The Fashion Statement: Jewelry is Buggin' Out

by Kristin Young (RSS feed)
Aug 5th 2010 at 9:00AM

What's with fine jewelry's never ending fascination with creepy crawlers?

The trend has been in full swing for years now, but the craze just won't, er, buzz off. Just look at Isabelle Adjani (pictured above) who had fish (courtesy of De Grisogono) wrapped around her wrists at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Thousands of dollars worth of gems diamonds, sapphires, blue topaz, rubies and more have gotten turned into frogs, dragonflies, spiders, reptiles, snakes, butterflies, bugs, stingrays, sea urchins...and all manner of little creatures.

I get serpents, particularly for their Ancient Egyptian connotations and mystical meaning. I wouldn't turn down Roberto Cavalli's Swarovski serpent bracelet, tagged $675, or Virgin's Saints and Angels temptation bracelet, $635, adorned with Pacific opals.

But you should see the price tag for bird-like claws and insects! For $1,188, you can get stacked rings that look like talons on designer Pamela Love's site. You can also snap up a very large cuff by Aurélie Bidermann, an 18K rendition of a web for $1,795 at net-a-porter.com. Neiman Marcus has bug stud earrings by Ileana Makri, for $3,750.

Dragonflies do quite well, too. At Ylang 23, Cathy Waterman's dragonfly bracelet is going for $28,800 while Barneys New York is promoting Vernissage's pendant necklaces, $1,650.

Chinese jeweler Wendy Yeu has a ring so opulent and so buggy, it deserves a paragraph all its own. Set in 18K white gold, the ring is all flowers and bugs in the form of brown diamonds, black agate, fluorite, green garnet, yellow and orange sapphires embellished with pink amethyst, kunzite, green amethyst, lemon quartz and blue topaz gemstones. It will set you back 11,000 British pounds.

But the king of critters in the jewelry world is the spider. One of the best spiders I've seen recently is Padma's spider earrings, $3,970, at Neimans. I'm sure the 14-karat matte yellow gold and the faceted lemon quartz the size of a lolly pop has something to do with the appeal.

The buggy trend has gone so far as to involve the real the thing. Trendhunter.com documented a Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. ALIVE! Encrusted with Swarovski crystals. Pin the wriggly thing to your clothing, fingers or wrist. If you treat him right and feed him, he'll live about a year. I think I'll pass.

Some people in the fine jewelry business I've talked to recently say the reason bugs are so huge is there is a new generation that can't related to traditional fine jewelry. Instead, they like subversive aspect of insects which ultimately takes the "precious" out of precious gems.

Get your flyswatter.

Tags: Aurélie Bidermann, Cathy Waterman, IsabelleAdjani, Padma, Roberto Cavalli, Wendy Yeu

Filed under: Jewelry, The Fashion Statement

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Janet Aug 7th 2010 12:01AM

Bugs have always been a fascinating part of jewelry design. We have sold "bee" pins since the 1980's - those were our first bugs. Now the little girls are wearing ladybug stud earrings completely realistic in red and black enamel over 14K gold. We have butterfly and dragonfly earrings and pendants made of pink sapphires and diamonds, gold scorpions, spiders, even bats! (which aren't bugs, just creepy).
At Rothstein Jewelers in Beverly Hills, prices start at only $50 for some of these gold bugs. The catalogs are fun to look thru for favorite critters!

Janet Aug 7th 2010 12:07AM

Bugs have always been a fascinating part of jewelry design. We have
sold "bee" pins since the 1980's - those were our first bugs. Now the
little girls are wearing ladybug stud earrings completely realistic in
red and black enamel over 14K gold. We have butterfly and dragonfly
earrings and pendants made of pink sapphires and diamonds, gold
scorpions, spiders, even bats! (which aren't bugs, just creepy).

At Rothstein Jewelers in Beverly Hills, prices start at only $50 for
some of these gold bugs. The catalogs are fun to look thru for
favorite critters! Contact the store via the website below to email you photos.
http://www.rothsteinjewelers.com

coco Aug 13th 2010 5:11AM

Well, i think these luxury elements, such as handbags are indeed worth collecting and putting into your wardrobe. Luxury goods can give you much more confidence to face with the real world.