's fashion 30 years ago with the introduction of soft tailored beige suiting for the career wardrobe, is staging another revolution in Paris today.
At an age when other business tycoons have long retired to their yacht or palazzo in Tuscany, the 70 year old Armani is making his debut as a couturier with the opening show in the French haute couture season this morning.
In typically autocratic style, Armani, who is the head of a $2billion lifestyle empire, is doing it his way.
Brushing aside convention in this historic, and historically expensive, French industry established in 1868, he is staging his first haute couture show with the emphasis on accessibility and a price list attached.
Where other couturiers blush or feign selective hearing when asked how much one of their one-off creations costs, on the basis of if you have to ask, you can't afford it, Armani has nothing to hide.
His haute couture collection of evening wear, for spring/summer 2005, will be priced between £12,800 and £46,500 - probably around the lower-to-mid reaches of a Chanel suit or Christian Dior cocktail dress, with three fittings.
"The rules of couture have changed. This is the modern side of French haute couture. And I'm modern," Armani said yesterday, as he
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 Actress Jennifer Lopez will unveil her latest fashion range on cable network MTV.
Lopez, who recently revealed plans to embark on her first ever fashion show - will promote her clothing line J.Lo By Jennifer Lopez's autumn range on the catwalk, and invite MTV cameras to film the event for a special broadcast.
Jennifer Lopez: Beyond The Runway, set to air on February 24, will follow the superstar as she runs her clothing company and juggles her other career duties as her show at Olympus Fashion Week approaches.
She says in a statement: "I've had a passion for fashion for so long. I am that girl who comes from the street, who comes from the Bronx, but has travelled the world and can bring all of those glamorous qualities, so it 's like a sexy street glamour." added by Levent OZLER
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