Twisted Silver necklace is hot for spring!

Twisted Silver, which is a hot jewelry line from right here in the Bay Area, has a fabulous necklace for spring that fits right into the spring 2011 jewelry trends from the runways. The runways in Paris, New York, Milan and London moved away from minimalism and into bold jewelry designs for spring. There were linear creations, bib necklaces, fringe necklaces, chokers and larger pendants.

The Moab Rocker necklace from Twisted Silver fits right into the large pendant trend and also doubles for the choker trend. The necklace sits right on the collar bone and features a unique, vintage silver leaf-like drop pendant that is made from a hand forged vintage spoon. The recycled or “up-cycled” vintage spoon pendant makes the Moab Rocker both on trend and green. Love it! The necklace is also adjustable so you can easily wear it over a turtleneck or adjust the drop of the pendant.

The Moab Rocker from Twisted Silver is made from both silver and brass. The pendant ranges in size from two inches to three inches depending upon the piece. Each necklace is one of a kind since they are hand-made. The Moab Rocker is a great investment for spring as well as fall 2011. The runway shows have recently ended in Berlin and Rio for fall 2011 and Paris Haute Couture is currently underway. The shows which have already taken place have given Fashionistas a glimpse into the trends which may appear on the Milan, New York and London catwalks. The fall 2011 jewelry trends are, thus far, a continuation of spring 2011 with even more pendants appearing in designer collections.

The Moab Rocker is priced at $70 and can be found online at twisted-silver.com. As a Bay Area Fashionista reader, you can receive a special discount of 15% off on your order by entering the coupon code INSIDERS at check-out. Happy shopping and stay fabulous 

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Photos: Moab Rocker c/o Twisted Silver Photos 1, 2, 3 Bay Area Fashionista. Photo 4 courtesy of Twisted Silver

Designer spotlight: Ann Lowe designed Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress

Ann Lowe is one of the most iconic American fashion designers. Lowe designed one of the most famous wedding dresses in the 1900’s; the wedding dress of Jacqueline Bouvier for her marriage to John F. Kennedy in 1953. The wedding dress was made from ivory taffeta and inspired brides across the country to mimic her style for the next several years. In addition to the wedding dress, Lowe designed the ten pink bridesmaids dresses.

Ann Lowe, who was born in 1898 in Clayton, Alabama, was the great granddaughter of a slave and plantation owner. Lowe was also daughter and granddaughter to dress makers in Alabama society. Ann Lowe was able to overcome the many obstacles she faced in life including discrimination. Lowe was ambitious and she faced two uphill battles in the fight to reach her dreams; she was a woman and she was African-American. Fortunately, Lowe did not let the cultural climate of the day deter her from living the life she wanted to live. Ann Lowe had learned about dress making from her mother and grandmother. It was her dream to design dresses as well, so in 1917 Lowe enrolled in the S.T. Taylor Design School in New York City.

Fashion school in New York was difficult when it came to social matters for Lowe. The white students ignored her so she worked hard to ignore the social atmosphere and concentrate on her studies. After graduating from fashion school, Ann Lowe moved to Tampa, Florida where she opened a salon. In 1928 she decided to move back to New York to pursue her dream of fashion design. Upon her return to New York, Ann Lowe worked in retail clothing stores on commission and continued to work on her design career while not on the company clock. Lowe began designing for top design houses in New York and her name was kept a secret due to her color. Her hard work paid off in 1946 when a dress she designed was worn by Olivia de Havilland at the Academy Awards. Olivia de Havilland accepted her Academy Award for Best Actress while wearing Lowe’s design for her part in “To Each His Own.” The name on the dress was Sonia Rosenberg.

Ann Lowe continued designing dresses and her name slowly became known. Her designs were preferred by society women in New York such as the Rockefellers and the DuPonts; the most well known being Jackie Kennedy. Ann Lowe was considered New York society’s “best kept secret.” Women did not readily admit they were wearing a dress designed by an African-American; but no-one could deny her natural talent and eye for design.

Unfortunately Ann Lowe’s health deteriorated over the years and she lost an eye to glaucoma. This did not stop her from designing dresses. She continued to work for Madeline Couture in New York and then tried her hand at her own label, Ann Lowe Originals for a short time on Madison Avenue in New York. In 1968, Ann Lowe won an award for her designs; “Couturier of the Year” and her name was listed in the Social Directory.

Ann Lowe designs can be seen in present day at the Costume institute of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Washington D.C. Black Fashion Museum and the Smithsonian.

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Jackie Kennedy on her wedding day. Photo: WikiCommons

2011 Fine Jewelry Trends: Rose Gold Jewelry

The Paris, Milan and New York runways gave the fashion world a glimpse into the jewelry trends for spring 2011. Although the trends on the runway were more in the “costume jewelry” category, fine jewelers do look for color trends and ways to make precious metals and stones integrate well into the apparel trends. With bright colors and patterns making a mark on spring fashion during the runway shows, fine jewelry designers have followed suit with either dainty pieces that will not overshadow a bold print or color, or with statement pieces that signal an end to economic distress.

Rose gold has been slowly increasing in popularity over the past few years, and with Pantone declaring “Honeysuckle” or bright pink to be the “IT” color for spring and summer 2011, rose gold has made a bigger spike in popularity for the upcoming seasons.

Rose gold works well with cool toned colors such as blue and it also blends well with purples and pinks. Rose gold also works well with shades of brown, which makes it a good precious metal choice to pair with neutral toned color palette which is another trend from the spring 2011 runways.

While casual jewelry is trending in silver, bronze and black metal, fine jewelry is trending towards rose gold; this is not to say that white metals and yellow gold are not important, they are, but rose gold is making a bigger mark in fine jewelry this season than in past seasons.

Rose gold is being shown in both polished and brushed fine jewelry styles; brushed rose gold being the more trendy style for spring and summer 2011.

Bay Area Fashionista’s semi-precious and precious stone color picks for rose gold: Smoky quartz, pink stones, red stones, purple stones and clear stones.