Celebrity Life

For the first time, members of the public are able to take a peek into the design process of Cartier, and how Islamic art had an impact on its early days.

The post Cartier Launches Exhibition Exploring the Influence of Islamic Art appeared first on LUXUO.

Every major jewellery brand this year has adopted a male ambassador or featured a male model when showcasing their wares. And as we note of the baubles on display on the red carpet, one thing’s clear: size matters in men's jewellery.

Musicians, rappers and rockers have been wearing the biggest diamonds and bejewelled accessories since memory serves. In fact, at the height of their fame some 60 years ago, the Rat Pack stalwarts Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr wore signet rings and chains studded with precious stones.

The likes of Steven Tyler, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger – perennially festooned with chains, bracelets and stacks of rings – have been setting off airport metal detectors for decades. Men wearing jewellery has long been seen as rebellious and anti-establishment – perhaps a way of raging against the machine.

The Rise of Men's Jewellery

In ancient Egypt, deities ranging from Ra (God of the Sun and Radiance) to Osiris (the King of the Living) wore more gleaming accessories than cloth to underline their supreme power – and, to a certain extent, supreme beauty.
So why does men wearing jewellery make news in 2021?

To put it bluntly, it’s the size, the volume and the colours. As reported in Prestige recently, there’s a clear trend of
high jewellery and statement pieces being worn by men. Boucheron’s Claire Choisne says, “In the last Contemplation collection, we started putting jewellery on men. For me, I didn’t care whether it was men or women – what’s important is the aesthetic effect – when you saw the brooches on men, it became so much more interesting.”
Indeed men of all shapes, sizes and ages are taking risks and having fun with fashionable jewellery.

Whereas once it didn’t go much further a simple wedding band or the odd signet or pinky ring, in the 1970s The Godfather movie kickstarted the trend of the statement ring as the ultimate symbol of power. Today, however, stacking multiple rings is all the rage, as are coloured diamonds – look at the fingers of Joe Jonas (Chopard diamonds), Timothée Chalamet (Cartier’s new “friend”) or any American rapper worth his weight in gold, and you’ll notice the bling and ring are generously sized.

Closer to home, Hong Kong boy band Mirror's Anson Lo and Edan Lui were tapped by Bulgari to star in a campaign for the B.zero1 jewellery collection. K-pop idol and Kowloon Tong-born Jackson Wang is the face of Cartier’s Juste un Clou collection and has starred in the French maison’s campaign videos since early summer.

Travis Scott and Future have been seen wearing not just the usual flashy white diamonds but coloured stones of enormous value. Describing his original design for Scott, Elliot Eliantte posted on social media, “@travisscott called me from Tokyo to whip something for the squad. A Murakami Original he drew for trav crested ‘Melted Utopia Dream’ via Utopia. Paint used from the studio!”

While many around the globe noticed the pink diamond engagement ring Jennifer Lopez wore in the ’90s, rap star Future was seen with a vast canary-yellow diamond on his little finger after he broke up with singer Ciara. Although engagement rings are often seen as a symbol of commitment, rappers have worn jewellery to indicate freedom and release.

Rihanna’s current flame ASAP Rocky has been wearing pearl necklaces, earrings and rings – once the exclusive preserve of royalty, septuagenarian socialites and dowagers – to every major red-carpet event. Meanwhile, fashion blogs were abuzz when Harry Styles wore Gucci bee pearl earrings to the Met Gala.

Out and proud Billy Porter has been borrowing high jewellery to hit the red carpet on several occasions, most memorably at the Oscars earlier this year, when he made seismic ripples on Instagram. Featuring more than 500 diamonds, his white-gold collar necklace was from fine- jewellery brand Lark & Berry.

As for the “Sexiest Men Alive”, Johnny Depp (accessorises from The Great Frog, a London-based supplier of men’s jewellery), Brad Pitt (who prefers artistic David Yurman) and Michael B Jordan (Piaget) are rarely seen without symbolic rings, beaded Buddhist bracelets and designer jewellery around their necks. At the Oscars, Jordan (star of boxing flick Creed), was decked to the hilt with a Piaget Polo white-gold tourbillon watch set with diamonds, two Possession white-gold diamond rings and two Limelight Couture Précieuse brooches. And let’s not forget Benedict Cumberbatch, who wore a vintage $46,500 nosegay brooch from from Verdura when he hit the red carpet at a charity gala.

Will the trend last? If statistics are anything to go by, they sure will. According to market-research company Euromonitor International, global sales of men’s luxury fine jewellery has seen a steady incline since 2012. According to its most recent report, the key finding was that “trend-led and gender-neutral luxury jewellery sales was on the rise. The growing social-media influx makes jewellery wear not only more casual but inclusive.

The post Boys in Bling: The Rise of Men’s Jewellery and Statement Pieces appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

A gem that was mistaken for a cheap costume piece is now valued at nearly US$2.7 million.

The post 34-Carat Diamond Worth US$2.7 Million Found in Flea Market appeared first on LUXUO.

Would you buy a diamond that was produced in a laboratory? This local startup make a compelling case.

The post Why lab-grown diamonds are better, according to The Better Diamond’s founders appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

Would you buy a lab-grown diamond? The Better Diamond’s founders make a compelling case.

For more stories like this, visit www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg.

With crystal healing all the rage, it got us thinking: does the same apply to our daily jewellery – the diamonds and other precious stones that we wear? To find the answer, we talk to Tania Bardhan, spa director at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, and Kaye Dong, founder of The New Moon wellness concept

Crystal healing utilises semi-precious stones such as quartz, agate, amethysts and moonstones to bring different energies into our environment. It’s the same for precious stones, the diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds that we incorporate into our daily jewellery wear.

“Semi-precious and precious stones absorb and radiate energy in the same way as crystals,” says Tania Bardhan, who has more than 20 years of experience in the spa industry and is currently the spa director at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong. “Hence, ancient astrologers prescribed these stones to people to balance their energy pattern and bring about more harmony in their lives, sometimes also prescribing them to ward off accidents and mishaps.”

This practice still exists today among even the biggest jewellery houses. There’s a plethora of talisman and protection jewellery – De Beers’ Talisman collection features diamonds in both their rough and polished forms to create kaleidoscopic medallions, earrings and stacking rings that are designed to make you look and feel good. Diamonds are said to impart fearlessness, invincibility and fortitude, making it an incredibly powerful stone for leadership and enlightenment.

Cartier's Love collection includes pieces studded with sapphires, amethysts, spinels and aquamarines. Dior’s lucky-charm jewellery, the Rose des Vents, is also enriched with mother-of-pearl or coloured stone bases on which the eight-point lucky star is set.

In fact, Kaye Dong, a creative entrepreneur and founder of The New Moon wellness concept, says that different stones possess their own superpowers. “Many of the stones with the highest vibrations are typically quite rare,” she says. “Precious stones, such as diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies, promote incredible power and hold deep properties due to their rarity and brilliance.”

With such potent powers emanating from our jewellery, we should be mindful of the energies in the stones before we wear them. “While choosing a gemstone to wear, we must let our instincts guide us,” says Bardhan. “A simple way is to do some grounding breathwork and then see which crystal draws us in or calls out the most to us. It could be the most attractive colour in our eyes or just a gut feeling that’s hard to explain.”

Another method that Bardhan swears by is to sleep with the gemstone under the pillow for the night. “If the sleep is disturbed by nightmares, the gemstone is considered unsuitable to wear,” she says. Dong adds, “Our precious jewellery shouldn’t only be cleansed before we wear them – it’s also very important to clean and charge them regularly.

We wear our gems and jewels on our skin for prolonged periods of time and because they’re exposed to all the various energies we surround ourselves with on a daily basis, it’s important to clean and charge them, so we remove any negative energies that may have been absorbed over time and allow for the stone’s properties to shine at its brightest. You could do this by laying out your jewellery on naturally charging crystals, such as clear quartz or selenite, to ensure your jewellery always maintain high vibrations. “When we care for our jewels and stones, we care for ourselves.”

So, whether you’ve inherited a piece of heirloom gemstone jewellery, or acquired a new piece at auction or on the pre- owned market, it’s a good idea to repolish and resurface it. For new pieces, when you’re the first owner, Bardhan simply prescribes “holding the gemstone under running water and then letting it sit on a piece of muslin in the moonlight for a few hours”, which she says will do the trick. Bardhan adds, “As you start wearing your gemstone jewellery regularly, it gets charged with your energy and truly becomes your crystal.”

Dong’s favourite ritual is to perform the cleansing and supercharging during the full moon, when the energy is particularly powerful. “I lay out my crystals and precious stones to bathe under the moonlight, smudge them with sage and palo santo, and set intentions from a place of gratitude.

The post Crystal Healing: A Look at the Potent Powers Emanating from Our Jewellery appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Diamond are a classic for engagement rings but if you want to step out of the convention, here are a few gemstones you can choose from.

The post Alternative Gemstones for Your Engagement Ring appeared first on LUXUO.

How many pieces of jewellery have you got lying around? Not been worn in years if at all. How do you choose to wear layers of jewellery without looking like a gipsy? Mix & Match Start with going through your existing accessories and decide which to sell on Vestiaire. There are some items that are […]

The post Accessories – Layering Style Tips For Mental Health appeared first on Gracie Opulanza.