Dress for the position you aspire to have. I have both heard and given this advice many times over the years---on the receiving end first as a student and then as a young lawyer working for a large law firm; on the giving end, as a professional image consultant.

Today, among my favorite networking activities is participation in a weekly neighborhood networking meeting over morning coffee. The meeting is relaxed but structured to the extent that all attendees, both job seekers and entrepreneurs, have the opportunity to share their latest challenges and triumphs, and to obtain suggestions, leads and ideas from their colleagues. 

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For the upcoming holiday season, much of the attention is going to be on woman’s crowning glory, her hair, according to the December 2008 issue of Marie Claire magazine, which reports: “Holiday is all about glam accessories for deliberately disheveled hair.”

Among the recommended adornments are crystal studded headbands, bejeweled barrettes and hair clips, and elaborate combs. Notice the comb pinned next to a narrow scarf running through the hair in the following photo. The comb could just as easily be an interesting brooch. 

    

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At a customer workshop I presented at a retail jewelry store last week, an interesting mix of professions were represented. One of the attendees was a professional pianist, a tall, elegant woman who explained to the group her very specific jewelry needs.

I used to be a bit of a pianist in my youth. I studied classical piano, and for fun, played for the high school musicals, accompanied students at their recitals, and even provided rehearsal music for a ballet academy. My piano career culminated in my own piano recital my senior year of high school. While I learned the pitfalls of wearing platform sandals during a performance (platform shoes and piano pedals are not a good combination), I was very much enamored of wearing rings and bracelets that sparkled on my fingers ...Read More

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Add-on purchases can give customers the confidence that they are increasing or maintaining the value of other items they are purchasing or already own. When the add-on is itself a piece of jewelry, versatility is often the rationale for, and the joy in, the purchase. With some glimmerings of a trend-setting return to matched suites, after years of matchy-matchy being almost universally a no-no, many a savvy customer may want to purchase more than one item in a collection.

Earrings are an obvious add-on purchase that can finish an ensemble, but think beyond earrings for some interesting possibilities.

I recently watched a jewelry designer offer a bracelet to match the customer’s selected neckl...Read More

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As I write this on Election Day, 2008, the results of a historical presidential election are being tallied, and the American people have voted in record-breaking numbers. It’s an emotional day for many, many people, and so what better topic for such a day than a focus on emotions.

It is said that jewelry is an emotional purchase. At times, emotion is inevitable because the jewelry relates to a very special occasion in one’s life, most notably the beginning of a marriage. At other times, emotions come into play simply because the jewelry is inherently so beautiful. I was told by a talented jewelry designer friend that I was literally whimpering when I saw the exquisite pieces in her collection. And there can be a sense of joy when one is able to commemorate a speci...Read More

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Soon, the United States will have a new First Lady, who will bring her fresh new influence on fashion, including, of course, an influence on preferred styles of jewelry.

While pearls have long been a mainstay of professional dress in the political world, brooches have come into prominence during the 2008 campaigns. Both presidential candidates’ wives have worn brooches prominently as part of their style statements. 

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Makeovers are in the news more than ever, with plenty of press coverage of the reported $150,000 spent on vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin for clothing and other accoutrements of style for her campaign. As Eric Wilson wrote for the New York Times, while Palin’s labels may have changed, her look remained the same, noting, “looking at the before-and-after photos, it was not readily apparent what Ms. Palin got, exactly, from her shopping spree at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue,” rather retaining “a ‘Working Girl’ formula of authoritative jackets paired with feminine skirts that seem calculated to suggest that she is ready to go to work on Day 1.”

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New styles of wearing jewelry are well worth elaborating upon in discussion, as they provide new ideas for adornment that may translate into new opportunities for helping your customers look cutting-edge chic.

I previously shared with you a styling from a Neiman Marcus catalog and the text from an article in the October 2008 issue of Harper’s Bazaar touting this fresh idea of jewelry worn with coats. Lest you think that the one Burberry Prorsum photo I posted back on October 6 is a fluke, let me share with you several additional images of this creative wearing of necklaces.

The fir...Read More

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From time to time, I come across a photo of an individual styled so beautifully with jewelry that the photo deserves comment and another admiring look. I was struck by this photo of actress Valerie Bertinelli, modeling at the St. Jude’s Runway for Life benefit in Beverly Hills earlier this month.

Bertinelli is stunning in a short, strapless Robert Ellis dress of ruched silk in a rich shade of brown with a ruffled hem a...Read More

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This past Sunday, I participated in a holiday bazaar that was a fundraiser for Working Wardrobes, a nonprofit organization that has been helped over 40,000 at-risk women and men re-enter the workforce in Southern California since 1990. On behalf of the Designing Women South Bay Guild of Working Wardrobes founded in 2006, I’m always requesting from friends and colleagues their donation of gently worn business apparel. This was the Guild’s first holiday bazaar, and I put on my jewelry aficionado hat and set up my tables to sell copies of Jewelry Savvy (of course), along with selections from my collection of vintage costume jewelry, with a portion of the proceeds to benefit Working Wardrobes.

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The October 2008 issue of Marie Claire magazine features a variety of the updated fall styles in pants. Some of the latest details are high waists, big cuffs, sailor buttons and pleats. These styles “assume mythic proportions,” says the magazine; clearly they are more pant than we’ve been used to seeing the last several years.

Three of the four styles of pant shown in the magazine, including both of the noticeably high-waisted styles, are accessorized with big, chunky, complex and very interesting statement necklaces worn over tight white tops. The necklaces add balance to the ensembles, so that the narrow, close to the body silhouette of the tops do not make the lower portions of the body look disproportionately large.

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Two distinct but related trends in hair styles warm the heart of every jewelry designer who has seen his or her earrings hidden under the Victoria Beckham angled bobs and Sarah Jessica Parker long tousled waves that have been popular over the last several years. The trend: styling the hair back off the face. Yes, there are ears there, newly visible, and they practically cry out for adornment.

 
              

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