Vicenza Fair’s new high-end jewelry show applies the Couture formula to Milan

Seventy jewelry companies representing the best of Italy as well as a handful of international talents gathered in Milan during the first week of March to inaugurate a new buying show organized by Vicenza Fair, About J. But make no mistake: This was no Vicenza.

Staged at Superstudio Più, an industrial space in Milan’s gentrifying fashion district, the three-day, invitation-only affair reveled in an intimate lounge atmosphere that recalled the old Couture show—the one held in Scottsdale, Ariz., not Las Vegas—embellished with a few urban and uniquely European touches.

For starters, the photography bedecking each of the booths was professionally shot by Vogue Gioiello, lending an edgy, fashion-driven quality to the displays that seemed right in line with the event’s luxe Italian ethos. Attendees stayed at a self-consciously hip urban luxury hotel called Nhow. And evening soirees included a million-dollar (though not entirely successful) concert by French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre and a ballet performance by Eleonora Abbagnato, a 29- year-old Sicilian prima ballerina in the Paris Opera Ballet.

Then there was the jewelry. The exhibitors included all the usual suspects from Italy (Roberto Coin, Palmiero and Stefan Hafner, to name three), a mix of well-known international names (including Turkey’s Sevan Bicakci, New York’s Temple St. Clair and Munich’s Schreiner Fine Jewellery) and a sprinkling of high-end designers more accustomed to selling their one-of-a-kind creations at private trunk shows than at trade fairs. Among the latter, Vicente Gracia Joyas, a Spanish designer from Valencia, stood out as best in show for his auctionworthy jewels, so intricate they seemed to tell a story.

Vicente Gracia El ruiseñor y la rosa

For example, Gracia described his “El ruiseñor y la rosa,” or The Nightingale and the Rose, ring in yellow gold with enamel, rubellite and tourmaline as a “poetic representation of love” in which the bird is drawn to the flower, is scratched by a thorn and its blood becomes rubies scattered over the garden.

Blue White Jewels, Cleopatra bracelet

Not everything at About J, however, was quite this artful. For the most part, the jewels spoke to the trends driving the marketplace, namely stones and pearls in all shades of brown (cocoa, cinnamon, champagne); long, flapper-style necklaces; spheres of openworked gold; and plenty of serpents. At Blue White Jewels, the sizable Cleopatra snake ring in blackened gold studded with brown diamonds was coiled seductively in the front display.

The appeal of About J, besides its carefully curated ambiance— complete with a “J Circuit” of shops, spas and restaurants designed to welcome attendees—was its intimacy coupled with the caliber of its exhibitors. “It’s close to Rome, the level was quite high, there are not many exhibitors and it has a more personal approach,” said Fabio Salini, an Italian designer who rarely participates in buying fairs, by way of explaining why he chose to show at About J. “It’s very intelligent that they did a lounge atmosphere; everyone has the same booth and the product talks. In Basel and Vicenza, the risk is to be hidden by the big brands.” Speaking of Basel—BaselWorld, the premier luxury buying event, held every spring in Switzerland—numerous exhibitors pointed out that the organizers seem to be crowding into Swiss territory with their stylish approach to buying.

“We’re hoping [About J] is going to become an event,” said Manuel Martin of Utopia, a Milan-based pearl jewelry exhibitor. “If we give people a reason to come and a reason to buy, we can capture their ‘open to buy’… because Basel is still a watch fair.” Indeed, momentum seems to be building to make Milan, Italy’s fashion and commercial capital, the next destination on the jewelry calendar.

Zydo, gem-set Heavens necklace

“I think Milan is the right setting for a jewelry show,” concluded Davide Zybert, owner of Zydo. “The real fashion jewelry is made in Valenza and Milan—it’s normal it should be here. But I don’t think this year is going to be very good for jewelry. It’s an election year and the economy…” He trailed off. “When the wind blows strong, you cannot go against it.”