And you too can become a Social Diva!

What’s a “Social Diva”?

Social Diva was born when Peg Samuel answered the long-standing question of where a girl can go to have fun by founding Social DivaTM (sign up for a free newsletter of events at www.socialdiva.com).

In 2000, Peg began to produce and promote unique, themed, hip events to make going out more fun — hence Social Diva — now in 4 cities and New York.  She also published a successful book, “How To Be a Social Diva” and now spends all her time doing what she loves most:  to “connect, socialize and promote.”

Now Ms. Samuel, in collaboration with Strictly Rhythm(TM) — the world’s leading house label — have collaborated on a new digital compilation Strictly Social Diva(TM) as an Essential Mix of Strictly Diva Worthy Grooves (available on iTunes).  On August 25, an event was hosted to promote their album at the Hotel on Rivington, with “Divalicious” cocktails and great music by DJ Raffael de Luca, DJ Social Diva and The Wizard Brian Coxx.

And The Diva Hostess sparkled in a one shouldered cocktail dress complemented by M. Sturman’s Ruffles Cuff of Swarovski Elements  — a seamless look, too gorgeous!

You too can wear one or the pair of these cuffs, for sale at www.msturman.com Also check out the matching Ruffles Collar and earrings that you can wear with two of the cuffs for a “collar and cuffs” look that’s not too big for anyone — especially not a Diva.

But probably not in the US if the results of Tiffany’s second quarter five percent rise in profits are to be believed.  As reported in an online story by National Jeweler’s Aug 27 edition, “Tiffany’s Q2 same-store sales rise 5 percent”, Tiffany’s CEO Michael Kowalski “credited the company’s second-quarter results to its increased presence in markets outside the United States.”  The company is looking forward to continued growth in the second half of the year as they launch “an exciting range of new products, including an extraordinary collection of jewelry with yellow diamonds and an enticing new collection of handbags and leather accessories, among many others”.

Then, in another story on Aug 26, from the online WSJ Small Business story, “Entrepreneurs See Rise in Demand for Made-to-Order Goods”, there is evidence of an increase in consumer and entrepreneurial interest in customized goods.  Jeremy Gutsche, founder of TrendHunter.com, an online magazine that focuses on emerging trends, feels that the economy may be a factor.  “While such items may cost more than their mass-produced counterparts, they’re still generally less expensive than luxury goods; cash-strapped consumers may be seeking feel-good alternatives to items they can no longer afford.”  Obviously and unknowingly, Gutsche is referring to Tiffany’s and the upcoming products they’re launching.

So, who will you shop with, during the second quarter?  Tiffany or M. STURMAN?

M. Sturman has plenty of “feel-good alternatives” to Tiffany merchandise at various price points and in much more unusual materials.  Some will even be on sale at 50% discount!  Beginning on August 26 and continuing through September 6, shop our End of Summer Sale on items from $100 for a pair of Swarovski crystal circle earrings ($50 during sale!) to $1250 for a smashing 28 inch necklace of crocheted natural freshwater pearl segments alternating with amazing cultured natural white keshi fish-bone shapes (you do the math!). You won’t see this on Fifth Avenue on Tiffany’s or any other brick and mortar retailer!  Just online at MSturman.com.  Log on and window shop – entrepreneur!

So goes the article from National Jeweler’s roundup of the important September fashion magazine issues,  “September issues reveal fall jewelry ‘dos’”.

The artcle cites “The short list: long, swinging pendant necklaces, silver cuffs and bangles, gold link designs, shoulder-grazing earrings, sophisticated cluster studs and gemmy cocktail rings” and “a wide diversity of jewelry styles” which doesn’t include bib styles, unfortunately.  These have been relegated to the back of the jewelry box, but I say that small stylish ones like my Jet Bib woven of Crystal Elements and sporting vintage embellishment will never go out of style for holiday parties.

I’d say that the Diorissimo necklace — vintage Swarovski stones hanging from a handwoven chain — qualifies and dignifies the long pendant specified above.

Then there are ‘ladylike pearls and opulent sautoir styles”.  Well, we have a multitude of ladylike styles with eye popping but subtle details, like the Rosebud and Topaz strand.  The opulent sautoir style is graced by our 96″ of knotted, tied and graduated size pearl rope.

And, one can’t go wrong with a stack of bangles made of Crystal Elements and, while it’s not a large silver cuff, nothing could be larger and more eye-catching than a large cuff of Crystal Elements.

What jewelry will set you aflutter this fall?

No! not Gainsborough’s.

Gucci’s.

Times have changed, as amply pointed out by the front page article in this morning’s New York Times Style section, “The Ornamental Male” (by Guy Trebay).   Ornamental indeed!

However, before I saw the boy I saw the blue item at his neck and wondered if it were a beadcrocheted necklace – it looked almost like one of mine at first  http://www.msturman.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=147&zenid=2e2b2e89c8235a88763c0082269de071 . Then I took in the whole image! Wow! this beautiful creature was a guy with a blue bandana knotted at his neck! The whole outfit is blue and the guy is too gorgeous.

I turned pages to peruse the remainder of the article, looking to see if there were other neck ornamentation on these very ornamental boys. Maybe a chain or two. Hmmm. These fellas are so gorgeous they put many of us women to shame — the sculpted cheeks, the defined bone structure!

So, what about beaded jewelry for guys? Why not — especially when they’re so gorgeous?

An item, torn out of the May 12, 2010, New York Times asks the above question about a new line of jewelry and concludes that the jewelry is “maybe all three”.

Well, why not? And how is it that this confluence of three vital definitions do not occur more frequently in jewelry today?

This news item has sat on my work table for nearly a month now. I confess I did not want to further explore what the competition was doing! I have just now picked it up and investigated the web site of Ashley Hanosh’s trendy clothing store, Honey in the Rough (www.honeyintherough.com) that displays the work, a collection of new jewelry from Florian, called Zulu Soiree.

I was prepared to snigger, but came away with full respect and admiration for the collection, produced in Austria, home to Swarovski and cradle of Czech beads. The bib neckpiece pictured in Mary Billard’s article is, simply put, a series of circles hanging from a circlet. All of it is done in Czech seed beads, one of the least expensive materials available to bead artists.

So: so what? Why does it cost so much and why had it commanded the attention of a New York Times writer, let alone garnering a home in a Manhattan boutique? Yup: Bah! Humbug!

Thus emotionally armed, I visited the website to explore the collection, including close-up details of the pieces as well. Yes, there were those silly large seed beads I hadn’t deigned to use in years.

But there is no “simply put” about this work: there is a great deal of art present in it. Let me tell you, having put together similar pieces, that managing colors, shapes and negative space is not as easy or infantile as it appears to be. Therein is the art that so many bead artists struggle with on a daily basis:  this is what the public pays for.

I am especially intrigued with the configuration of many of the necklaces that affords the wearer different ways to wear each necklace — so interesting. I plan to schedule a trip down to the shop, between heat, humidity, snow and rain, to see this collection in person and experience up close the careful planning involved in making this art. I hope there will be some left for me to see.

Care to join me?

I’ve been away but not gone — swamped with getting ready for Gossip Girl and graduations and art fairs. But I’ve been checking out my daily Google Alerts and reading the papers: continually amazed by what passes for jewelry – soul-inspired, nose rings, “steam punk”, “cheap” advertised everywhere. I don’t get it — maybe I’m just an old fuddy-duddy.

I waited a long time to find out if any of my four pieces of jewelry that were taken — and are still held — by the stylists of Sex and the City 2 would appear in the film, which I saw a few nights ago. They were not in it (and I really want them back). The movie was all about the clothes, which you either like or not (I, and many others as I hear it, did not), and any jewelry shown was rather incidental as often happens, depending on what is being sold. So you don’t think I’m all sour grapes, I’d like to go on record that the nicest item worn by any of them, clothing or jewelry, was a pair of Wendy Brandes’ earrings — elegant and classy, a real stand out in this movie that was neither, IMHO.

I have a Master’s degree in Art History, so long ago I learned about the progression of civilization and its representations in art from all cultures and throughout time. I may not like all of it, but I understand why it mattered, what its place in history indicates.

Likewise I have studied jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum and in books, but I simply do not understand much of what passes for pretty in much of jewelry these days.

So can someone please explain to me why much of today’s jewelry matters? what will it’s place in history indicate of our civilization? what passes for “pretty” today?

On May 3 2010, one of TV’s sexiest mothers, Gossip Girl’s Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford), was dripping in drama. The stylists for Gossip Girl selected our Diorissimo necklace to offset Lily’s man troubles with Serena’s (Blake Lively) father. The 24K gold necklace is stunning on brunettes, and amplified even more on blonds like Kelly Rutherford.

As a special tribute to Gossip Girl and the fashions the show promotes, we will be running a 25% fashion discount from May 3rd to May 5th. Enter LILY at checkout for 25% off your entire purchase of M. Sturman Jewellery and treat yourself to some Gossip Girl fashion. And treat your mom to some jewelry for Mothers Day. She will love anything you pick. Shop for the Diorssimo necklace at M. Sturman Jewellery (it’s a limited edition piece) >

We can also act as personal shopper help you pick something special, so contact us for personal attention.

This necklace is made of vintage yellow stones ordered by Dior from Swarovski after WWII.  The stones are bezeled with 14k gold-plated seed beads and suspended from a chain woven of the same beads.  All of it handwoven, totally one-of-a-kind fashion and totally Lily van der Woodsen, played by Kelly Rutherford.

Shop for the Diorssimo necklace at M. Sturman Jewellery >

I’m so excited about the new work I’ve just put up on the website, particularly about the “Aquarium” necklaces.  They feature “Lodenite” stones — rocks really!

Each Lodenite stone tells a story, visually speaking, with a different shape/size and with a different colorway.   Each stone is clear and domed and so refracts its bottom rock layer into a scene.   Peering into each stone is similar to the experience of being drawn into the exploration of an aquarium.  Here’s a close-up of one such stone, but unfortunately none of these pix does justice to the mystery in each of them.  (You may view this close-up by clicking on either or both of the links listed below.)

So, I grouped five stones in each necklace, using stones to offset their colorways.

One necklace pairs dark amethyst crazy-cut amethyst beads with hammered light amethyst beads, alternating with small purple-dyed pearls and finished with a new find in closures:  agate closures in different hues, this one with some amethyst shading.  http://www.msturman.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=152&zenid=99cbfa9678d6b8557cdfcc24e7ce8548

In another necklace, responding to the coppery sort of colorways of the lodenite, I used rough-hewn red quartz stones and light peach natural tailed and circled pearls, alternating with tiny Akoya pearls and the agate closure in orangey hues.  http://www.msturman.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=151&zenid=99cbfa9678d6b8557cdfcc24e7ce8548

I have another lodenite necklace in the works set off with natural pearls and a pearl closure.  My favorite, I think!

Do they look as exotic to you as they do to me?  By the way, they’re not heavy pieces!

Seems impossible to avoid the Oscar drama, it’s everywhere! Over my morning coffee, I scanned the usual yearly projections of winners and long shots in the New York Times.

Back at my laptop, I saw a blog post entitled “How David Rockwell’s Oscar Set Makes Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin Funnier” by Alissa Walker, that discusses the role of the set and focuses on the Swarovski curtain, appropriately named Crystal.  ” . . . the star of the show is still the 100,000-Swarovski crystal curtain, but 16 additional inches of topaz crystals were added to add a level of smokiness that matched this year’s color scheme.”

Then I read the SheFinds blog,”Oscar Nominees, Take Note: Our No-Fail Guide To Black Tie Dresses” that reviewed some of the past mistaken choices, contrasting them with the hit choices.  Seemed to me that few of the stars wearing the dresses wore much jewelry.

So with all this in mind, I entertained the fantasy of each of the stars wearing Swarovski jewelry — mine of course! — in what would become a blinding television extravaganza.

Earrings seemed to be the thing during the award season Oscar run-ups, so my fantasy features the long-shot, long-necked Emily Blunt, perhaps wearing my Peacock Earrings, woven with vintage Swarovski Atlas stones, contemporary CRYSTALLIZED — Swarovski Elements beads and gold-plated seed beads.

I can easily picture the always-tasteful and regal Helen Mirren in my elegant Queen’s Collar, trimmed with vintage Swarovski beads.

And if filling a neckline is out this year, a large, sparkly bracelet, such as my Double-Sided Cuff, replete with CRYSTALLIZED – Swarovski Elements, would not be amiss, gleaming on the wrist of Sandra Bullock, touted as winner in the best actress category, as she accepts the Oscar.

Not Harry Winston diamonds, but I think these Swarovski pieces are a lot more captivating — don’t you?

I saw a sneak preview of Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer” and was delighted to see Kim Cattrall in it, looking lovely as usual.  This got me to thinking again about whether or not some of my jewelry would be worn in the movie, and if so which pieces (these are being held at the studios as we speak) and on whom?

Would it be the Green Tea neckpiece or the Be Mine neckpiece, each of which was widely blogged about by Luxist.com, USA Today, CoutureSnob.com, and Jason of Hollywood.com?

I tried to find an official SATC2 movie site, but came up with the HBO home page featuring it http://www.hbo.com/sex-and-the-city/index.html#, with the four stars on it.  How surprised I was to see Kim Cattrall with short hair as opposed to her shoulder-length hair in “The Ghost Writer”.  I immediately thought that with that short hair, she would look great wearing a pair of my Vintage Atlas Earrings!

In my dreams, Sarah Jessica Parker/Carrie Bradshaw wears the Green Tea neckpiece, with something flowing; Cynthia Nixon/Miranda Hobbes would wear the Diorissimo with a low cut gown; and Kristin Davis/Charlotte York would wrap herself in my 96” necklace of natural pearls!

But who would wear Be Mine?

These are my dreams and I am waiting, impatiently!  What about you?