The fashionable diamond is both casual and smart
By Parvathi Nayar Narayan
JAKARTA (JP): This just in from the fashion brokers: it's no longer gauche to wear diamonds with blue jeans. It's chic.
The De Beers Diamond Information Centre and GoldMart Jewelry are adding new designs to their collection, Diamonds for the Modern Woman, which pioneered the concept of simple, wearable diamond jewelry two years ago in Jakarta. These new styles for diamond earrings, pendants and rings, all set in gold, debuted at a recent fashion show at the Grand Hyatt Jakarta.
One new family within this collection is known as Diamonds and Blue Jeans, proving that diamonds are not only for formal occasions. Models showed how the sparkling gems can be casual or playful or smart. One model demonstrated how diamonds make one's Dolce & Gabbana Jeans even more chic.
The Diamonds and Blue Jeans collection features the simplest jewelry designs, always a single stone, accented by a tiny swirl or stick of gold. Though very small, these settings display the diamonds with elegance.
Another part of the collection was called Diamonds and Batik, and was shown with clothes styled by Kisoon Harto. While these designs were more complex, they were not fussy. Particularly nice pieces were those with tiny circlets of diamonds, often heart shaped, and drop solitaires that often sparkled in the light.
The last part of the collection, Diamonds and Velvet, was displayed with black velvet from designer Donna Karan. Some featured diamond studded crosses, again with sparkling drop solitaires, reminiscent of Paloma Picasso's 'X Pendants' for Tiffany's. One elaborate pair of earrings simulated a twisted coil of rope set with a row of diamonds graduated in size.
The collection is not large, but what it lacks of range it makes up for in elegance. These new, simple designs are aimed at women between the ages of 18 and 35, and can be worn by anyone heading to the boardroom, or a discotheque, or riding a motorbike. Glamorous gals like Cindy Crawford and Sharon Stone enjoy wearing a diamond solitaire.
The stones in the Diamonds and the Modern Woman collection are all between 20 and 40 points in size (one carat is a 100 points), and range in price from Rp 500,000 to Rp 3,500,000.
Nanny Budiman, manager of Diamond Information Center in Jakarta, which is maintained by De Beers, the world's largest diamond retailer, believes that the prices are within the reach of many Jakarta consumers. Diamond jewelry prices in Jakarta are competitive, and possibly even cheaper, than in overseas markets.