Town and Country Couture award: what are these pearls?

[claudenancy]

We were in the Carribean recently, and picked up brochures from Yvel jewelry designer. They featured an assembled pearl flower that was described as being made of "natural freshwater wild pearls". They look alot like second harvest pearls. Are they and if not what are they?

Thanks, Beth


http://www.yvel.com/Eng/About/Awards2007.asp

 

[pattye]

Sure looks like the second harvest pearls, or petal pearls--I would be curious to how they explain what they mean by "wild" other than wild looking?? I love the petal pearls, so I don't mean it as an insult!

 

[knotty panda]

Biwa coin pearls? Interesting ...

 

[J Marcus]

On their site, the cuff bracelet with which they won the 2006 Town and Country Couture Award is set with what they label as "golden green natural Indonesion Keshi pearls.

 

[knotty panda]

I do like the 2005 winning brooch. But the photography is either really bad or the pearls need to be of better quality.

 

[Nerida]

I think many of their designs are gorgeous. I love the bead nucleated strands with hand made gold nuggets - just a nice interesting way to use pearls. A lot of their things are. The brooches - gorgeous as art - can't imagine wearing them. Their descriptions? Ummm, not too high on accuracy?? Beth, the pearls look like (second harvest) keshi to me.. Jeremy??

 

[Hanaleimom]

Yvel

Yvel

I read somewhere on the internet ( I am not sure if it's correct information) that Mrs. Obama's pearls are from Yvel.

I like the baroque pendant with the diamond swirling around it.

 

[claudenancy]

Very interesting! I had not noticed the description of the cuff bracelet-which strongly implies that keshis are natural ("natural Indonesian keshis"). I suppose in the 2007 brooch description, one could interpret the description of "natural" as applying to the color ("natural white"). In their "pearl guide" they clearly state that keshis (which they say can be either salt or freshwater) are cultured and not natural.

They do have some innovative designs--it would be interesting to see them "in person." The pieces that we saw "in person" in the Carribean stores were clearly "off the rack" and not their designer lines that were featured in their advertisements.

I did not know about Mrs. Obama's pearls--very interesting too--I had noticed that she had some that appeared to be quite lovely.

 

[lisa c]

Really cool home page and collections.

 

[Adeline Leigh]

Mrs O and her pearls

Mrs O and her pearls

Mrs O (and her stylist) seem to favour genuine pearls from Yvel and Irit Designs. She did wear a stunning tahitian pair from the latter once; (alas I have lost the link) and Irit Designs is now a "closed" portal.

Her she is in a Tom Binns faux pearl necklace:
http://www.vogue.co.uk/jewellery/news/Pearls/2009/02/27/michelle-obama-wears-tom-binns

Not to worry, here are 2 more pics of Mrs O and her pearls, taken off Huffington Post:

 

[Adeline Leigh]

Mrs O and her pearls

Mrs O and her pearls

Have to like this bit of text here from Instinct Magazine on Mrs O and her pearls. I concur; she rocks her big baroques best!

Michelle Obama Rocks The Big Pearl Necklaces

Written by Alex Cho | Wednesday, 11 June 2008

{mosimage h=180}I am loving this New York Times style piece that meticulously dissects Michelle Obama's dress sense. It compares her to attitude to Barbara Bush (!) and her style to what an updated, assertive Jackie Kennedy might wear. They even get Andre-Leon Talley to weigh in:

?Everyone knows that people respond to the way you look when you run for office,? Andr? Leon Talley, an editor-at-large for Vogue, which featured Mrs. Obama as an ?It? girl in its April issue, said last week in an interview. ?A black Camelot moment is the right moment for the Obamas,? he added. ?And so the faux pearls, the A-line dresses, the Jackie flip are obviously all part of how her image strategy has evolved.?

And in regards to those big pearl necklaces:

If the gumball pearls were a retro wink at traditional decorum, they still read as anything but wifely jewels. ?Those are not little ?Breakfast at Tiffany?s? pearls,? Ms. Taylor [the beauty director and cover editor of Essence] said. ?Those are large pearls. Those are pearls you have to deal with.?

"Pearls you have to deal with"! The NYT goes on to wonder if such pearls will be the a sticking point in the Obama campaign. Yes. Which is almost as ridiculous as this.

 

[lisa c]

Ahhh, Everything Old Is New Again. Is that a line from a Barbra Streisand song?

Anyway, those silly newspaper writers, Mrs Obama doesn't have to be channeling anyone to have style. Some styles are just classics, not retreads.

When she looks good - wow!

It'd be nice to look so good...

 

[KarinK]

I love that: "Pearls you have to deal with"!

- Karin

 

[lambskin]

Speaking of Town & Country-The November 2012 issue has a full page ad from Yvel featuring a strand of multi-colored pastel flame(fire)balls. It looks about 36 inches long and has pink sapphire accents set in 18K gold with earrings. Tried to access the site for a price and could not navigate. Would love to know how much they are asking for this. It is really pretty! Again, I would not have known about these pearls but for this forum.

 

[Caitlin]

It sounds great! I am glad you learned more about pearls from us. That is our purpose in this forum.