Fashion For All
Every September, four prominent international fashion weeks—New York, London, Paris, and Milan—drive some of the world’s most important fashion trends. The events provide a peek at the ready-to-wear that will hit stores six months later. Runway shows are important for jewelers because they reveal the clothing colors and silhouettes that store owners will be accessorizing by spring.
Savvy manufacturers know this and capitalize on the trends by calling attention to pieces in their lines—or creating new items—that reflect the hues and complement the couture. Fashion weeks are high-profile marketing opportunities.
Royal Chain
Phillip Gabriel Maroof includes celebrity and runway shots in his campaigns whenever possible to drive home the point that designs from his Royal Chain Group are exciting and on trend.
“We try to include clothing trends and pair them with our products when we create our marketing campaigns,” explains the company’s vice president of marketing and design. “It gives some inspiration that retailers can use when targeting consumers.”
When the fashion weeks end, Goldstar Jewellery’s sales associate Caroline Lerche quickly gets to work putting together trend reports for her team. In particular, she aims to analyze and isolate the trends that are recurring and different but still have mass appeal, putting those in a presentation next to jewelry style ideas.
“It’s always helpful to see our marketing materials to gain knowledge on what is out there and what the public is seeing and saying about jewelry,” she says.
Her colleague Irene Yuh, sales director at the company, agrees and likes to share those reports with their retailers. While fashion’s color trends can directly relate to gemstones, color-blocking is another tool merchants can utilize—think of the color wheel and make appropriate suggestions.
Ostbye
“Clothing trends may help us sell jewelry only if the clothing material, pattern, or color tone are related to the story of the jewelry,” she notes.
Ostbye’s Theresa Namie always ties jewelry to fashion because “jewelry is fashion,” exclaims the merchandising manager. Social media is the ideal platform to share their ideas, posting fashion-theme Reels as soon as news is available so tie-ins to jewelry can be made.
More marketing assets like flyers and catalogs are shared by other firms. Shefi Diamonds supplies these to clients to emphasize key features that position its jewelry as “highly sellable,” observes Surbhi Jain, marketing director, Shefi Diamonds.
And it’s not just runways that provide fashion fodder—any high-profile event can be a source of inspiration. Besides fashion weeks, Namie’s favorites include the annual Met Gala and Oscars, but even the Olympics had its chic moments, including Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart in full equestrian attire.
“Anything that people en masse will be watching is an opportunity,” she says. “Then we would do a ‘What did you like?’ or ‘What would you wear?’ scenario.”
ODI’s Valerie Fletcher agrees with leaning into all the pop culture events.
Shefi Diamonds
“Last year’s Barbiecore was great for our pink enamel and gemstones,” says the vice president of design and product development. “This summer’s ‘Brat Green’ works well with yellow gold, peridot, and smoky quartz.”
And while trends are fun and fine to take advantage of while they last, never underestimate the staying power of classics like blue. Shefi Diamonds’ Jain reveals that blue is the hue of their best-selling gemstones.
“It’s likely due to their versatility,” she maintains. “Blue complements nearly every fashion color trend, making it a popular choice among our customers. That timeless appeal ensures it remains in high demand.”