Magento Commerce

Royal watchers will be aware that it's finally official! Prince William of England and Kate Middleton have announced their engagement.

William has stated that he wanted his mother to be a part of his happiness,l so he presented Kate with the 18 carat blue sapphire and diamond ring which once belonged to Prince William's mother, Princess Diana.

The happy couple will get married in either the Spring or Summer of next year and will continue to live in North Wales while Prince William works as an air sea rescue pilot for the RAF. The couple became engaged during a recent holiday in Kenya having been together for eight years.

My guess is that sapphires, which are already very popular gemstones, will become THE hot gemstone in the next year or so.  Look for similar engagement rings to be offered by jewelers worldwide.

Readers of my blog know that I've featured the first lady, Michelle Obama's jewelry choices often in postings.  Mrs Obama is no stranger to being featured in magazines this past year. She has done it again with a spot on the top "Best Dressed" edition of Vogue Magazine, on the newstands November 15.

The magazine has 129 glossy pages with the people on the list, which include Kate Moss, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lady Gaga (oh my!) and others. Mrs. Obama is featured on six of the pages.

I haven't seen the magazine yet. It will be interesting to see if she is shown wearing jewelry or just having her clothing choices featured. Mrs. Obama's pictures include designs by Moschino, Alaia, Talbots, Jean Paul Gaultier, Barbara Tfank, Narciso Rodriguez, Tracy Feith, Peter Som and Tracy Reese.

I have always felt that Anne Hathaway is a starlet with quite a nostalgic look about her.  This has never seemed the case more than in her photo shoot from the cover of the November issue of Vogue Magazine.

Hathaway, star of  movies such as The Princess Diaries, Brokeback Mountain and the Devil wears Prada, is a vision in diamonds for her photo shoot on location at Maxim's in Paris.

Anne is shown wearing Van Cleef & Arpels diamond drop earrings. Cartier diamond-and-platinum necklace. a Chopard diamond ring and Roger Vivier clutch with crystal buckle. A Boucheron diamond, pink sapphire, and ruby brooch worn as a hair ornament completes the stunning look.

I couldn't help but thinking back to 1961 when Audrey Hepburn starred in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The resemblance and total look is uncanny!

For more photos from this cover shoot, you can have a look at the slideshow on Vogue's website.

Readers of my blog know that I often write about the jewelry that Michelle Obama wears.  Normally, one sees her in one of her vintage brooches or a her traditional string of pearls. 

Her recent trip to Mexico showed a differnt fashion style for the first lady. She came out of the plane in Mexico City wearing a blue and white floral dress and a stack of white bangle bracelets, as well as gold spacer bangles for a wide, wide look which took the attention to her forearm.

This look is youthful and quite hip.  I wonder if it is an omen of things to come?

The First Lady, Michelle Obama, certainly loves pearl jewelry.  She will grace the cover of Good Housekeeping for the May issue.  This is the second time in recent weeks that she has appeared on a national magazine wearing pearls.  (The last cover was Newsweek magazine.)

This time, the first lady will wear a wrap dress in a vibrant teal cover, accessorized by a string of pearls.  She also followed true to form by using brooches in an unusual way.  This time, she added a Garavelli diamond flower pin at the front of the pearls.  The pin was a gift from the president and it adds a lovely touch to a classic look.

The article talks to Mrs. Obama about overcoming her biggest fear, keeping her marriage close, raising healthy kids and her one secret vice.

Swarovski is known for their fabulous rhinestones.  Many jewelry designers use swaravski crystals in their designs and these pieces are often high in demand.

The company is recently showing more and more products with marcasites as a focal point. Many Swarovski pieces use black gemstones, since these go so well with all fashion choices, so it's no surprise to see marcasites being used in their designs now.

The ring shown here is one such design.  It is made by Ponchi jewelry and features a large round top with gemstones and the lower part of the setting is covered with marcasites.

Marcasites have been long used in vintage jewelry.  It has the same composition as pyrite (also known as fool's Gold) but has a different chemical structure. It is a gunmetal gray color with a shiny finish and is inserted in the same was as a rhinestone is.

Vintage Jewelry Lane has a few marcasite designs.  Here is a pretty butterfly pin set in sterling silver with marcasite accents.  It is a real bargain at only $16.99.

Raaders of my blog know that I often feature the jewelry that the first lady Michelle Obama is seen wearing at the various events that she attends.  Mrs. Obama has a real love of vintage jewelry and is often seen sporting vintage brooches.  The designs that she seems to favor are flowered styles and she will often wear them in interesting ways, or combined with other jewelry styles.


She recently spoke at the joint annual Armed Forces Officer's Wives' luncheon. In her speech, she announced an increase of over 3% in funding - a record $8.8 billion. This funding will be for military support programs.


For the event, Mrs. Obama wore a forest green sheath dress with a herringbone design, and accessorized it with a black flower brooch worn at her shoulder for the event. Dark green eye shadow compeleted the look.

Do you like the look?

One would question whether the economy is in a recession when viewing the red carpet photos on last saturday's red carpet photos for the screen actor's guild ceremonies when Kate Hudson showed up in $1.75 milltion worth of Cartier jewelry.

I enjoy the SAGs.  One can find anything from stars dressed to the nines, like the previous week's Golden Globe awards, to those showing up in short, flirtatious dresses similar to those worn for a quick night on the town.

In spite of the lavishness, my favorite look had to be Kate's backless Emilio Pucci gown which fitted her form beautifully.  The back of the dress was enhanced with a Cartier diamond sautoir necklace and she completed the look with briolette diamond and baguette earrings, a huge 15.65 carat diamond ring and another diamond cocktail ring.

I've seen necklaces used like this in the past, and also long strands of pearls used this way, and I love the look. Perhaps it will set a trend for 2010, but in a less expensive way.

Other notable star showings were Tina Fey earrings with a mix of moonstone, brown diamonds, yellow diamonds and white diamonds, all set in platinum from Neil Lane's new Renaissance collection,  Julia Louis-Dreyfus also made quite an entrance with Large pendant-drop earrings with fabulous amethyst centers and diamond around the edges.

Lavish, it is, but this is what I call a dazzling entrance!