Cannes Film Festival 2012 Red Carpet Jewellery

 

American actress Eva Longoria in  Damiani's diamond earrings

Its been very chilly up here on the Great Dividing Range the last couple of weeks and with winter only a day away, its no wonder! 

In Cannes on the French Riveria however, it has been balmy days and pleasant evenings suitable for walking down the red carpet in a special gown with bare arms ... to show off bracelets; upswept hair to show off earrings and low necklines to show off necklaces.

Cannes Film Festival is always a good show on the jewellery front with the European jewellery houses like Bulgari, Chopard, de Grisogono, Montblanc and Boucheron lending their jewels to the famous faces of models, actresses, celebrities, and personalities from the film world.

Diamonds of course were in good supply, emeralds made a noticeable appearance and some colourful  vintage pieces were evident as well. 

Take a look at some of the red carpet jewels....

Polish model Anja Rubik in Chopard earrings

Czech celebrity, Karolina Kurkova in Bulgari diamond serpenti bracelet and diamond and ruby earrings.

Italian supermodel Bianca Balti wearing yellow gold, diamond and amethyst earrings by Boucheron.

Italian actress Chiara Francini in Bulgari necklace and bracelet.

Well known actress Diane Kruger looked very regal in Boucheron diamond earrings.

Russian model Irina Shayk wearing de Grisogono emerald and diamond briolette earrings.

The one and only Jane Fonda wore this 50ct (!) rubellite, diamond and ruby ring by Chopard.

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American actress Jessica Chastain accessorised her Armani dress with Chopard diamonds

American model and actress Kate Upton wore a diamond collar of 36 round brilliant cut diamonds (and a few more of course to fill in the gaps) by Bulgari.   And although we can't see it in the photo, I'm sure she had a pretty dress on too!

English model and actress Lily Cole wore a lovely net of diamonds by Chopard.

Chinese model Liu Wen wore stunning Chopard earrings of tourmaline, spinel, sapphire and diamonds.

This stunning Bulgari necklace worn by Portuguese actress, director and singer Maria De Medeiros, featured Tahitian pearls nestled amongst spinels, zircons and diamonds.

Australian actress Naomi Watts sparkled in Chopard diamonds.

Russian model Natasha Poly had two quite different looks - above in de Grisogono and below in Boucheron - both sets of earrings featuring emeralds and diamonds.

 

Bulgarian born, Canadian actress Nina Dobrev wore a sequined gown and added even more sparkle with Bulgari diamond earrings 

(photo courtesy - Just Jared).

 

Czech model Petra Nemcova lit up the room with her brilliant smile - and who wouldn't in Bulgari diamond and emerald earrings like these!?

 Spanish actress Paz Vega selected Chopard diamond earrings on this foray down the carpet.

 

Expectant mother, actress and producer Reese Witherspoon glowed in her Chopard earrings.

 

Actress, director and producer Salma Hayek wore vintage Boucheron (c. 1944) for a dramatic look.

Chinese actress Yao Xingtong in Bulgari earrings.

So, any jewels in particular that took your fancy?

A trunk show and a new handmade market at Scone

After a couple of months away from the face to face of shows while I concentrated on new stock and designs, I’m back in the midst of it all and loving it!

I had a home trunk show a week ago with a group of ladies who had only previously seen my jewellery on the hostess. They weren't shy though and snapped up many items – even having issues over the ownership of one bracelet! This sort of show is so much fun with ladies trying things on, comparing them on each other, having a chat and a glass of something bubbly!

Yesterday I attended the inaugural Scone Homegrown + Handmade market. It had great plans of being a stylish outdoor event at the Kerv Café, but the weather gods had other ideas!

I’m about 1 hour and 40 minutes drive west of Scone and was not overjoyed to hear rain at around 2am, particularly when I realised it wasn’t a storm and didn’t appear to be going anywhere. Nevertheless I got up at 4.30am checked the radar and saw that Scone was indeed dry however the rain band was heading there. With my trusty helper Trista aboard we set off around 5.30am into the rain and bound for Scone. The rain got heavier and I hoped that some wet weather alternative may have been made – otherwise all we’d be up for was a well deserved coffee and a long drive home!

The rain continued steadily – not sheeting down, but not exactly drizzling either. On arrival at around 7am there was a bunch of slightly bedraggled and tired stall holders wondering what to do. The organiser, the lovely Amelia from The Event Storeroom offered those with non-food products a small space inside the Café which I gratefully accepted. We all appeared to be set up by around 8.30am and it was certainly “cosy”!

Amazingly, people braved the weather and came to see us all (even those who decided to shelter with their goods under the cover in the outdoor area) and buy.

Being cosy was actually fun (apart from needing to dodge around everyone) as it gave the stallholders an opportunity to network, admire and buy each other’s items which you often don’t have time for at a regular show.

I had the chance to chat to my close neighbours - the warm and talented Emma of Elliepants who is making my girls some endless scarves for winter, the outgoing Tracy from Lilibits & Pieces who I got to chat about jewellery with and the vivacious Bec from Audrey Anne who was experiencing her first market and I know she’ll do well ... even Trista and I couldn’t help ourselves and bought something of hers!

I managed to taste some of Hunter Belle’s fantastic cheese, the delicious Lincoln Red Beef Direct (the best “burger” I’ve had in years!) the lighter than light macarons from Sweet Project and the tasty hot chocolate of the Kerv Café all whilst admiring the beautiful flowers from Stem. (Living in the country often means that the only fresh flowers you see are the ones you’ve grown – so in my house its roses or nothing).

There were many other stallholders and I was very impressed with the amount of talented people that Amelia had located and brought together for the event. Given fair weather I have high hopes for the next Homegrown + Handmade in June!

Next weekend I have the Dunedoo Show (24th March), the following weekend is the Mendooran Show (31st March) and then Easter Saturday (7th April) is the Mudgee Makers Market, so you see its all go, go, go!

Photo at top is pair of sterling, tourmaline and peridot earrings that sold at the trunk show last week.

The Jewels from Cannes

The 64th International Cannes Film Festival has been on this month and as it is heavily sponsored by Chopard, the couture jewels on the red carpet have definitely been worth watching!

It was nice to see it wasn’t just diamonds at this event – coloured gems definitely made their presence known and it was a lovely change from white diamonds.

Uma Thurman (at top), on this year’s jury, wore these chandelier earrings set with 34 pear-shaped emeralds for a total of 54cts together along with a more understated emerald bracelet. The emeralds just glowed even from a distance and gave some colour to her all white ensemble. Another day, she wore this little diamond cuff. (I’m not jealous, really, I’m not… much!)


Model Bianca Balti went the green route as well, wearing this amazing De Grisogono emerald necklace. I adore the intense colour - she carries it well.


In the sapphire brigade were Fan Bing Bing wearing Cartier and Jane Fonda wearing Chopard.



Rosario Dawson had a showstopper necklace by Faraone Mennella of aquamarine and diamonds and look at the size of those rocks!


The co-president of Chopard, Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele wore a peacock bracelet set with diamonds, emeralds, tsavorite garnets and sapphires with matching earrings. I’m not a fan of this ensemble, but to each their own!


Former Miss World, Aishwarya Rai wore Chopard diamonds - 12cts of pink diamonds in her ears and a whopping 53ct emerald cut diamond on her hand.


Linn Ullmann, Norwegian writer and critic wore a more low key Chopard oval diamond necklace totaling of 46cts. A nice little row of sparkles :)


Penelope Cruz showed great taste wearing these rubelite and diamond earrings. Gorgeous.


Salma Hayek wore pearls with her diamonds in a cuff bangle and earrings.


Although hardly well known in Australia, Italian fashion blogger, Chiara Ferragni wore this Chopard mixed gemstone bracelet and earrings. I love the delicate colour of the gems yet the overall substantial size – I think this might be one of my favourite jewellery sets seen on the red carpet this year.


Till next :)
Annette

School holidays whizzing past...

The school holidays are going by so fast and unlike last year where I felt as though I had a good rest, this year it feels like I've been very social and haven't had much time to just sit back and chill.

We've alternately had hot hot days or a drop or two of rain in the last couple of weeks. Here's a pic from late afternoon last week - although it looked promising it actually didn't rain much here at all. Maybe next time?



I've been productive at my bench at least with a lovely bunch of high quality gem earrings, pearl earrings and some pearl necklaces, classic and funky, made this week. After I've been away from my bench for a couple of weeks it's so lovely to sit down and let the creativity flow and enjoy the beautiful gems. The top photo is of a pair of fat, white freshwater pearls topped with a cluster of multi coloured tourmaline. Aren't they scrumptious!?

Keeping the creative juices isn't so hard when there are great shows that support handmade. I noticed on Elena's EP Designs site a great show she's attending tomorrow (16 January) in Oakleigh, Melbourne - the Handmade Show. The sub header states "supporting local crafters, keeping the love of creating alive". What a great aim and I hope they do really well. I still hope (in vain!?) for a show like that to come up near here... waiting, waiting.... LOL.

For a little smile, enjoy the following that I found on Jill's Liv'n Good Jewelry Blog Line 'em up boys :)



Till next :)
Annette

The Glamorous Oscars

A good proportion of the jewellery world this week are talking about the jewellery that the stars wore to the Academy Awards - and in particular Angelina Jolie's amazing Colombian emerald earrings! Although her little black dress by Elie Saab (a favourite designer of mine) was lovely - who noticed it with those glowing green HUGE earrings!

My first reaction was - 'What are her earrings?' *peering closely at the TV screen* 'They couldn't be emeralds...they're too big' *squinting, nodding my head no* 'But they look like emeralds...' *eyes widening and total disbelief crossing my face*... LOL

There were quite a few necklaces in evidence, and two huge statement pieces - Amy Adams wore a vintage (1950's) bib-style necklace of what appeared to be cabachon rubies, emeralds and sapphires; and of course you couldn't miss Taraji P Henson's 19th century diamonds.

I must say that these necklaces far outshone the dresses they wore - perhaps that is why stylists pick earrings and bracelets instead - that way the designer's dresses get noticed?

The Academy Awards were a very glamorous affair overall - although a few choices were made that may not have hit the mark completely, the general feel (at least to me) was hollywood style glamour. Was there anything that stood out for you?

It's been another busy week for me. I finally finished the gemstone - facts and lore - information on my website. I added in four new pages covering jade, jasper, jet, kyanite, labradorite, lapis lazuli, larimar, larvikite, lava, lepidolite, malachite, moonstone, moss agate, muscovite, nebula stone, nevada stone, obsidian, ocean jasper, onyx, opal, peridot, prasiolite, prehnite, pyrite, quartz - rose, rock crystal, smoky -, rhodochrosite, rhodonite, rhyolite, ruby, sapphire, serpentine, shell, sodalite, sunstone, tanzanite, topaz, tourmaline, turquoise, unakite, variscite. Woohoo, that was a job and a half. Please check it out if you want to learn more about stones!

I also got busy creating - this time pieces for my winter range. I can't believe I have my first show this weekend - the International Women's Day event being held, this year in our shire at Binnaway, a sleepy little town between Coolah and Coonabarabran.

Hilary from 57 Design Studio , a fellow jewellery designer whose blog I have read for quite a few years now, is in the midst of renovations and also has a show on this weekend. Glad to know I'm not the only one who will have to change tack after a while off and get organised for a show!

On my progress around my favourite blogs I found a post on The Tall Poppy that talks about a site called Outrageously Healthly that encourages and inspires a healthy lifestyle. I know I'm still carrying a few extra pounds from summer holiday indulgences - and designing jewellery, after all, has never been the most active way to spend the day!

Today's picture was selected in honour of little black dress events the world over - a sizeable necklace with lovely big balls of black tourmaline and an asymmetrical feature of rock crystal quartz and smoky quartz. A necklace that is bold, clean and 100% impact.