Here are some hot jewelry design tips for Spring 2009 – courtesy of Anne Rush, a professional designer and director in the fashion jewelry industry:
Spring 2009 is in the air.
So for all of you who are extremely busy with your own home jewellery businesses I thought some hints on the key trends might be helpful.
As always we must begin with color. There are three important color stories for the season.
The first is black and white.
The new take for this graphic combo is floral. Pretty all over large flowers. What’s really fresh for black and white is taking it in a less slick direction and adding a more textural attitude.
I believe using fabric wrapped beads, printed ceramic, and glass beads from India that are imperfect is a great way to achieve a crisp but natural look for this palette.
Coral and yellow is the warm palette this spring/summer. Look to the continent of India for inspiration.
Use patterned beaded and etched metals to complement your colors. Antique finished on metal, and rose gold platings can really make this theme a bit more directional.
Amazonite greens and translucent turquoise look great for a cool spring palette.
Try mixing matte and shiny beads for a beachy feeling. Touches of raffia for texture make a nice contrast, and using a brown or natural material to ground the colors is a new way to do blue.
Silhouettes that are the newest are Indian inspired frontal necks with cord to the back, and chunky frontal bead necks inspired by Dries Van Noten’s runway show. Be sure to take a look on www.annerush.com where I posted the best photos in my Savvy Gallery.
Great earrings are going to be the key item for spring. Casual, light weight, colourful chandelier earrings will definitely take the spotlight.
Some of my favorite designers to be inspired by for spring are Ralph Lauren, Donna Karen, and Vera Wang. See their runway shows on www.style.com.
Some key materials that are on the rise are
- seed beads
- chunky wooden beads
- mixed color threads
- printed and painted shell
- worn finished metals.
Good luck with designing your own jewelry collections, and don’t forget to stop in for more inspiration at Anne Rush.
Anne Rush is currently directing the Jennifer Lopez jewelry line, as well as private label brands at Macys. She is employed by Haskell Jewels in New York City.
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1. Rena, your newsletters in my inbox makes an okay day great. Always informative and not too much info to take in each time.
2. Cheap Photo Tip: I have been struggling to get an ultra cheap photo box that does the job and is easily moved and stored. Well, a blinding flash of inspiration nearly drove me off the road yesterday. Take a lampshade, the gauze-y white chiffon type, and plop it over your thing being photographed. Adjust your camera to avoid the wire supports at the top and, Bob’s your uncle, you have your cheap, easily moved picture booth. When you are finished with your camera just return the shade to its lamp and it is put away in plain sight.
Helene,
What a lovely thing to say! That really means a lot to me.
Great photo box tip – especially for folks in small homes (like me) who don’t have space for bulky items that don’t get used every day.
Also, I always love things that serve more than one purpose.
Depending on the lampshade, you might also be able to use the wire supports at the top of the lampshade to actually hold your camera, lens pointed down toward your jewelry, like a built-in tripod.
(Similar to how the Cloud Dome photo box works.)
Thanks so much for sharing your brainstorm, Helene!
And I’m glad you stayed on the road and are still with us.
Rena
I love getting your newsletter, there is always so much to read and learn. However my question is, my husband takes all the pictures for the website. He has invested in cameras, lights. tripod’s and more and yet he still feels he can not get a true picture of the colors of the jewelry. Anyone will to share some ideas , it would be helpful. I have bought your books on all there is to know in selling jewlery and marketing it. But the pictures just are not the right colors.
Thank you Sharon
Hi Sharon,
Thanks so much for your kind feedback!
Regarding the colors in your jewelry photos – do you and your husband use a photo editing program, to crop and edit your digital photos?
I think you can do all the color adjustment you need with a photo editor. I use PaintShop Pro to edit my photos, and another popular (but expensive) one is PhotoShop.
There are also several free online photo editors (which I haven’t used, but have heard good things about) – Gimp, Picasa, and Photoscape.
In your photo editor, experiment with the color, saturation, contrast, and color balance settings. I bet you’ll find you can quickly adjust the colors in your photos so they more accurately show what your jewelry looks like.
Hope this helps, and good luck!
Rena
I prefer to use natural sunlight in my photos. I’m pleased with the results.
I love your blog. This is my first comment ever. I bought a few vibrant glass bead pieces from bidz.com. They don’t have a lot of trendy stuff but you can find some staple pieces and also things that will make people go “wow, it is spring!”. Well, that is my little secret where I buy jewelry. Hope everyone has a great week!
I am loving your blog and as a hobby, I working at home making beaded necklaces and this site really helps with different tips, so I would like to thank you.