Glitz and Glamour of Celebrities in 2011

From all the red carpet events of 2011, celebrities were constantly rocking the gemstone-jewelry look, using the colour of the gemstones to bring out their outfit, make-up, hair and eyes. Gemstones are definitely one of the most underestimated fashionable jewelry additions. From earrings, bracelets, necklaces and brooches, gemstones have a way of adding a touch of life to every celebrity. Whether the gemstones are worn simply or worn over-the-top, all eyes are on the gemstone(s) the second a celebrity walks onto the red carpet. Check out these famous and glamorous stars wearing their gemstone jewelry with pride. Even the most famous, can’t resist a gemstone or two.

Here we have Jane Lynch, famous for her role as Sue Sylvester in the hit TV comedy show, Glee, who also hosed the Emmy awards back in September, wearing multi-gemstones on her large diamond-shaped dangled earring: hint of Emeralds, Rubies, Diamonds, Amethyst & some Garnet.

Sophia Vergara, made famous by the popular family comedy show, Modern Family, went crazy for emeralds, as she gallavanted around in these chandelier emerald earrings, showing how eye-catching green can really be.

Megan Fox also seems to love the dangly single-emerald earrings, as she showed these off on her red carpet walk at the Golden Globe Awards. Not only did they add a simple elegance to her outfit, but the green emeralds also happened to accentuate her blue coloured eyes as well.

Minka Kelly, first made popular in her side-by-side casting with Leighton Meester in The Roomate, sported garnet-stoned, small dangled stud earrings, to bring out her baby doll brown eyes at the red carpet event she attended.

Scarlett Johanssen at the Oscars, wearing ruby red stud earrings and ruby red gemstone ring, to bring out her dark pink coloured outfit and her extra eye-popping make-up.

Lea Michele went with an extravagant gem-studded bracelet piece at the Grammy’s. It was a parrot shaped bracelet, studded with black diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

Nicole Kidman also went with the gemstone-look, as she wore her emerald triple tear-drop shaped gold earrings to the Grammy awards earlier this year. Not only a fashionabe compliment to her blue-coloured eyes, but also accentuated her reddish blonde locks.

Celine Dion’s jewelry to the Oscars this year was a yellow-gold necklace that featured diamonds along the chain and emeralds and a green stone in a patterned form to hang from the chain. Not only a beautifully combined jewelry piece, but altogether with her outfit and look, she dazzled as a masterpiece.

Reese Witherspoon also seems to be a fan of the emerald earrings as she wore 2 bright green dangling emerald earrings on each ear at the Oscars. This piece mixed with her smile, was a photogenic artpiece.

Amy Adams decided to go emerald with her jewelry too as she opted for a diamond and emerald necklace at the Oscars to match her light-coloured eyes. Not only did her jewelry sparkle, but so did her eyes.

The most popular gemstone by far from these red carpet events, is the Emerald. Eye-catching and flattering for almost all skin tones and hair tones, celebrities have found this gemstone to be the colour of the year. For sure this trend will continue to grow, as the Emerald colour mixed into jewelry, becomes timeless pieces.

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus…

Years before, men only used jewelry as a way to show off their financial status rather than using it as an expression of fashion. Now more and more men are breaking away from the common belief that excessive jewelry-wearing or attention to detailed, artsy jewelry, is for women only. Men are landing on Venus…at least in the jewelry world. Men are paying more attention to the details in the jewelry they buy and wear, and are allowing themselves to go bolder with their jewelry. What jewelry are men wearing these days? The six pieces of jewelry that men most often wear are: watches, earrings, rings, cufflinks, necklaces and bracelets.

Watches– Obviously, this piece of jewelry is the most important for men. Just the same way that diamonds’ are a girl’s best friend, watches happen to be best friends for all guys. Watches for guys are much different than for girls. A general rule is the bigger the face of the watch, the manlier the watch looks. The strap of a watch should be thick. With men, watches are usually the flashiest part of the jewelry they wear, so the higher the designer of the watch, the better the watch looks. Swiss, Rolex and Swatch are some of the common watch types that are worn by men.

Earrings– This type of jewelry is kept simple for obvious reasons with most men wearing a diamond stud or just a small hooped earring that wraps around the lobe. Recently, men have begun piercing both of their ears, rather than just one, or piercing one ear with two holes. Perhaps a future trend will be flashier earrings for guys.

Bracelets– What’s been a common type of bracelet in most recent years, are ID bracelets, where the flat part of the bracelet usually contains an engraving. But that’s not the only type of bracelet that men are limited to. Men are wearing plaited leather bands now, giving them an edgier fashion look, and are also wearing the rope patterned bracelets, containing either beads or stones. Most popular type of stones to wear are Rubies (considered the king of stones), Emeralds, Sapphires, Quartz and Amber. The bracelets can also be crystal studded with different layers of bracelets; some can be thicker width than the others.

Necklaces– More and more men are still breaking into this type of jewelry, as they stray away from the more common single-gold or single-silver chains, into fashion necklaces which can be of different materials like rope and can contain masculine-themed pendants. These chains are often kept longer than womens’ necklaces and are often just rough, simple-shaped and simple-patterned chains.

Rings– Often rings are being worn on multiple fingers for guys and are usually heavy looking, with a large circle diameter and the lining on the band being designed innovatively. Usually they wear one stone on the ring, often choosing masculine colours like Red, Green and Blue. Gold and silver are not the only types of metal used in rings now, but commonly men like the titanium and stainless steel rings mixed with one visible diamond/gemstone, or several diamonds/gemstones distributed along the ring.

Cufflinks– Within Hollywood stars, cufflinks are becoming more flashy than watches are as a jewelry accessory. Cufflinks that are popular are fashioned from white gold, diamond and Onyx, sometimes with sapphires too. These are becoming the staple fashion jewelry from men, usually containing the most design and detail and mixing of different metals and gemstones.

Men don’t just have to be simple and single with their jewelry anymore. Multiple jewelry styles and detailing on their jewelry, is becoming very popular. Maybe one day, men and women’s jewelry won’t be so different after all and men and women won’t have to be kept on separate planets.

Top 8 Jewelry Holiday Trends for 2011

This holiday season, everyone seems to be caught up in what’s hot and trendy. Some want to know for holiday gift ideas, while others want to know, to keep themselves updated, fresh and in-style. Jewelry wise, trends are pretty consistent, with only a few straying from the trend into their own jewelry artistic expression. The following list, gives the overall consensus of what jewelry experts consider to be the latest jewelry trends for this 2011 holiday season:

1. mismatched jewelry– A sapphire ring, emerald patterned bracelets and diamond studded earrings, why not? Not a lot of matching this season, as many are daring to escape from the “gold earrings-gold necklace-gold bracelets” matched up pattern trend, into the bold world of mismatched jewelry.

2. big & popping jewelry– From chunky bracelets and bangles, to enlarged cocktail rings, the trend seems to be moving towards a flashy holiday season. Small and simple is out while big and flashy is in.

3. layered jewelry– One necklace and one bracelet, just does not make the cut this holiday season. What seems to be a growing trend, are multiple necklace chains stacked on top of each other and wearing several bracelets and bangles in different combinations.

4. diamond & gemstone brooches– Mostly because this cold winter season has gotten everyone wearing plain sweater cardigans, these brooches need to be colourful and big to make up for the plain outfit. This season diamonds and gemstones (especially sapphire) brooches are selling fast.

5. vintage jewelry– In conjunction with the vintage clothing fashion trend that seems ro be reappearing, vintage jewelry has also reappeared to compliment these outfits.

6. blue jewelry– Sapphires in particular, whether as a ring, as a necklace, or placed into studs, are hot this season. Blue seems to be a complimentary colour to this winter season’s snow and holiday-coloured festivities.

7. teardrop cut jewelry– Teardrop cut jewelry that hangs and dangles like Christamas ornaments, are what’s in this winter. This trend is a way to get into the Christmas spirit while still maintaing a high-sense of fashion.

8. textured jewelry– Nobody wants plain pieces this season. 2011 Holiday Season, is all about the designs and textures of the jewelry and making sure that they pop out in any holiday attire you choose to wear.

Keeping this holiday a bold, retro and colourful season, can be done with the right jewelry trends and the matching clothing outfits to accompany them!

Gem Expressions

Gemstones are not only an artistic expression of one’s fashion taste and love for flattering jewelry, but behind the gemstones’ crystalline structures, are their symbolic representations. A gemstone then, isn’t just another part of jewelery, but comes with it, a meaning that can either be supressed or expressed within the jewelry wearer. If you look at the list, you may be able to match which expression you wish to convey through gemstones:

Garnet: represents constancy; willpower and self-confidence. Said to contain the ability to strengthen one’s heart, control one’s heart rate and regulate blood pressure. Also able to give one career success, bring them luck and make them more passionate.

Amethyst: represents sincerity; protects against extremes of passion. Used for meditation, peace and to heal addictions.

Emerald: represents love & success. Said to have the power to cure backaches and heal one’s eyes. Brings about love and safety during childbirth and other milestones in the wearer’s life.

Pearl, Moonstone: represents health & longevity. Said to be able to heal women by controlling and harmonizing their hormones. Brings about psychic abilities and able to fulfill the wish of the wearer.

Ruby: represents contentment. Allows the wearer to have more vitality and appear more youthful. Makes one less fearful of the future. Said to bring about more love and wisdom in one’s life.

Sapphire: represents clear thinking. Said to have the ability to give whoever wears this stone, peace of mind/ inner peace.

Diamond: represents innocence. Makes the wearer more pure and virtuous. Has the ability to bring longevity to the wearer’s relationships and human connections.

Regardless of what the stones represent individually, the mood that can be brought about by receiving one or being praised for wearing one, is a representation of gemstones as a whole and creates within the jewelry wearer, it’s own range of emotional expressions.