I give a lot of credit to my mother for raising me with a magnitude of appreciation for fashion. This included makeup, hair (and products!), SHOES, clothing, all accessories…but most importantly, jewelry. When I was 13 years old, my mother became a jeweler and because of this I learned all things gemology. Many times, to my delight we would put on as many large diamond, ruby and sapphire pieces, merely to go grab some coffee! I would sit there and examine the jewels I had on in the sunlight as they sparkled, I felt like a young Elizabeth Taylor (minus the husbands, mind you!). When I had the great opportunity to write a blog for Milwaukee Magazine, I knew EXACTLY what my first post would be about; Jewelry trends! As my mother no longer is working, I had to find inside information somewhere else. When you think DIAMONDS, what local name comes to mind? Husar perhaps? I went out on a limb and wrote a polite e-mail to Mr. Craig Husar of Lyle Husar Designs requesting a moment of his time to discuss jewelry trends, and to my surprise…he said yes! Not only did we spend a few minutes, I spent half the day in my new jewelry heaven! What are the newest jewelry trends? Well….
Mixing metals. It’s ok! You don’t need to just wear white or yellow… it’s fashionable to mix it up! You know the lady that matches her lipstick to her shoes to her purse? (Don’t be that lady) Try mixing your gold and silver/white gold necklaces together for a fresh look!
Tourmaline. Especially this kind, where the color drastically changes. This astounded me because this happened in nature! Tourmaline grows in mines in a crystal form, and in order to find a stone with this variation in color, something SO drastic has to happen in the environment that it literally changes the tourmaline crystal to a different shade, resulting in the beautiful stone above!
Custom jewelry. You don’t want to see that Mrs. Perfect in your book club wearing the same necklace that you gave up grocery shopping, satellite tv and plain old BREATHING to buy. If you have an idea that you haven’t seen on anyone else, consider having it made…it’s not as 
hard or as expensive as you may have thought. Craig Husar brought me through the steps it takes to make a piece of custom jewelry and it’s absolutely fascinating. It starts off with you and your vision, and then sketched out on trusty pencil and paper. Once you and the jeweler are on the same “page” (har har har, no pun), your piece is created in a 3-D program that allows you to see your jewelry from every angle possible. From there you are able to adjust it to the right size, shape etc… Now, if it’s a truly intricate (and might I say expensive) piece, the 3-D program sends the information to a machine that makes a replica of your jewelry out of a wax for further examination! Soon, the information is sent over to their goldsmith and you are glowing in front of Mrs. Perfect at book club wearing something she will NEVER have! Muh ha ha ha! 🙂
Bridal Jewelry. White metals still dominate. There is white gold, platinum and palladium. Those who haven’t heard of palladium: it’s just as white as platinum, 10% stronger than platinum (making it more 
scratch resistant), and about the same cost as white gold. A very sought after brand I’m sure you’ve seen before is Tacori, the leading in bridal jewelry at the moment. The designs are very unique, and there are many to choose from ranging from simplistic to elaborate. As far as trends in diamond shapes, round diamonds will always dominate. However giving round a “run for it’s money” are variations of square diamonds: princess, asscher and radiant cuts.
Happy sparkling!
