Ralph Lauren SS2013 Collection

Jewellery Trends for Spring/Summer 2013

There is no room for shy jewellery this season, with bold jewellery trends on the catwalk for oversized chokers, long sautoirs, large hoop earrings and broad cuffs.

This season's fashions and patterns are full of stripes, checks, and dots, decorated with gold sequins and shimmering metallics, with the size of jewellery also taking centre stage in the Spring/Summer 2013 (SS13) catwalk collections.


The sautoir is a long necklace that can be worn in a variety of different styles, draped in a single strand or comfortably looped twice or three times around the neckline.


Ralph Lauren's SS13 catwalk show, pictured above, featured sautoirs made of colorful beads layered over fashion designs inspired by Southern Europe. Nina Ricci added an extra touch with the abundant use of layered long golden chains of black beads, almost as if they were shiny Tahitian pearls, entangled together and worn over monochrome black and lace tops. In the Yves Saint Laurent collection, the sautoir brought 1970s rock-and-roll glamour with long metal necklaces decorated with tassles.


For Spring/Summer 2013, generous hoop earrings were also in style at Balmain, Diane van Furstenberg and Versace.


Almost every model on the Balmain catwalk wore large dangling silver hoops to match the black and white stripes and checks. At Diane van Furstenberg enormous gold-coated hoops, with an Art Deco angular symmetry, completed a bright orange and blue color. Versace used tribal hoops with sexy lace outfits and stripy trousers.


Amongst the bolder influences on the catwalk, the Chanel jewellery collection stood out from the others. Chokers and cuffs with oversized faux pearls complemented the architectural structure of the catwalk and this season's collection. Pearls were classic white or contemporary grey in colour and were layered unconventionally into seemingly disorganised, yet eye catching pieces.


Real cultured pearls may not be suitable for some of this season's over sized jewellery trends as pearls rarely reach the size of 2cm in diameter.


For a bold style, however, the long pearl sautoir remains our jewellery of choice for the summer. Worn long, layered or twisted and worn short like a choker or torsade necklace, the sautoir continues to reinvent itself.

Image Credits:

With thanks to Christopher Macsurak, via http://www.flickr.com/photos/macsurak/, under a Creative Commons licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Xiao Wen and Lui Wen as Samurai Nuns, New York 2011

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