The cream of jewellery designers in the world has a new trend ruling its heart. The trend deeply associates with the new image of women that has evolved in the last few years. This trend is the one to look out for as it shows no signs of slowing down or vanishing in the nearest time. Let us try to understand the intricacies of this new surge.
A trend that ruled most of the runways in 2019 was that of coloured jewellery. And why should it not? The modern woman is independent, confident, and compassionate; she is multi-faceted and complicated — each of her oddities forms a colour for her gaudy personality. Then it makes sense for her jewellery and her outfits to also reflect her true self. So, get ready for an explosion of colours in the upcoming collections of jewellery as the colourful shades of the new woman demand a kaleidoscopic collection of jewellery and apparel. Gold and silver jewellery are the things of the past now. From floral, beaded pieces and multiple coloured gemstones, to a variety of colourful metallic textures in the jewellery — the trend of vibrant colours is here and has been forecast to stay for a long time.
Currently, the ‘trend winds’ are flowing towards raw, unstructured and also multi-coloured gemstones in a single piece of jewellery. Be it a small, dainty hoop or a multi-layered necklace — gemstones are adorning most of the trending pieces in the market. Ace designers like Marc Jacobs, Ulla Johnson, Anna Sui, and Brandon Maxwell are among the designers who have experimented with the maximum number of colours in their latest jewellery creations for Spring 2020. Opals are the gemstones that have been especially trending in recent time. The unique reflection in the gemstone comes from the structure of an opal that contains lots of little spheres that split the light as it hits the stone into all the different colours we see.
According to Ernest Jones, a popular British jeweller and watchmaker, gemstones are a deeply personal choice that reflect the facets of your personality and still remain to be in-trend. Each gemstone is associated with a story.
The global woman today is also nomadic. She is willing to move and is accepting of changes that instigate her to live differently. Each colour renders meaning to each aspect of her personality. She is green as she symbolises life and growth. So emeralds then form a shade for renewing, life-giving and lively peculiarities. Emeralds’ history is closely connected to that of ancient Egypt as Cleopatra adorned herself blingy in these gemstones. Their rich, cool green tone also played off against Elizabeth Taylor’s violet eyes in the 1960s when the gemstone won people’s hearts again. Emerald, by nature, is the most calming of all the gemstones because of its colour. It encourages growth, reflection, peace and balance and also becomes associated with healing and fertility. The verdant tones reflected in the jewel are tempered by a cool blue too, which symbolise a steadfast bond. There is also a thing called green gold, which also constitutes to green luxury jewellery market for women. Green gold is exactly like yellow gold, except copper is left out of the alloy. Sometimes jewellery in other metal is painted in green colour as well to whip out dainty and modern-minimalist piece of jewellery.
The woman today is also courageous, passionate, and sexually empowered to have sexual demands of her own. Then, red becomes her colour. Red is the colour of extremes. It is the colour of passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, and adventure. Our prehistoric ancestors saw red as the colour of fire and blood – energy and primal life forces – and most of red’s symbolism today arises from its powerful associations in the past. We often find that women particularly get attracted to rubies. Historically, ruby’s blood-like colour encouraged strong associations with this life-sustaining fluid. Those who risked their lives were believed to have a special connection to the gem. The ancient Burmese prized the ruby as the stone of soldiers. Also, then arises the association of ruby with success. Hence, rubies rule the heart of women and light them with inner passion.
Blue is the shade of the woman who is smart, confident, and carries herself with utmost grace and charm. The blue shade of personality arises owing to the blue’s depth and balance. The colour is also a cool and calming one that exhibits creativity and intelligence. Also popular among gigantic multinationals, hospitals and airlines as the colour of their walls, logos and accessories, it is a colour that symbolises loyalty, strength, wisdom and trust. Another significance includes the colour having a calming effect on the psyche for its associations with the sky and the water bodies.
Hence, sapphires rule hearts. The royal sapphire with its mesmerising deep-blue hue, that occupies a unique role in the imagination of kings and emperors, fortune-hunters and fortune-tellers, romantic lovers and new-age healers, is among the favourite gemstones. Blue sapphire is regarded as a stone of mental focus and order, inner vision and psychic awareness. This is the balance that the women of the modern world strike.
The colour that has also been popularly associated with women is the pink colour. Pink represents compassion, nourishment and love. It is deeply linked with unconditional attitude in love and understanding. A combination of red and white, pink contains the need for action of red, helping it to achieve the potential for success and insight offered by white. It is thus, delicate yet strong, compassionate yet fierce, truly symbolic of the women who strike the perfect balance in everyday life.
Morganite with its clear, peach-pink innocence embodies the first pale rays of sunrise that swell the heart and warm the soul, releasing a sense of smallness in a vast universe and opening to the overwhelming presence of a higher power. This is a crystal of divine love. It brings healing, compassion, assurance and promise.
In India, colours and jewellery have been historically and culturally linked to establishing meaning for its adorner. India has been known to house various kinds of jewellery arts, ranging from meenakari and kundan to stone and beadwork. The craft of cutting and polishing precious and semi-precious stones and giving them glamorous face is something artistic that Indian has proudly associated with. Therefore, in India, not only the modern woman but the ancient woman has been a woman of colours.
In India, mystical importance has been also placed on navratna jewellery. This kind of bijouterie is made up of nine gemstones, each representative of the nine planets of the solar system. Then, it won’t be wrong to call India as the ‘OG’ of coloured jewellery around the globe.
The colours of a woman are the colours of her heart and soul, each embodying her true spirit. Thus, each of the gemstones and each of the coloured metals associated with her spirit must beautifully carve grace and beauty. Latest collections by Gucci, Chanel, Harry Winston, and Cartier among others have beautifully incorporated coloured stones and coloured hues in their jewellery, from small lockets to over the top necklaces. Brands like ‘We Dream In Colour’ are especially dedicated to designing jewellery that is modern and colourful in every way possible. Therefore, it would not be wrong to say that the new age and new fashion is going by and growing with the poly-chromatic woman who is a pioneer of change.
