Gemma Redux

I’ve been accused of everything, and I’m guilty of most of it.
- Dolly Parton

Yes, that’s you…guilty of walking into a room and stirring up healthy trouble with a swift wink, a cunning smile, and off-the-radar jewelry that will keep the compliments flowing. But you’ve always been comfortable in your own skin, letting the sweetheart and the siren collide into one formidable woman.

With her Gemma Redux line, designer Rachel Dooley creates daring pieces that are premeditated in their messiness, assembling bundles of chain in a tumbled fashion and then nestling chunky stones within the arrangements. The effect is much like a meandering jazz song, vigorous and free, but purposeful. For her Spring 2008 collection, Dooley selected soothing stones like lemon jade and reconstructed green turquoise to offset the hardness of stainless steel and silver chains in her designs. We adore the Ami necklace (above right), which mingles vintage chains with rippled disks of Labradorite.

Visit the designer’s Web site for more information and to purchase.

Beth Church Jewelry

Oh, how we adore, the disobedient dresser who masterminds genius outfits with a palette loaded up with vintage Vivienne Westwood, lace kimono jackets, chenille clutches, and Rachel Comey shoes. Because attitude reigns supreme, which is why Beth Church’s high wattage necklaces are perfect, just perfect, for making that bold statement no one else dares to make.

But really all of the Arizona designer’s glitzy pieces, from cuffs to earrings, grab attention, flaunting color-drenched glass and stones, a wide range of vintage elements, and heavyweight chains. Selections are one-of-a-kind or limited edition. The necklace shown above marries striking opal drops with vintage 1930s Bakelite wings layered with filigree work.

To view styles and purchase, visit the designer’s Web site.

Balboa Jewelry

This year is the year. The one where you check things off your list, set things right, and buy what you need and adore, instead of gorging on sales that often reap regrettable purchases that can’t be returned. Yes, you’ve decided, this is the year. You’re going to own a swimsuit that fits and a beach hat that wasn’t borrowed from your boyfriend. And finally, you’re going to buy a versatile necklace that you can rotate with your work outfits, casual weekend attire, and hitting-the-town evening ensembles. A tall order, indeed, but Jane Pope’s necklaces from her Balboa hit the mark perfectly.

Like many designers out there, Pope uses vintage elements as the main ingredient in her designs, but the difference is that her pieces are streamlined confections heeding to the mantra “less is more” where many of her counterparts pile on, and on, and on. The result is genuinely successful, imparting a signature feel to the designs that breathe femininity and easiness. Necklaces dangle pretty pendants, but nothing too girly, and earrings have an heirloom vibe to them. The best part? The pieces are all reasonably priced, with many of her earring selections around $50.

To view styles and to purchase, visit the designer’s Web site.

Pade Vavra

For some, it's a cathartic experience...toes dipped in sand, salty air kissing your face, and the soothing sound of lapping waves. For others, it's a lifestyle filled with indulgent freedoms, from tossing your shoes aside to letting your work become a distant memory. And then there are those who see it as a reminder of what's pure and essential, and commit themselves wholly to the power of nature. But that's the beauty of the beach, there's always a staunch personal connection, and a level of unwavering devotion that can never be matched by any urban structure.

Los Angeles designer Pade Vavra has indeed created a passionate homage to the beach with her collection filled with sparkling seahorse locket necklaces, and bangles inset with coral. Vavra's gold vermeil jewelry flaunts precious and colorful elements, such as turquoise, pearls, and gemstones such as Peridot and Iolite. Her serpent necklace, a pendant adorned with opals and sapphires is a decadent piece, but it's her shark tooth necklace that makes the most majestic statement, dangling a hefty fossilized tooth from a double chain with tiny pearls (her Prehistoric Mako Shark Tooth in her fine jewelry collection is even more dazzling).

To view styles and purchase, visit the designer’s Web site.

Renata Mann

Your personal soundtrack has always been a moving target, a little PJ Harvey, a dab of Coralie Clément, a good dose of Nina Simone. So it's no surprise that paired with your perfect ladylike shift dress are your bad girl Camilla Skovgaard pumps...but it's your Renata Mann necklace that keeps things interesting, an intriguing centerpiece that mixes hard with soft in a thoroughly convincing manner.

Mann’s hand-knit necklace collection serves up visually arresting arrangements of chunky stones, shells and glass beads encased in colorful yarn. Woven bib necklaces flaunt draped quartz clusters…mosaic shell discs are layered in a pyramid sequence…strands of glass beads are twisted to achieve a rope effect. Each piece is offered in a variety of colors, and is custom produced.

To view styles, visit the designer’s Web site. The collection can be purchased at her Etsy store.

Draugsvold

Glamour. For you it's about wearing saucy lipstick when no one is looking, ordering a sparkling Bellini with breakfast, and slipping into vintage stilettos for a trip to the corner deli. But it's a lifestyle after all, not just a state of mind, and so it's the little splurges and guilty pleasures that count. And of course, your secret weapon is your jewelry choices, utilized cleverly to make even a simple jeans and t-shirt combo, look nothing short of spectacular.

For her Spring '08 collection, designer Melissa Draugsvold pairs her signature vintage brass chains and findings with pale pink, peach and lilac gem stones which give the heavyweight pieces an infusion of lightness and femininity. Sculpted antique glass beads and printed Lucite drops add intrigue, as does a well-placed green Egyptian Scarab.

To view styles and to purchase visit the designer’s Web site.

Elisa Solomon Jewelry

Reinvention is a wonder to behold. Someone, not just anyone, sees beyond the expected and boldly rearranges what everyone else saw as expected and true. Philippe Starck interpreting the martini glass as a chair or Hendrix transforming Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower from an obscure acoustical ditty to a Hall of Fame guitar assault. Of course, retranslating is not the hard part. The magic trick is to astutely preserve the critical elements, and alter the ones that could survive a creative shake-up.

By taking gemstones, and smashing them to pieces, designer Elisa Solomon presents an intriguing reinvention of the traditional jewel pendant necklace. Sparkling rubies, brown diamonds, emeralds, sapphire, and earthy turquoise, are cracked into small nuggets and then encased within a glass frame, presenting a shaking visual, much like a tipping sand hourglass, except bolder and chunkier. The “shake” pendants are then hung from 14k solid yellow gold chains.

To view styles and a store list, visit the designer’s Web site.