Good morning, my darlings!
My sister is married and enjoying her glamorous Italian honeymoon and I am returned from my dreamily relaxed beach vacay with Mr. DitL. It was a very exciting and successful July for all.
Now it is time to get back to business! I promised you more Las Vegas jewelry trade show photos and I intend to deliver.
Hello, lovers.
I met these word-endingly incredible earrings at Fred Leighton, of course. Who else could offer such a treasure? The diamonds are 20 carats EACH and are accentuated by one row each of delicate, dancing diamond briolettes.
It’s hard for anything to follow THOSE babies, but this sapphire and diamond stunner from Omi Prive is still pretty hard to resist.
It’s such a glorious blend of classic (the giant sapphire) and unexpected (that sexy, unexpected halo and those wicked sapphire studded corner prongs. This is the kind of subtle, mind-blowing exquisiteness that I’ve learned to expect from Omi…alongside world class stones, of course.
Props also to Omi for giving me the best scotch I had in Vegas…I’m not going to forget that glass of Hibiki 17 year anytime soon.
Glorious opal rings by Wwake! The delicate, dainty aesthetic is the classic Wwake look, while the large-but-minimalist opal ring is one of their newest pieces. I love both, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Couture show chatting with Wwake designer Wing Yau, who I had a lovely unplanned lunch with.
Wwake is a brand that is special to me because I got to know them as a consumer first and a blogger second. The lovely Mr. DitL bought me a pair of their earrings a few years ago for my birthday and they immediately became one of my most frequently worn pieces.
They’re so pretty and versatile, especially for multi-stud earring looks. If you ever watch my jewels of the day Instastories, you’ve seen them.
These Suzanne Kalan diamond chokers are almost unbelievably luxe. They’re each one of a kind and all diamonds: white diamonds and colored diamonds. One’s pure yellow, the rest are a mix of yellow and colors.
These take my breath away utterly. It’s a stack of four separate pieces, by the way, not a massive quadruple choker. But they’re each extremely impressive individually: if you know much about jewelry, you know how opulent it is to have this many colored diamonds together on one piece.
I have to confess: I personally do not wear chokers. I can’t stand the feeling of something that high on my neck – it makes me feel like I’m being actually choked. I don’t wear turtlenecks either. You’ll have to wear all the pretty chokers for me!
Oh hello, glorious wearable rainbow explosions! I love these rings. Do you see the way that lighter colored gemstones are used to create an ombre effect out from the center stones to the outer diamond halo?
These irresistible rings are by Robinson Pelham, a new-to-be brand that I accidentally discovered at the Couture jewelry trade show thanks to the fortuitous fact that someone I was supposed to meet happened to be standing in front of their booth.
Robinson Pelham offers a range of whimsical, joyful designs, all of which emanate this kind of exuberance. They offer a great mix of statement pieces like these and smaller, more everyday designs. I look forward to getting to know this brand better.
I’m so excited to have seen little h’s new collection in person! You already know I love her classic designs (full post on her here) and it’s a delight seeing a designer with such a distinctive style evolve in a way that is both fresh and true to what I love about her work.
These stunning earrings feature lapis lazuli and 22k gold beads set inside a sliced open pearl. Striking and beautiful! The pendants in this style were fantastic too, but I had a harder time photographing those. That’s always part of the jewelry trade show adventure – meeting beautiful jewelry and then desperately struggling to document it.
One of these Jamie Joseph rings is my own personal piece, which I just happened to be wearing when I saw the designer and this fresh crop of beauties at the Couture jewelry trade show. These beauties all exhibit Jamie Joseph’s signature style of remarkable stones in simple settings.
Who else loves watermelon and bicolor tourmaline?? Besides me, of course.
The 2018 Las Vegas jewelry trade show week was a banner year for me encountering Diamonds of Unusual Size (DOUS). This baby was at Rahaminov Diamonds and I remain head over heels in love with it.
This ridiculously beautiful stone is a 25 carat old mine cut diamond, which is so unusual and utterly irresistible. I would have expected this monster diamond (DOUS) to be in a very simple setting, but I love love love the detail that Rahaminov has added on the side to both accentuate and enhance the diamond’s delicate color.
An explosion of color!! These babies are by Suzanne Kalan, if you didn’t recognize her signature baguette style.
I LOVE these bracelets. They’re so joyful and exuberant. I am a big fan of the idea that fine jewelry doesn’t need to be staid and sedate: gemstones are capable of spectacular feats of color and I love seeing a designer take full advantage of that fact. If I had the pleasure of owning one of these, I’d treat it as a neutral.
Some Omi Prive opals! That feels like an excessively casual way to introduce these rings, but really these speak for themselves.
I love how different each of these are. Opals truly are magical.
I know my fellow Georgian jewelry enthusiasts will like this one!
This is an Eye Love necklace by Anakaterina with rubies and a masterfully carved eye cameo. It’s like the modern version of a Georgian Lover’s Eye piece! I adore it. It’s so romantic and interesting and I’m super into the historical connection.
A closer look. That cameo is truly incredible, isn’t it?
Lika Behar’s yellow gold snake rings! When I saw Lika at JCK she ran up and hugged me and then handed over her snake rings. She understands me.
I’m wearing these sexy serpents alongside a Kimberly Collins Colored Gems tourmaline ring from my own collection and I’m super into the combo.
In this photo, I’ve stacked a whoooole pile of gorgeous Sylvie Collection bands with my own wedding set. I LOVE how the sapphires compliment my own Art Deco era engagement ring and Erika Winters wedding band. I may need to add some blue sapphire the next time I make an addition to my wedding stack.
These Sylvie Collection bands are as good for everyday styling as they are as wedding jewelry; they’d look good on every finger, solo or stacked.
Can you guess the designer of these rings? I bet if you’re familiar with her work, you already have.
These babies are iconic Erica Courtney, showing all of the designer’s passion for lavish, luscious opulence and killer gemstones. I couldn’t decide which one I loved the most. It’s a very hard call.
How pretty is this amethyst and diamond wedding set by Kirk Kara?
I’ve been aware of Kirk Kara for a while, but this jewelry trade show was the first time I actually handled their designs in person and I was thoroughly impressed. This brand truly understands how to adapt classic aesthetic principles for a modern consumer. And – bonus! – the designer’s daughters recently took the helm of Kirk Kara, so this is now one of the few women-run bridal brands around.
I love these rings by Karma El Khalil!
Diamonds, black diamonds, and colorful sapphires in gold. Aren’t the shapes cool?
And that’s all I’ve got! I hope you’ve enjoyed this behind the scenes tour of the spectacular designs from Las Vegas jewelry trade show week. Major thanks to all of the lovely designers and brands who allowed me to photograph and fondle their treasures. Keep an eye on my IG for videos of these beauties!
If you want to see more Las Vegas jewelry trade show photos, please visit the first half of this recap here or the whole archive of Vegas jewelry trade show posts here.
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Ooh. OOH. Give me a moment to wipe the drool off of my chin.
Okay, consider it wiped.
Where to start? There are so many drop-dead gorgeous pieces (lions and tigers and bears, oh my!). Oh, hang it, let’s go backwards.
Those Karma El Khalil pieces are swoon-worthy all by themselves. Innovative, artistic, bold, unapologetic–I would be proud to own one, let alone the four on display. And I like the rings from Erica Courtney as well, with their abstract geometry reminiscent of Moorish architecture from fifteenth-century Spain, the luscious cushion cut amethyst and aquamarine, the channel set diamonds perching on the curlicues–oh! Heaven. I agree with you on the tourmaline (I like the idea of violet tourmaline myself–shh!), and the simple bezel setting makes the Jamie Joseph rings a joy to behold.
Diamond chokers by Suzanne Kalan? Send them my way: Lord knows my neck is long enough for it. (And give me all your turtlenecks–I feel every wind that blows in the colder months.)
Last but not least, I found myself eyeballing the sapphire-and-diamond stunner from Omi Prive. Love, love, love the choice of an emerald cut stone; you don’t often see that with sapphires. Then there’s the baguette cut diamonds in a halo setting and the big fat prongs encrusted with pave set sapphires. I’m not normally a fan of the prong setting, but this one is so exquisite I may yet change my mind. And the baguette cut stones! It’s enough to send me into the best tizzy and fire up the glitter obsessed pack-rat part of my mind that wants similar things (but in different colors, of course). I thought I’d wiped the drool off of my chin at the start of this, but I am fast reassessing that conclusion.
Great post!
Yay, a Jaenice comment!! I love Jaenice comments.
It was such a good Vegas for jewels, wasn’t it?? Karma’s collections always slay me. And I love that the Erica Courtney rings make you think of 15th Century Moorish Spainish architecture, because I totally see that in them too! I love that aesthetic and she does such a good job of making it feel fresh and ultraglam.
The Omi Prive sapphire ring made me swoon, too. It’s exactly like you said: the slightly unusual, piercingly glamorous choices of the design combined with the unassailable quality of the stones is just something else.
Thank you for enjoying this as much as I did!!!
Blush, blush. blush, blush. I’m happy to know you appreciated my comment!
I can see why Karma’s collections bowl people over–yowzah! And you’re right, Erica Courtney does have a way of making that 15th century Moorish Spanish flavor feel fresh, ultraglam, and clean.
The Omi Prive ring is delicious! To be sure, the combination of stones is old-school glamour all the way, but it strikes the observer as contemporary, fashion-forward, a shade more daring than anything worn by most present day public figures. And what with the new freedom of choice as far as rings are concerned, it could be worn as an everyday ring, a cocktail ring, or an engagement ring. Again, the nontraditional feel is what lends the ring to so many uses and occasions. (I’ll be right back as soon as I finish fanning myself.)
good heavens, that ginormous old diamond!
i think my favourites are the omi prive opal rings and the robinson pelham ombre ones. you know, as if one had to choose…
It’s always fun to try to choose!! Those are some of my favorites also.