Kelly Wearstler is the latest designer to foray into fine jewelry. Wearstler’s fine jewelry collection will consist of 60 pieces that will be mostly one-of-a-kind in 14-karat and 18-karat yellow and rose gold vermeil and blackened sterling silver, with diamonds and gemstones that will take inspiration from the designer’s gemstone adorned boxes and tabletop objects. However, the fine jewelry line will be a more refined look than her costume jewelry and will retail from $1,100 to $8,000.
In the last two years, the fine jewelry market has been exploding, with a slew of designers and brands entering the category, including Marchesa, Atelier Swarovski, Pamela Love, Paige Novick, Faraone Mennella, Alexis Bittar, Chaumet, Wendy Nichol, Isaac Mizrahi…the list goes on. One reason customers may be directing their wallets towards fine jewelry is that costume jewelry has become almost equally expensive. “It’s expensive to manufacture, because you have model costs, assembly, plating, finishing, and the stone setting; there is a lot that goes into it,” Paige Novick told The Daily recently; her fine jewelry line has affordable entry price points around $400. “Would you rather spend $300 on costume earrings or $400 for diamond studs?” asked Novick. But there has also been an increasing demand for unique more out-of-reach luxury pieces from the international market. In other words, customers want what no one else has. “I kept traveling to the Middle East and I was hearing about how they all wanted unique things,” Tinker Tailor founder Áslaug Magnúsdottír told The Daily recently. “They don’t want other people to have it.”
Kelly Wearstler’s fine jewelry line will come packaged in leather and fur bags for an even more luxurious touch. The line will launch in Wearstler’s Melrose Avenue store, and in Dallas at Forty Five Ten. Wearstler, who is known both for her interior design and fashion design, will be launching fine china, fabric, and rug lines soon. She will also debut designs for two new hotels in San Francisco and for a hotel in Los Angeles for Spring 2016.
