Back to Business and BHB and Beladora

Well, the much dreaded Carmageddon turned out to be really nothing at all
no 20 mile traffic jams, no wild west road rage shoot outs.
People stayed home, traffic was nil and
Los Angeles turned out to be lovely place over the weekend.
Maybe Caltrans should shut down the 405 freeway every once in a while.

Have I mentioned that I'm happy to be home
and especially excited to be back in Beverly Hills at the Beladora HQ
doing my estate jewelry thing
because I just love the accessory that keeps on giving
as these things happen
when gold reaches a new high of $1600.

Yes, I know you love your Jimmy Choo shoes and your Hermes belts
but I prefer an accessory that goes up in value while I wear it!


Being tan, rested and jewelry-less in Mexico was great
but now it's back to business.
Take a basic white shirt, a Michael Kors pin stripped pencil skirt, a deep tan
and add estate jewelry....gold estate jewelry to be exact.

I'm totally loving this Carlo Weingrill choker necklace

I love super comfortable flexible jewelry that doesn't have clasps or hinges,
don't you?

And I love to wear ancient coin jewelry
because it lets me channel my inner 1960's jet set socialite babe alter ego.

This necklace makes me imagine a life of lolling on the yacht

on the shores of Sardinia, Santorini or St Tropez.

And then there's the basic bracelet

This solid gold link bracelet by the French jewelry house Fred

is the type of piece that I would love to wear everyday.

Do you have one signature piece of jewelry that you wear everyday?

Got Gold?

Yeah, you knew that I was going to get to this eventually
the crazy high price of gold
making business more difficult
but your personal jewelry more valuable

The trend continues upward

Here is where gold has gone since 2000

Has the value of any other accessories besides gold jewelry had this kind of appreciation...

Balenciaga, St Laurent, Hermes, Gucci or Prada bags?

Louboutin, Jimmy Choo or Manolo Blahnik shoes?

Chanel ceramic watches?

Definitely not.

Jewelry is the only fashion accessory that holds value and that can appreciate

(and that you can liquidate for actual $$$)

if you buy pre-owned estate jewelry...and not pay full retail on brand new jewelry

Just saying

It's a value proposition

Minding Your Metals

In the crazy world of fashion where hubris reigns
we have Lindsey Lohan as the "muse" of the Ungaro line
and
Alexander McQueen putting 12 inch heels on the runway
and
Albert Elbaz of Lanvin selling costume jewelry nonsense for over $1,000
it makes you wonder
Is there anything out there of actual value worth buying?

Well you know where this is going
GOLD...the investment you can wear.

Check out this chart showing that gold is up more than 20% this year against the Dollar
(and only up some 12% against the Euro...)

The Duchesse on her Passage des Pearls blog has written an excellent explanation of the terminology associated with gold including

karat weight

Karat weight refers to the purity of the gold. (The word is spelled carat, abbreviated ct in some parts of the world, and karat, abbreviated k in the US, Canada and Germany.)

and pure gold

Do not be misled by the term "pure gold": In the US, 10k and up is considered pure gold, but a 10k and 18k bracelet will look very different. In Europe (and in parts of Asia) a number indicating percentage of gold is usually stamped, instead of karat: 10k= 417 (41.7% gold) 14k= 585 (58.5% gold) 18k=750 (75% gold)The higher the karat, the higher the gold purity is in the piece.

And she gives great tips on shopping for gold while traveling.
Be sure to read the whole thing.

Playing With Polyvore - Magritte Mania

Miss de Ville stepping up the creativity.
This one of course reminds me of Magritte.

Go For The Gold - And Do Something Good For Youth Aids

Ooops,

I received this email from Rick Maggio, of That Agency, a few days ago and forgot to tell you about it.

As it turns out, I’m working with World Gold Council on a project that might be fabulous for your readers! It’s a great contest which supports an even greater cause. Debra Messing (star of USA Network’s new series The Starter Wife), Robert Lee Morris (legendary jeweler) and World Gold Council are hosting a contest for consumers to win a gold bracelet designed by Debra Messing herself, in collaboration with Robert Lee Morris, in support of Debra’s favorite charity Youth AIDS. Consumers simply share their favorite story that involves gold jewelry, and the best one will win this amazing bracelet. Some of the stories entered to date are very touching and make for inspirational reading. I am confident your readers will enjoy reading these stories and they may have one of their own to share.

Contest Summary

Tell your favorite story that involves a piece of gold jewelry for a chance to win an 18K Gold Bracelet (1 of only 4 ever made) designed by Deborah Messing and Robert Lee Morris. Previous entries to this contest can be found at

http://www.instyle.com/legendarygold. This contest benefits YouthAids (http://www.youthaids.org/).Contest End Date: February 24th, 2009To Enter: Visit http://www.instyle.com/legendarygold to submit your short story.

The end date for the contest is tomorrow...

so how fast can you write a winning story?