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From Karen Walker's jewellery collection - Source: ONE News -
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With the recession starting to impact us all in some way and with the start of what looks to be a long, cold winter ahead, we may all have been staring vacantly into our wardrobes, wondering how to inject a bit of glam, something fresh, something new, without breaking the bank!
Hmmm... something that will make us feel gorgeous and complement what we wear everyday, something that will always be a talking point and thoroughly covetable.
The answer is, of course, jewellery!
Jewellery can be a quick fashion fix that makes an outfit transform from blah to hoorah.
Cheaper pieces that are bang on trend can be ephemeral and won't blow your budget. Or you can spend more money on jewellery that has more of a timeless feel, investment pieces that you can wear for years to come. This tends to save money in the long run when you think of how much you spend on cheap jewellery that doesn't last and becomes unwearable thanks to fashion trends that come and go!
There are a couple of Kiwi jewellery designers that have been making beautiful pieces that really need to be in everyone's personal jewellery collections.
The first is Boh Runga's jewellery range for NZ Mint.
It seems appropriate that a pretty songbird such as Boh would create a delicate and truly feminine range of pieces inspired by New Zealand native birds.
Boh's "Birdland" collection features fantails, feathers, wings and shapes from iconic Kiwi birds, lovely pieces of jewellery that proudly celebrate our national fauna yet never in a kitsch, overtly "Kiwiana" way.
Here are some pieces from Boh Runga for NZ Mint's range that Style Blog loves...
Click here to check out Boh's website.
Another very talented young Kiwi jewellery designer is Charlotte Penman. After extensive travelling around the globe (lucky gal!), Charlotte became very inspired and started collecting various gemstones.
Self-taught, Charlotte's passion for jewellery led her to start her own collection and she has never looked back!
Charlotte chooses silver, golds, precious and semi-precious gem stones to work with and makes her pieces unique by adding bone, wood and shell inlaid into her designs.
Here are some pics that Style Blog love from Charlotte's range...
Charlotte's designs are available through Workshop stores nationwide.
To wrap up our home grown talent, where would we be without a bit of Kazza?
Karen Walker has been designing a jewellery range for a couple of years now, creating whimsical designs that align perfectly to Karen's own unique design aesthetic.
The right amount of quirk is mixed in with darker details, such as mixing hearts and skulls, mad clowns and skull and crossbones with fantasy characters from children's fairytales and nursery rhymes.
From owls to little robot men, caterpillers and carousel horses, these wonderful characters come to life on sweet little charms, pendants, bracelets and chunky cocktail rings. Karen's jewellery is very cool and constantly sought after!
Style Blog loves the following...
Check them out on karenwalkerjewellery.com
And finally for the cheap and cheerful jewellery range which of course is epitomised by Diva!
Style Blog loves the accessibility of Diva. You can always find something there and as long as it is done well, it will never look the actual price you spent on it!
We at Style Blog love our little trips to Diva. A word to the wise though, we recommend sticking to the earrings, rings and bangles. If necklaces and pendants are what you are after, we think "buy once, buy right!".
Nine times out of ten, poor quality necklaces and pendants can completely ruin a great look. Make sure you always invest in some quality pieces that may be a bit more expensive and then mix it all up with some inexpensive finds!
Currently, on all the catwalks overseas and also within many a cutting edge fashion mag, there has been a huge trend on big jewellery pieces: from huge statement costume jewellery rings to massive, chunky earrings and also bejewelled necklaces that look more like collars.
Quoting a line out of Mr Mitre Ten's book, it appears that "BIG..is best!!!"
Here's some big pieces from Diva that Style Blog loves (NB not for the timid wallflowers out there!)
