The World’s Biggest Designer Jewelry Show Is Coming to Vegas. Here Are 5 Trends to Watch.
The Couture show, the biggest and most important jewelry design event of the year, opens next week at the Wynn in Las Vegas.
Although the show is trade-only, the designers who are debuting collections there — from big-name brands such as Buccellati and Roberto Coin, to independents such as Van Robot in Rome and Mumbai-based Studio Renn — help determine the trends that will shape the fine jewelry market over the year to come.
This year, a cohort of six emerging BIPOC designers known as Luminaries will exhibit at Couture. The show will also feature a greater focus on responsible sourcing, with at least two exhibiting designers, Emily P. Wheeler and Satta Matturi, showcasing collections in Single Mine Origin (SMO) Gold, an industry standard created by Betts Refining in Birmingham, England, in 2018 to offer traceability solutions between large-scale gold mines and the jewelry market.
As creative inspirations go, expect a big focus on sculptural, all-gold designs; lots (and lots) of color; and plenty of rainbow-themed statement-making pieces. Below, we offer a snapshot of some of the big trends destined to hit big at the 2024 event.
Cosmic Motifs
Jewelers have taken inspiration from the cosmos for eons, using gold and diamonds to render stars, crescent moons and other celestial objects. This year features an extra dose of cosmic love.
At Couture, Lauren Harwell Godfrey is introducing her new Supernova collection, “a celebration of the magic in the universe,” according to the San Francisco Bay Area designer. The line, which includes a cocktail ring centered on a 10-carat rubellite with tiny gold stars decorating the side of the basket, is heavy on “talismans that invoke kismet and good vibes,” she says.
Stars also appear in Future Fortune’s new Cosmos collection, an ode to “the mysteries of the cosmos, the ethereal beauty of galaxies, and the infinity of outer space,” according to Los Angeles-based designer Jessica Olds, as well as in Buddha Mama’s new series of one-of-a-kind talisman pendants, like the amethyst and diamond star that accents the 20k yellow and enamel necklace seen below.
The cosmic theme even plays out subtly in the new Lot N*91 collection from L’Atelier Nawbar, a Beirut-based brand showing at Couture. The line draws on sisters Tania and Dima Nawbar’s memories of growing up in the late 1980s and ’90s. While their theme is nostalgia for the TV shows of their youth, such as Dynasty, their use of cabochon gems, like the yellow topaz at the center of the pendant below, evokes the look of a blazing sun.
Collars and Torque Necklaces
Necklace silhouettes change over the years, from ribbon-like choker styles that sit high and tight on the neck to hip-dusting opera-length chains, originally designed to be worn with formalwear.
This year, the reigning necklace style is the collar, which derives its name from where it sits on the neck, higher than most necklaces, but not quite as high as a choker. Check out new examples from NYC-based Melissa Kaye and the Greek brand Lito below.
One sub-category of collars is especially hot at the moment: torque necklaces, referring to large rigid neck rings occasionally studded with stones (such as the citrine boulders that decorate the Charis collar from the Greek brand Lalaounis featured above) or strung with dramatic pendants.
For two beguiling examples of the latter form, look to the stunning round slice of rutilated quartz that hangs from a golden torque in Jade Ruzzo’s new Pop collection, a tribute to the era of boy bands and teen pop divas, and the seven gemstone charms that line the collar in Jenna Blake’s new Morse Code collection, which allows you to create custom messages, like a loved one’s name or sentiment, in diamonds and colored stones. (The pieces come with a code breaking guide for easy translation.)
Sculptural Gold
With the price of gold hovering at record highs, one would expect designers to opt out of metal-forward styles, but instead, they’ve leaned in. Sculptural, metal-only designs, sans stones, will be all over the show, as the pieces featured below — by designers as varied as Eva Fehren, Renato Cipullo, Marie Lichtenberg, and Fie Isolde — make clear.
Multicolor Statement Styles
One thing you can expect from the Couture collections this year (and every year) is an explosion of color. And not just one color (although green and pink are safe bets), but all colors, combined for maximum chromatic impact.
Emily P. Wheeler, for example, has infused her new Southwest collection, a reflection on the landscape surrounding the Grand Canyon, where she and her family road tripped when she was young, with combinations of turquoise, ochre-colored sapphires, emeralds and other gems.
Vicenza, Italy-based Marco Bicego and L.A.-based Retrouvaí have taken a similar approach to their most opulent statement pieces, such as the former’s Africa cocktail ring, a veritable bouquet of colorful briolettes, and the latter’s major bezel-set gemstone necklace featuring practically every color under the sun.
White Magic
There is no doubt that yellow gold dominates the designer jewelry category. But there are signs that the market is shifting to accommodate more white metal styles, whether in white gold or platinum, which is especially attractive given its more favorable pricing (and gold’s soaring cost).
Couture newcomer Alice Herald, a Wanaka, New Zealand-based designer, is showing a fantastic collar necklace (see above) from her Dreamer series in 18k white gold, while Couture veterans Jade Trau and Tabayer are also bringing new styles in a more modern-feeling white-on-white palette.
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