Duchess Catherine Jewelry Roundup

 

Now that Princess Kate and Prince Wills have left the continent, I've finally been able to sift through all of the elegant and surprisingly conservative jewelry statements our favorite royal wore on her whirlwind tour.

Before I get to it, I'm thrilled to announce that my sugar mamma, Jewelry.com gave me a little corner of their blingy universe to bring you all the great celebrity looks I gush about here at prices we mere mortals can afford. Click here to see my first go at it - A Princess Kate-themed bauble extravaganza with all of the looks featured in this post and then some!

Perhaps we should have known from the moment we saw her down-low diamond tiara choice for her walk down the aisle that this princess-to-be is not one to 'BRAG' about her bling. Rather, we're seeing a continuation of that 'splash of sparkle' trend I've spotted on the red carpet this summer - along with a few sartorial surprises.

They don't call her the "Discount Duchess" for nothing. I like that she's open to using her accessories with more than one outfit - like the sapphire drops pictured above and below with her diamond cross pendant.

And our Kate loves to bring out the basics - crosses, circles, and studs. Certainly not a 'fashion-forward' choice but a great way to bring the jewelry box classics back on trend.  

Chandeliers made a swinging appearance - on loan from the Queen - at the tony BAFTA event held in Los Angeles, where the Duchess rubbed elbows with Hollywood royalty like Nicole Kidman, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez and Reese Witherspoon.

And the surprises? I don't think I've ever touted a celebrity citrine piece - and these barely there drop earrings by Kiki McDonough are just lovely. Citrine. Who knew?

These tiny treasure-esque gold leaf earrings are just the right touch of whimsy. Remember her diamond acorn earrings from the wedding (pictured above)? Somewhere, The Lorax is smiling... 

Speaking of tree-themed accessories? Everyone was talking about the diamond maple leaf brooch the Duchess wore on several occasions while visiting our Canadian friends to the north. It's another loaner from the Queen's coffers - and continues to give the brooch category some oomph (Michelle Obama? Watch your back.)

But with 40 outfits making the rounds for her 9 day adventure across the pond, this is just the tip of the 'ice' berg. A reminder to visit Jewelry.com for a complete sale curated by yours truly, where I've collected all the top Kate jewelry looks and paired them with pieces you can bring home to your own jewelry box.

Get in touch with your inner princess, jewelry hounds! Kate's style makes it easy. Jewelry.com makes it affordable.  Enjoy!

Royal Wedding Jewelry: Catherine Wears Cartier & Robinson Pelham

The royal wedding jewelry shining from Kate Middleton (now Her Royal Highness Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge) was an understated display of elegance, grace and delicate diamonds.

The Tiara:

The subject of MUCH speculation, Kate 'borrowed' the Halo Tiara from The Queen's coffers, which was made by Cartier in 1936. The Queen's father, then the Duke of York, bought the bauble for the Queen Mother, then the Duchess of York (still with me?), who then gave it to her daughter - then Princess Elizabeth - on her 18th birthday.

Set in platinum, the priceless jewel is made from old and baguette-cut diamonds, with the upper part forming a range of lotus flowers and the lower 'zig-zag' part forming a removable piece that can be used as a bandeau.

No word yet on whether or not Catherine gets to keep it for her own collection - or if it's just a loaner. Stay tuned!

The Earrings:

Kate's understated earrings by Robinson Pelham were a gift from her parents - and were specifically designed to match her tiara. Nice touch.

According to Today Show blogger, The Windsor Knot, the earrings are diamond-set stylised oak leaves with a pear-shaped diamond drop and a pavé-set diamond acorn suspended in the centre.

Inspiration for the design comes from the Middleton family's new coat of arms, which includes acorns and oak leaves. Cool.


The Ring:

Kate's wedding band, which ALMOST didn't make it on her ring finger (nice work, Wills) is a rare band of Welsh gold by Wartski, who also crafted the Welsh gold wedding bands for Prince Charles and Camilla.

Prince William famously declined to wear a ring because he 'doesn't have a taste for jewelry'. It's a happy day. I'll leave this as a rare "No comment".

Overall, we witnessed a delicate diamond display that's in keeping with Kate's understated jewelry style. We'll see how long that lasts now that she has access to The Queen's stash!

Royal Wedding Fashion: Kate Wears McQueen!

I'm over the moon. As I had hoped, Kate or CATHERINE Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge, I should say, wore a dress by Sarah Burton, creative director of Alexander McQueen! From Lady Gaga to the future Queen of England, it doesn't get any better for this designer.

"Miss Middleton wished for her dress to combine tradition and modernity with the artistic vision that characterises Alexander McQueen’s work," Clarence House officials released in a statement.

The design includes hand-cut lace flowers hand-engineered onto ivory silk tulle that incorporates rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock silhouettes. French Chanitlly lace and English Cluny lace were used in the Irish Carrickmacross needleword tradition, according to the release.

Catherine also wore an ivory silk tulle veil held in place by the Cartier ‘halo’ tiara, lent to Miss Middleton by The Queen. (more on the tiara soon).

She's Audrey Hepburn meets Princess Grace! G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S!

Princess Diana's Wedding Jewelry - A Surprise Guest

Forgive me as I dive headlong into a Royal Wedding blogfest this week. I already teared up at the snippet of Barbara Walters' interview of Elton John on Good Morning America this morning - I'm going to be a mess come Friday.

While the rumor mill is buzzing about the guest list (Elton John and the Becks made the cut), the dress designer (Kate, herself, is now in the running) and the honeymoon spot (Lizard Island, Australia) - my heart belongs to the jewelry buzz - of course.

One tear-jerker of a jewelry morsel I uncovered was news that Princess Diana's sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, will wear the late princess's wedding earrings to William and Kate’s big day. The royal stunners each feature a central pear-shaped diamond surrounded by almost 50 smaller diamonds.

According to Today Show blog, The Windsor Knot, the diamond drop earrings were the “something borrowed” worn by Diana to marry Charles and were seen in all their glory when the couple kissed on the Buckingham Palace balcony 30 years ago (they were owned by Diana's mother, Frances Shand Kydd, who died in 2004).

The priceless jewels were flown back from America, where they were featured in the exhibition Diana: A Celebration. Now at Union Station museum and gallery in  Kansas City, the display also includes the late princess's wedding dress and other items from her life.

While all of the Spencer family, including Diana’s other sister Lady Jane Fellowes and brother Earl Spencer, will be attending - royal watchers were shocked to learn that none of them will play a visible role in the ceremony.

A snub of royal porportions? Or a tasteful way to make the day just about William and Kate?  I'm going with the latter. Let's not rub salt in old wounds.

Kate Middleton Wedding Jewelry: The Trouble With Tiaras

Kate Middleton's wedding jewelry has been the subject of MUCH speculation in bauble land, especially since she's apparently the only one who will be wearing a wedding band now that Prince Wills opted out of the sacred ritual.

So. Most royal watchers are fixating on the tiara - a favorite past time with this crowd. But does Kate have to wear one? In a word: YES!

Lady Diana chose to wear her own family heirloom when she married Prince Charles - the Diamond Spencer tiara. But since Kate is, how shall I say this delicately - a lowly commoner - it's likely her family doesn't have a stash of tiaras at the ready.

The Queen could, of course, choose to lend or (gasp!) give Kate a tiara from her vast collection - which would be seen as a sign of confidence in the bride. (Click here to learn more about the Queen's tiara collection - and which one is the current Kate frontrunner).

I love the idea of a NEW tiara making it's debut (along with an Alexander McQueen wedding gown, fingers crossed!) and InStyle's wily editors apparently agree since they recently asked some of the jewelry world's top designers to sketch out their vision for a Kate Middleton wedding tiara in an awesome pictorial. 

I love this one by Chopard (of course).

And that wacky Alexis Bitter's interpretation is just crazy enough to drive the Queen to an early grave.

So what will mack out the mellon of this most famous bride? We'll just have to ride the neverending Royal Wedding pre-party wave - and keep the guessing games going until the big day on the 29th.

In the meantime, JewelClub is getting in the spirit with the launch of their Royal Sample Sale today - with lots of great Kate-inspired sapphire sample sale steals, royal watchers!

And YES the  Royal Wedding Live Tweet party is ON! We're using #royaljewelry for anyone who wants to join the fun. And YES - I will be getting up at 4AM to see it live. And YES - I think I may have a jewelry addiction problem.

Prince William's Wedding Band Diss

What gives, Wills? I've been bombarded with reports that the King of England-to-be will (gasp!) NOT be wearing a royal wedding band.

Kate Middleton, of course, will be putting the pedal to the metal with a Welsh gold band bequeathed by the Queen, but her famous fiance is rejecting the most hallowed of bridal traditions for no other reason than - he just doesn't have a taste for jewelry.

Yeah, neither does most of the warm-blooded male population, but they suck it up and wear the universal symbol for 'I'm taken' just the same. Just sayin'.

“It was something the couple discussed, but Prince William isn’t one for jewelry,” a St. James Palace aid tells the Daily Mail. “It really is just down to personal preference.”

It’s a bold decision for any groom to make, royal or no. Even Will’s father, Charles, wears a wedding band beneath his signet ring. But according to insiders, the Prince has Kate’s blessing.

What do you guys think of William's wedding band balk? Is it OK for guys (any guy - not just the most famous groom on the planet) to take a pass on the wedding band tradition? Or is it all's fair in love and ring fingers? Thoughts?

April Is Diamond Month - Birthstones, Brides and Brits, Oh My!

Jewelry hounds, just when we thought our Awards Show jewelry withdrawal was going to get the better of us, in walks April with a swagger and a promise:

Hold on to your "holy cow!" - It's going to be one doozy of a diamond month!

Why? Well, let's get the most obvious reason out of the way first.  For those of you living in a cave, the royal wedding is this month! Not only will we get to ooh and ahh at Kate Middleton's wedding jewelry, we can gawk at all the other crown jewels and gems that are sure to make an apperance.

These ladies never met a tiara they didn't like, Mary. For reals.

Stay tuned for all my jewelry-laden lead up to the big day on April 29th. And I'm of half a mind to Live Tweet the darn thing. Any takers for #royaljewelry?

OK. The next big reason to celebrate April? It's this month's birthstone. (Please excuse me while I seethe with envy at all you April babies). BUT even if you're not born in April, many folks in bauble land are celebrating - including JewelClub with their April Is Diamond Month extravaganza.

Today, for example, I saw on their FaceBook Page that they are cutting the price of this 1/2 ct three-stone diamond anniversary ring by 83%. Not sure what they're smoking over there, but as Meg Ryan famously said in When Harry Met Sally...

"I'll have what they're having..."

And they promise to slash the prices of lots of diamond classics all month - just check in on their Homepage and bring on the ice.

So we while we red carpet jewelry gawkerts have to wait until May 2nd to get a legitimate fix (The Met's Costume Institute Gala is scheduled then - stay tuned), April is picking up the slack in a MAJOR way.

No foolin'!

Alexander McQueen's Royal Frock Fest

Will Kate Middleton wear an Alexander McQueen dress to the royal wedding? If the rumor mill and today's Paris Fashion Week runway show are any indication, we may have an answer to the most buzzed about fashion question since the frenzy surrounding Michelle Obama's inauguration gown.

While the guessing game will likely continue until the event unfolds on April 29th, jewelry hounds and fashion fans can marvel instead at today's incredible Alexander McQueen offering - Sarah Burton's 2nd McQueen show as creative director, after his untimely passing last year.

The event was held at the 'uplifting' venue, Conciergerie, which was the antechamber to the guillotine during the French Revolution, holding thousands of prisoners, including one Marie Antoinette. It was also the site of one of McQueen's most memorable shows, where live wolves prowled the premises.

A series of black, bondage-inspired frocks opened the proceedings, followed by an angelic display of white gowns laced with pearls and bone china (!). Needless to say, a princess would look stunning in any of these creations with a little royal-friendly tweaking.

While jewelry was a veritable no-show here (and on most of the runway shows in Paris this year), McQueen shoes more than make up for our need for the 'lower jaw drop' couture moment.

I know one Monster Queen who's gonna want to get her claws into these....