CNN - arts & style - Jewelry for 2000

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Flashes of brilliant light and vibrant color light up windows at Manhattan's fine jewelry boutiques along Fifth Avenue. Tiffany, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and H. Stern are showcasing pieces that are versatile, elegant and ritzy in their 2000 collections.

At Van Cleef & Arpels, Muffy Potter Aston says the new year ushers in jewelry that works any hour of the day.

"Once upon a time, we only went out at night," she says. "Now we find ourselves waking up in the morning, having to go all day -- and frequently into the evening -- without so much as a change at home. The jewelry has to reflect that.

"Certainly we have the serious salon pieces that are only for the big galas, but Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry now reflects the change in that lifestyle, and we are now creating more pieces that are versatile enough to wear during the day and into the evening."

Aston says those pieces include everything from floral brooches to clover necklaces that incorporate diamonds. There's also more platinum and white gold jewelry showing in the day, she says.

The Shamany necklace, with its 666 karats of diamonds, is Aston's pick as the most spectacular piece to wear to a New Year's Eve party. "It's huge, it's extraordinary, it's amazing," she says.

Tiffany's John Loring says the "Atlas" collection is specifically designed to mark the time.

"I set to work to bring the 'American look' to time," he says. "(It's) about the elegance of numbers, the elegance of mathematics -- so why not turn them into jewels? Why not turn them into something elegant that people wear?

"We have it in all-gold, all-silver, gold-with-diamonds, gold-with-rubies, gold-with-sapphires -- good American colors."

Elsa Perretti spun circles for her contribution to the Tiffany collection, Loring says. "She did a series called 'Rounds,' which has beautiful gold sculptural round pendants -- some of them studded with little galaxies of diamonds."

Also working a celestial theme is Paloma Picasso. Loring says she has done a necklace of black onyx with little gold or silver orbits around each of the planets.

At Cartier, designers looked to Paris, the City of Light for inspiration. "This particular collection focuses on white gold and yellow gold," Brian Lange says. "We have pave diamonds, some plain pieces -- unadorned and rather simple and flowing."

On the other end of the spectrum are more flashy pieces with "diamonds that sparkle and twinkle and light up the day or the night," Loring says.

Andrea Hansen of H. Stern moves toward the new year with a collection called "Fireworks." It features high-style pieces with white, yellow and cognac diamonds. She says the necklaces, chokers and long earrings "scream 'New Year's Eve.'

"We also did a golden diamond shirt," she says. "I mean, talk about starting the new millennium in style."

CNN Style Correspondent Elsa Klensch contributed to this report.

RELATED STORIES:

La Nouvelle Bague draws on the beauty of letters
November 2, 1999
The brightest years of a designing dynasty
September 9, 1999
Dweck harnesses nature's colors to create bedazzling jewelry
August 25, 1999
Israeli couple's jewelry line strikes gold in middle America
February 16, 1999
Damiani diamonds -- Timeless jewels follow family ways
January 12, 1999
Jewelry trends -- lining the way with diamonds
November 26, 1998
Glitz and glamour of Verdura jewelry returns
September 9, 1998

RELATED SITES:

Cartier
About H. Stern Jewelers
Tiffany
Van Cleef & Arpels

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

Back to the top