Pretty in Pink: Everything's coming up rose in fashion and accessories for Spring

Rose Quartz charm bracelet by A MARENS

Rose Quartz serpent ring by E MARANS

I realize Valentine’s Day is long behind us and we’re in the mood for summer thanks to the surprisingly warm weather lately, but I’m enjoying the romantic mood set by the pink trend for Spring. Everywhere you look there are splashes of pink brightening up our mood. Pink is a big trend story on the Neiman Marcus website page for dresses and accessories and the May issue of Glamour popped with the color as a design accent throughout and in several of its ad pages. Macy’s ran a two-page spread for its Style & Co. brand showing a diverse cast of models wearing Capri pants and colorful tops featuring a range of pinks while rival cosmetics brands Maybelline and Revlon promoted shades of rose and pink in ads for their respective lip products. Pink is the ultimate girly color. It’s upbeat and feels light as air, which is what we need right about now. When designing my line, I knew I would include a piece in rose quartz. It catches the light so beautifully and maintains a dainty quality regardless of the way it’s cut or how it’s showcased in jewelry. My rose quartz ring is a perfect example of this. It’s part of my serpent-themed collection, which is inspired by my Moroccan heritage, and has a strong, sexy vibe in an oval shape enveloped by a snake figure made of white diamonds and compelling ruby eyes. It’s big and bold, my signature look, but the quartz keeps it soft, combining the best of both worlds. My daughter Alicia’s line A MARENS has rose quartz in its sparkle bracelet offerings, too. It’s called the Odelia bracelet and is perfect as a graduation gift. Check out the full A MARENS Collection on Flickr here.

Hoop Dreams: Why hoop earrings maintain their seductive hold on fashion.

ABBY HOOP EARRINGS BY E MARANS

Guess jeans announced this week that their most memorable model, Claudia Schiffer, would return to front the brand's 30th anniversary advertising campaign. It's hard to believe it's been more than 20 years since Claudia made her debut in those flirty Brigitte Bardot-inspired ads. She's just as gorgeous today as she was when she wore the bustier and hoop earrings in the most iconic of her Guess photos. Guess executives interviewed in Women's Wear Daily singled it out as the campaign's most memorable image. I think it's because of its fresh, pared down simplicity and the fact that Claudia was styled in hoops played a role as well. Hoops have a unique place in the world of earrings because they're both dainty and eye-catching at once. The earrings Claudia wears in the Guess ad are on the chunky side but their outward projection suggests a sense of lightness and freedom. There's a feeling this woman is set free to be who she wants to be. The classic hoop is sleeker and lightweight and brings the eye to a woman's jawline or neck. Worn with hair done in an elegant upsweep or pulled back, this can have a very sexy effect. In fact, hoops have long been part of the style arsenal of the world's sexiest women. Sophia Loren wore them with low-cut peasant blouses in many of the publicity shots for her early movie roles in the 1950s. Today, Jennifer Lopez dazzles in her music videos in red-hot looks that more often than not include big hoops. For E MARANS, I interpreted this classic silhouette two ways. The Abby earrings, named after my very first customer, are teardrop-shaped and made of white gold encrusted with diamonds for major glitter factor. Our other style, the Charm Earrings, are perfect circles done in yellow gold and have whimsical glamour with attachable charms in the shapes of hearts, lightning strikes or teardrops. I call this look "jewelry for jewelry" and can't imagine any woman wearing it without getting a ton of compliments.

 

CHARM HOOP EARRINGS BY E MARANS

Next Generation: My daughter continues our family tradition of jewelry design by introducing A MARENS.

There was a time not so long ago when teenagers entered a rebellious stage, determined to blaze their own trail and set themselves apart from their parents for better or worse. Parents prepared for this rite of passage with both trepidation and resignation but I'm happy to say this doesn't always have to be the case. The fashion industry is showing a charming mommy-and-me trend as a new generation of stars follows in the footsteps of some of the most iconic personalities of the 1970s. The March issue of Vogue, for example, had a beautiful multipage ad insert for Neiman Marcus that showcased its spring collections on Susan Sarandon and her daughter Eva Amurri, who inherited Susan's striking Bette Davis eyes and unique beauty. Net-a-Porter, meanwhile, used '70s supermodel Patti Hansen and her daughter with Keith Richards, Theodora Richards, in a two-page spread. Hansen's modeling contemporary Jerry Hall was featured last year in an H&M ad with her lookalike daughter Georgia May Jagger, who is one of fashion's rising stars with campaigns for Versace, Hudson Jeans and Rimmel to her credit. It's exciting to see these fresh young stars excel in the industries their parents conquered before them without fear of comparison holding them back. I know how proud these celebrities must feel because my daughter Alicia, who just turned 18, is making her mark in our family tradition of jewelry design, which started with my late father Benjamin, whose career flourished in the 1970s as well. Alicia has a passion for jewelry and fashion and balances her schoolwork with a creative streak that has given birth to the A MARENS collection. Like me, she has a natural love for iconic shapes, symbols and raw materials, but she has her own, very modern approach that is both stylish and affordable for young girls all over. The collection, priced between $350 and $930, is a great option for the upcoming prom season and is centered around whimsical charms encrusted with diamonds and showcased by bracelets made in a wide range of semi-precious gemstones. A MARENS offers charms in three bracelet styles and a necklace group. The bracelets include Odelia, a sparkly group that uses semi-precious materials such as sapphires and garnets, Alicia, which rocks an earthy look in raw gemstones like turquoise, jade and thulite, and a third group fashioned out of pyrite. The necklace assortment includes four semi-precious gemstones and two styles that represent good luck: the Clover necklace and the Shadai necklace made of mother of pearl. I'm proud to see Alicia indulge her creative spirit at such a young age and consider myself very fortunate to count her as a fellow designer. Check out the A MARENS collection on Flickr by clicking here and contact me at cooler1011@hotmail.com for more information.

i

Getting my kicks at Punch Fitness Center

They don’t call New York City the concrete jungle for nothing. It is arguably the most fast-paced, high-stakes place in the world where stress levels are at a perennial high. As a jewelry designer, I love every minute of it and thrive on the inspiration I get from the city’s energy. However, all that stimulation can overload my system and I need to find time to put the sketch pad down and recharge my battery. One of the best places to get the adrenaline pumping and clear the head is Punch Fitness Center, a popular kick-boxing studio located in the Upper East Side.

Punch Fitness Center  was founded by Adelino DaCosta, a former national kick-boxing champion, and offers a very personalized approach to fitness training that inspires and challenges me to reach my full potential. Proof of this can be found on Punch’s photo gallery, which includes several images of yours truly getting put through my paces by my amazing trainer, Adelino. I love the variety of workouts they offer. Members are anything but bored in their classes, which include boxing, Capoeira, weight training and cardio machines. Punch sets the fitness standard high, but as the old saying goes: no guts, no glory.

The Glitterati: Gold sees gains as a top trend in jewelry and designer fashion in 2012

E MARANS SUNBURST

Gold has been getting a lot of buzz lately in the financial markets, but a trend isn't officially a trend until the tastemakers at the designer fashion shows put it on their catwalks. Based on a runway report in Women's Wear Daily this week, it's safe to say gold is a wise investment to make in your accessories wardrobe right now. The leaders in fashion banged a drum for a gilded age this coming Fall: tops at Ralph Lauren and Theyskens' Theory, bottoms by Matthew Williamson and Dsquared2 and dresses at Giambattista Valli and Lanvin glittered in varying degrees of gold. Perhaps it's the comfort in wearing a classic precious metal that stands the test of time or wishful thinking that a retro-Dynasty moment is waiting beyond the economic recovery, but fashion is hot for gold. To me, gold is a source of loving inspiration because it's the material favored by my late father, a well-regarded jeweler who designed for classic accessories houses like Tiffany and Harry Winston in the 1970s. He created many elegant pieces that I regard as a high standard for my approach to fine jewelry design. My signature for E MARANS is raw gemstones in bold statement silhouettes, but when I work in gold, my mood is more subdued and romantic. The C Bracelet, which I offer in yellow, white and rose gold, is an open-ended, minimalist piece that can be layered for a chic, high-fashion effect. To build on the gilded statement, I created gold hoops with diamonds that can be personalized with collectible diamond charms. If you favor pendants, my Sunburst necklace is a sure-fire winner in yellow gold embellished with white and yellow diamonds. It has a medallion feel to it that draws the eye and brings a smile, which we all can certainly use more of these days.

E MARANS C BRACELETS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E MARANS CHARM HOOPS

Taking Inspiration for a Spin: Why I Love SoulCycle

As a designer, I live on inspiration. I'm constantly getting great ideas from my surroundings and, living in New York City, stimulation comes to me from all directions! The Big Apple is a frenetic, hypercompetitive city and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm on the go all day long, shopping the jewelry market for exciting new gemstones and taking visual cues from the sites and sounds of the city. Staying in shape is crucial to keeping me alert and creative and one of my favorite sources of exercise is my daily spin class at SoulCycle, the chain of indoor cycling studios that has taken New York and Los Angeles by storm. For one intense, high-energy hour, I am thrust into a vortex of prime cardio workout that leaves me stimulated, refreshed and feeling a rush of creativity. I also love that SoulCycle isn't just a great workout, it's a wonderful community of like-minded people who want to be the best they can be and they share their good vibes with others. For example, a fun feature of their website shows photos of their members traveling in various parts of the world showing off their SoulCycle tees. If you're ever in New York or L.A., make sure to drop by one of their studios to find out what all the buzz is about.

In the Limelight: Couture Designers Make Chartreuse a Statement Color for Fall 2012.

Fall Fashion Week is over in New York City and while American designers were pushing burgundy as the season’s key trend color, January’s European couture shows turned to chartreuse for some pop. I was floored by Giorgio Armani’s show for Armani Prive. Nearly a third of his designs were done in a full range of greens with chartreuse figuring prominently in both accents and head-to-toe looks. Mr. Armani’s theme for Fall is Transformation, according to Style.com, and serpents are a focal point for this trend, which excited me because snakes are a favorite motif of mine. My jewelry line E MARANS has several snake-themed pieces in its ring selection. One particular favorite is called Snake in the Grass and features a diamond-encrusted gold serpent winding around a patch of grass made of titanite, a translucent gemstone that glitters beautifully in chartreuse. Priced at $9,000, the ring is a statement piece, much like the designs shown at Donatella Versace’s first couture show in nearly eight years. For Versace to show citrus colors is not news, of course, but Donatella has strong buzz right now following her well-publicized collaboration with H&M, so all eyes in the fashion world are upon her. Following the couture shows, The Wall Street Journal published a large image of a stunning one-shouldered, beaded gown from Donatella’s show. It’s a gown I could imagine Jennifer Lopez or Angelina Jolie wearing. Head-to-toe chartreuse may seem more appropriate for Hollywood’s red carpet if you’re shy about wearing bold color, but accessories are a great way to work fashion’s top trends into your wardrobe without feeling overwhelmed. A ring, bracelet or necklace can update your look and put you on trend without overdoing it. So as you punch up your fall wardrobe with new trends in the coming months, try going green. Lime green, that is.

The serpent motif goes from ominous to sensuous as jewelry's hot new trend.

Welcome, and thank you for visiting The Bling Bank.  We will be depositing buzz on the latest trends and hope you will be withdrawing new and exciting ways to invest in your jewelry wardrobe.  The upcoming auction of the iconic Richard Avedon photo of actress Nastassia Kinski lying nude enveloped by a serpent inspired me to address the recent trend toward snakes as design inspirations for jewelry.

The serpent has been a beguiling symbol since the beginning of time. The story of Adam and Eve is practically narrated by the snake. This sensual, slithering and mysterious creature  has always intrigued people.  Now the influence has slid onto all categories of accessories: rings, bracelets, belts, bags and shoes. We're loving the trend and incorporated it in the debut E MARANS collection with several rings and even cufflinks for men.  Go ahead and celebrate and slink into something sexy and snakey now!



E MARANS serpentine ring is aquamarine with diamonds and ruby eyes.



E MARANS "Snake in the Grass" ring of tiotonite,  yellow gold and diamonds



E MARANS "Swivel Snake" ring



A perfect Father's Day gift for Jay-Z: E MARANS "Rockin' Snake" cuff links in white gold dipped in rodium with white diamonds and ruby eyes. We like to call them Man Jewels.