by erin m

4,000 Years of Pearl Fashion History in 5 Minutes

Have you ever looked at a pearl? No, I mean really held one up close to your eye and examined it in bright, natural lighting? If so, then you’ve been treated to one of mother nature’s most spectacular displays of brilliant light, lustre, color, shape and texture gloriously captured in an organic gem roughly the size of a humble pea. It’s no wonder then that pearls have been highly valued and associated with classical elegance, romance and timeless beauty throughout the ages and among cultures spanning the globe. Here’s a brief snippet on pearls and their rise to the center stage of luxury and fashion:

Cleopatra the last Egyptian queen is said to have dissolved a single pearl in a glass of wine and drank it to prove that she could consume the wealth of an entire country in one meal.
Roman statues of goddesses including Venus were commonly decorated with magnificent pearl earrings and Caligula the Roman emperor wore pearl studded sandals and adorned his favorite horse with a pearl necklace.
Possibly the oldest pearl necklace in existence, an exquisite 3-stranded necklace with 216 pearls was discovered inside a queen’s tomb in the ancient Persian city, Susa, dating back to the 7th-9th century B.C. This masterpiece has been on display in the Louvre Museum for over 100 years.
Elizabeth the I of England was famously portrayed in a long, pearl-studded dress.
European royalty developed an insatiable demand for pearls and lavishly wore them as jewelry, in crowns, dangling from ropes and embroidered on clothes between the 17th and 19th century.
Jacque Cartier traded 2 pearl necklaces for his landmark store on New York’s famous Fifth Avenue in 1916.
Iconic figures such as Jacqueline Kennedy, Coco Chanel, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Louise Kelly epitomized modern beauty and glamor by wearing elegant pearl strands in the 1960′s.
Today, pearl jewelry is commonly featured on runways and in photo shoots by major fashion labels such as Dolce & Gabanna, Christian Dior, Oscar De La Renta and Georgio Armani.

Do you have any prized pearl jewelry pieces in your collection? What outfits or occasions accentuate them best for you?

*Information provided by YesTahiti.com and BoraBora.com

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by Capture Queen ™

How to Take Advantage of the Latest Pearl Fashion Trends

Trend spotting is important for any business, and it will certainly help your jewelry business if you can spot healthy pearl fashion trends. That’s because as a trader or retailer of jewelry, it helps your profitability if you can buy jewelry in bulk with extremely attractive discounts, and be able to sell them off very quickly. And if you can spot fashion trends, you know what the customers want and what they are looking for. And by putting the right pieces of jewelry in front of those customers, you can be sure that your jewelry will soon fly off the shelves. So what are some of these trends?

The first trend that you may have observed, is that prices for pearl jewelry are becoming more and more affordable. That’s partly due to the fact that cultured pearls are becoming more and more readily available. And due to the influx of the sheer number of cultured pearls, mainly from China, the price has plunged considerably. This has made it possible for pearls to be widely accepted in the mainstream. Now a non-savvy businessman will probably claim that plunging prices are not good for the business. But bear in mind that being accepted by the mainstream also means that the overall sales volume will increase greatly. This will surely make up for more than the drop in price. Markets in the United States, United Kingdom, and all over Europe are certainly growing at an amazing speed. So to capitalize on this trend, it is necessary to move fast – buy in bulk at discounted prices, keep the selling price low, and move the jewelry quickly. It is not uncommon to hear pearl retailers claiming that they sold off the jewelry in only a matter of days after receiving the merchandise from the wholesalers. In part, this is possible due to the second major trend.

And the second major trend is that the pearl fashion industry has been greatly influenced by the Internet. People are able to post video clips of the latest pearl jewelry worn by celebrities, share them with family and friends, and spread the word around really quickly. This also means that fashion cycles are much shorter than before. Consumers are certainly becoming more fickle minded, and they change their mind as easily as the wind changes direction. Whenever they hear or see something new that catches their attention, they’re on to the next thing. This trend is certainly aligned with the trend of plunging pearl prices. Because pearl fashion trends have shorter cycles, consumers also have the tendency to shop for bargain deals. They want what is in, now, at the prices that they can afford. But what does that mean for the pearl retailer?

This is good news for the pearl retailer because it means although consumers are making smaller purchases with smaller budgets, it also means that they are buying more frequently. And anyone who has ever owned a business knows that frequent, repeat purchases can only be good for the business. So look around you, and pay more attention to the latest pearl fashion trends, and be ready to act quickly when the opportunities arise. Consider working with China pearl wholesalers, and capitalize on the above rising trends.

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