Katy Perry: Smurfette in Sapphires

Katy Perry's dress at the Smurfs movie premiere in New York yesterday almost stole the show from the little blue guys themselves!

Sporting a bedazzled Smurfette corsette designed by The Blondes, a smurf manicure and blue Louboutins - what else does the voice of the world's most famous female smurf need?

How about sapphires? Seems the like the smurfiest choice, right?

Looks like Ms. Perry took the blue bling to heart, wearing a pair of sapphire button earrings and what looks like a sapphire, diamond and gold bangle bracelet (still looking for designer credits...anyone know?)

The other jewelry highlight of the night was violet vixen, Sofia Vergara, in a a gorgeous Missoni gown, turquoise earrings and elbow-deep bangles in every shade of purple - all by Lorraine Schwartz!

 

Papa Smurf? Eat your heart out!!!

Color-Changing Sapphires, A Love Story

Sapphires aren't just the blingy blue bauble often likened to the color of Elizabeth Taylor's eyes - they're crazy chameleons that wear a coat of many colors. While deep blue is certainly what most of us think of when it comes September's birthstone, the gem also comes in a rainbow of hues - from pink and green to yellow and red (also known as - a ruby!) Cool, right?

But sapphires have a special shade that I recently discovered, and it's downright drool-worthy: the color-changing sapphire.

Not quite purple, not quite red, not quite blue - the ever-elusive color changer is a slippery little devil that injects some much needed intrigue into the gemstone world. I admittedly just came across the 'c-c sapph', when writing about the gorgeous 'Royal Butterfly' brooch a few days ago - and decided to do some digging to find out more.

Here's the skinny:

While many sapphires may exhibit faint color changes upon exposure to incandescent or fluorescent lights, the 'c-c sapph' is a dramatic diva, bless her heart. Most color change sapphires belong to one of two groups depending on their color change: the green to red (alexandrite), and the blue to purple kind.

Most alex type color change sapphires are from Songea, Tanzania while the blue-purples occur in Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Burma, and other parts of East Africa and Tanzania.  In all color change stones, the strength of the change is probabably the most important factor affecting their value - but the blue to purple variety tend to be the more pricey option.

Do any of you designers out there have a color-changer in your coffers you'd like to share? Make a comment here or send me a Twitpic with a link to an image/description, and I'll post it here.

In the meantime, here's a one-of-a-kind engagement ring featuring a color changer from The Jewelry Experts to whet your whistle.

Blingy Butterfly Gets The Royal Treatment

Now that the jewelry-barren landscape that was New York Fashion Week is behind me, it's time to get back to blingy basics. And there's no better way to celebrate than by ogling this bodacious butterfly bauble that just joined the storied coffers of the Smithsonian Institution.

Designed by Cindy Chao, the "Royal Butterfly" is a three-dimensional diamond-and gemstone-studded brooch that took over two years to create. The design is balanced by four large rough diamond slices and includes more than 20 color gradients comprised of 2,318 colorless and colored diamonds, color-changing sapphires, colored sapphires, rubies and tsavorites.

Color-changing sapphires? Awesome.


Chao generously gifted her "Royal Butterfly" to the Smithsonian, which now lives with some of the world's most significant jewels, including the famous Hope Diamond.

The designer's 'hope' was not only for viewers to appreciate the art in a new medium, but that it would also inspire "people to dream and create" and "continue to contribute to the evolution of culture and the world around them."

Ms. Chao? You had me at 'color-changing sapphires'.

And if you're hunkering for more Smithsonian sparkle, they just launched a branded jewelry line with QVC based on many of the pieces in their treasure chest. Check out Jewelry.com for more.