By Cynthia Unninayar

It is time again to look at the upcoming jewellery trends for 2011. Having last year re-introduced our popular trends tracker guide, Trends & Colours—first created in 2000—we again feature the top ten trends for 2011. Since jewellery and fashion are inextricably linked, and since colour is the major trend in both jewellery and fashion, we are also featuring Pantone’s top ten colour directions for Spring/Summer 2011, along with comments by ten couturiers on their must-have fashion outfit.

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Speaking of colour and fashion, the S/S 2011 runways were awash in brilliant colours, with bold and sometimes clashing collections, that proved to be not only fashionable but also quite wearable. While one of the strongest trends was orange coral, many designers mixed and (un)matched all sorts of vivid hues in a range of pattern combinations. Many of the global runway collections also included a variety of jewellery, from statement making dangles and bangles to the perennially popular hoop earring and eye-catching necklaces.

Jewellery designs are generally very personal to their creators, yet trends arise when they are influenced by economic, social, and cultural factors. Some changes in trends are gradual. Some are more dramatic. Starting on page 25, we present the top ten trends in designer jewellery that we foresee as the most popular in 2011. These are: colour, in all hues and shades, in fashion, home décor and jewellery; nature-inspired themes, particularly flowers and butterflies, frogs and fish, snakes and scorpions, as well as jungle motifs, in both realistic and highly fanciful designs; hoops and dangles, in metal alone or set with gems and diamonds, often stylized in form; cuffs and bangles, wide cuffs and stacked or single bangles in a variety of designs; eco-friendly jewellery, using recycled metals and ethically mined gemstones, now a reflection of the growing awareness by consumers and industry (witness the activities of the Responsible Jewellery Council in terms of mine to market certification or the creation of ICA’s Ethical Mining and Fair Trade committee) to create products that reflect protection and responsibility in both environmental and human terms; rough and ready, a return to the natural look with sliced, diced, and rough diamonds and gems in sophisticated and elegant designs; silver and titanium, economy oblige, with new and interesting creations in lesser costly metals in all colours and shapes; airy and open, creative ways to get a luxurious look for less; organic, harking back to the natural look with its freeform and textured styling; personalized pieces, using the perennially popular charms and the more recent individual beads to create jewellery tailored to specific tastes or lifestyles.

Jewellery designs evoking the colours of the rainbow begin on page 34, starting with red and ending with the non-colours of black and white. And, because we have chosen examples from a wide variety of jewellery designers—some up-and-coming, some well-established—we have also selected a wide variety of fashion designers, some well-known, some lesser known, but all of whom are talented in their chosen fields. As a special feature on the colour gold, we take a look, not at the metal itself, but at the golden pearl, one of the hottest elements in fine jewellery today. Adopted by talented designers worldwide, this luxurious South Sea pearl is truly worth its weight in gold, and is just one of the many types of jewellery featured here that will be on retailers’ shelves in 2011.

From all the team at CIJ Trends & Colours, have a wonderful and prosperous year.

Cynthia Unninayar