Every woman, at any age, wants to look charming and unique. The heart conqueror skillfully creates her image from custom-made dresses, blouses and skirts; exclusive bags; elegant shoes; and, of course, decorations, but what would we do without them?!

After all, one of the important touches in the finished ensemble of a woman’s appearance is carefully selected jewelry: beads, bracelet, earrings, pendant, brooch.

High-quality jewelry is quite suitable for light summer casual outfits, but for evening dresses and autumn clothing models, jewelry made using natural stones: agate, turquoise, jasper and garnet are undoubtedly needed.

These amazing stones have always been surrounded by an aura of mystery, each of them has its own extraordinary history, each is attributed with special magical and healing properties.

One of the most honorable places in the jewelry boxes of connoisseurs of beauty is occupied by garnet jewelry. At all times, among different peoples, pomegranate has been associated with love and fiery passion. The properties of the grant stone are amazing; it is believed that it brings its owner the happiness of mutual love, the fulfillment of cherished desires and protects against misfortunes. The healing properties of this stone include the ability to normalize metabolism, increase immunity, and improve the complexion of its owner.

Garnet is also surprising in that it has a rich color palette; in addition to the usual burgundy-purple garnet, there are also yellow, black and even green garnets.

The Mercury online store offers jewelry from Mimi. You will certainly find a piece of jewelry that will highlight your individuality and make you even more attractive.

Make a choice in favor of jewelry from Mimi created according to unique author's sketches, enchant everyone with your uniqueness!

Jewelry trends

Jewelry is becoming more specialized and sophisticated. Perhaps this is precisely the reason that makes most jewelers follow fashion trends.

Jewelry is no longer a luxury for the rich and elite, but is in fact accessible to middle-class families who have a clear interest in jewelry based on the fact that it is a worthy investment these days.

Jewelry workshops originally catered to a limited class of society, however, times have changed and they have become more flexible than they once were. A wide range of products online awaits your selection. You no longer have to search for a favorite, you have a huge collection of products that can really catch your attention.

You need to pay attention to the name of the jewelry workshop, because famous craftsmen give you the right to be sure that they will not sell you low-quality or fake jewelry here. Famous jewelers are always responsible for the quality of their products, which allows you to safely make a useful investment.

For many centuries of its existence, decorative products intended to decorate the appearance have gone through various stages of development, changing more than once. There were many reasons for such changes. First of all, this is the symbolic meaning that was invested in each individual product. An important role was also played by materials that were in abundance at one or another historical stage of human development. And finally, the final factor in the production of jewelry was fashion, which passed from one country to another, setting the tone and style for many years, and sometimes decades. Naturally, it is impossible to cover all styles of jewelry that have ever existed and exist today. But we will try to give you an idea and the distinctive features of those that take place in the Sunlight Brilliant collections.

Style "Animalistic"

Today, jewelry depicting birds, animals, fish, and mythical creatures is becoming increasingly popular - the so-called “animalistic” style. No modern fashionista can pass by a blouse with a spectacular leopard print or leggings with imitation snake scales, a cozy sweatshirt with a picture of a cute panda, or an original top with a fish skeleton pattern. However, it is not only the light industry that has brought together these current trends. In the “precious beauty” industry, such motifs have long appeared in all the major jewelry houses that are trendsetters.

In such products, as the name already implies, animal and plant themes predominate - birds, animals, fish, as well as mythical creatures. Today they are especially popular, and in the SL collection they are presented in a wide variety of species - from funny penguins to cute kittens.

Art Deco style

We can find animal motifs in another, no less popular today style - Art Deco. As in the spirit of animalism, large rings with cats, leopards, frogs, butterflies, and flowers are one of the favorite themes of creative designers. However, in this case, representatives of the fauna are just one of the points of the jewelry style, which has absorbed many distinctive features and interesting samples. If you try to characterize it in a few words, then, first of all, it is necessary to name such definitions as simplicity and luxury, geometry and linearity, stylization and sophistication.

We owe the appearance of Art Deco to the 20-30s of the 20th century, when so-called chandelier earrings, multi-tiered necklaces made of pearls or chains, brooches in the form of animals and plants were in fashion.

Modern fashionistas can easily combine such “historical” items with both a cocktail outfit and a regular plain T-shirt. The image will look advantageous in both cases.

This established jewelry style is characterized by a combination of traditionalism and modernity in decoration. Classic pearl necklaces juxtapose with unusual chandelier earrings and large rings with natural motifs. And everyone’s favorite bracelets in the shape of snake scales add the finishing touch to this original collection.

Style "Art Nouveau" ("Modern")

The history of jewelry has introduced into the range of modern jewelry such an unusual and elegant style as “Art Nouveau”, or in the English version - “Modern”. Appearing at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, it absorbed all the innovative ideas of that era. The distinctive features of the direction can be considered a combination of heterogeneous materials, precious and ornamental, and the predominance of smooth elongated forms, which are expressed in natural and plant motifs.

Today, many designers are trying to convey “Spanish motifs” in their works, because the Art Nouveau style amazes with its truly refined expressiveness and the beauty of natural forms. The interweaving of leaves and branches of trees, blooming flowers and fluttering butterflies - all this is a combination of innovative ideas at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, organically transferred into modern jewelry fashion. The harmony of nature, conveyed through bright enamel or exquisite pearl jewelry. Spanish motifs and elegance of flowing forms are the essence of the Modern style.

Avangard style

Moving on to the style of the second half of the 20th century, it is impossible not to mention such a direction in the jewelry industry as “Avant-garde”. Brightness, eye-catching decor, unexpected combinations of materials and processing methods, unusual and flexible designs, the predominance of graphism - this is how such an unusual and original style seems to us.

When creating products of this type, one golden rule applies: “No rules!” Everything depends solely on the designer’s imagination and his courage in creative decisions. Through jewelry, avant-garde jewelry artists convey their individual vision of the world, sometimes quite extraordinary.

Nothing banal or traditional - the more the designer “surprises” us, the better. Jewelry may contain several bright and seemingly incompatible colors. The design of products can be completely asymmetrical and not smooth - on the contrary, geometric shapes with sharp angles are welcome here.

The combination of dissimilar materials (precious metal and genuine leather), catchy shapes and bright solutions - this is the whole essence of the avant-garde trend in the jewelry industry. The second half of the 20th century was marked by new unusual solutions. Geometric shapes with sharp angles, the combination of dissimilar materials in one decoration, catchy and bright forms - all this is the Avant-Garde style.

Gothic style

The appearance in the Middle Ages of such an architectural movement as “Gothic” could not but cause an echo in the applied fine arts, including jewelry. The jewelry of that time was distinguished by its massiveness, relief and, as a rule, carried a certain symbolic content characteristic of the cultural traditions of the Middle Ages.

Times have changed, but “Gothic” as a phenomenon continues to exist, and today it has a sufficient number of interpretations. An average person unenlightened in jewelry may believe that the concept of Gothic comes down to a youth subculture with characteristic dark clothes, bleached skin and peculiar symbols. However, this is not quite true.

Nowadays, the jewelry industry offers several equal interpretations of this phenomenon, each of which has a certain unique style. Well, let's try to figure it out and define some substyles for ourselves.

• "Cold" contrast

Such products are most often made of white gold or platinum, thereby symbolizing death and restraint. Stones of contrasting colors are used as inserts - rubies, sapphires, black diamonds. It’s easy to guess what such a color palette might mean: scarlet - blood, black and dark blue - darkness, darkness.

• Symbolic stylization

Perhaps this stylistic direction can be considered a clear demonstration of what the Gothic style is in the minds of most people. Large skulls, crosses, subcultural paraphernalia - this is exactly how many designers see gothic.

• Renaissance

Despite the fact that modern “Goths” evoke many associations with darkness, rigidity and occult rituals, in the original historical understanding, Gothic jewelry style is a combination of thin lace lines, often complemented by pearl inserts. Like English Gothic cathedrals, characterized by pointed arches and sharp corners, these decorations convey mystery not through rudeness, but, on the contrary, through grace.

• Subcultural gothic

This subgroup includes precisely those products that we most often see on “Goths” and “Gothess” - studded jewelry, massive rings, heraldic amulets. This can be considered a "classic" of modern Gothic.

• Vampire style

And finally, the substyle, which is a certain combination of the historical understanding of Gothic and its modern interpretation. On the one hand, this is the classic semantic content of each product (images of spiders, bats, attributes of the afterlife), on the other hand, there is a modern bias towards the “game of contrasts”, as is the case with the first substyle:

So, having examined some trends in the modern Gothic style, we can come to one conclusion - despite the change of generations, the philosophical conflict of earthly and afterlife, “light” and “dark” forces remains relevant. And, as long as a person continues to try to comprehend the meaning of earthly existence, the motives of death will be present in art in all its manifestations. There are several main directions of this style, which, in fact, can differ radically from each other. However, it is necessary to emphasize their inevitable similarity - the use of predominantly white gold and bright precious inserts creating a spectacular contrast. The role of the symbolism of jewelry, which carries special hidden meanings - crosses, skulls, snakes, hearts - is also important here. Graceful mystery and aggressive attitude - yes, yes, it’s all about gothic.

Classic style

No jewelry option can be more advantageous than. This model can be paired with both a formal ladies' suit and a modern youth outfit - the main thing is not to forget about the golden rule of any woman: “Know your limits!” If your image already has enough bright accents, then it is not at all necessary to make yourself look like a Christmas tree - choose the color palette of your wardrobe with taste.

Classic style implies two main subsections. The first is sophisticated, delicate jewelry in a rather laconic, but at the same time, elegant style. The insert can be either diamonds, pearls, or sparkling cubic zirconia, which are in no way inferior in radiance to their precious counterparts:

Translated from French, “art deco” means “decorative art”. The Art Deco style, or as it is also called - Art Deco, received its name when an exhibition of decorative and applied arts was held in Paris in 1925. When and how did this style originate? And in general, what does it represent in jewelry?

Already at the very beginning of the 20th century, jewelers began to abandon the winding lines of Art Nouveau and turn to the search for new means of expression. In late modernity, the geometric lines inherent in Art Deco were already discovered, but everything was interrupted by the First World War, after the end of which people tried to find new ideals with even greater desire, because in addition to destruction and human casualties, there was disappointment in the values ​​of the past.

A new woman appeared, who inspired poets and artists, including jewelry artists. It was at this time that Louis Cartier sketched his first jewelry in a new direction.

Art Deco absorbed simplicity and luxury, a pure and bright play of stones, stylistic quests, including cubism, modernism, surrealism, neoclassicism and the ethnic features of Ancient Greece, Egypt, Africa, and the East.

Jewelers, like all art sculptors, always listen sensitively to the mood in society. How can we help forget the horrors of war and bring joy to people? It was at that time that the eclecticism of style trends made Art Deco an innovative style.

And so, the designers of jewelry houses proposed new forms, which became geometric, linear design, symmetrical composition, color contrasts and a special cut of precious stones, which acquired clearer lines; triangular, trapezoidal and emerald were more common.

At first, jewelers used inexpensive materials: enamel, chrome, glass, plastic and preferred bright colors. However, post-war society sought to create around itself the illusion of luxury and prosperity. And first of all, this could be done by the queens of the Hollywood silver screen. Their bracelets and necklaces sparkled with diamonds from the screens.

During the Art Deco era, platinum became a cult metal; it was this noble metal that came into fashion. And along with it, white gold, silver, steel and even aluminum gained popularity. In addition to metals, jewelers often used exotic materials - ivory, crocodile and shark skin, as well as rare woods. We used pure white mother-of-pearl, white diamonds and black onyx...

The merit of the Art Deco style is its bold combination in one piece of jewelry of precious stones with rhinestones, natural pearls with artificial ones.

The most common decoration technique was metal enameling and unusual cutting. The forms of jewelry in the Art Deco style are clear geometry and strict symmetry, the arrangement of elements with a certain rhythm of alternation.

The leading motives in the design of jewelry, in addition to geometry, were the images and scenery of S. Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet, the culture of different countries and eras - Ancient Egypt, China, Japan, India, Ancient Greece, Africa, objects of flora and fauna.

The most picturesque jewelry includes a brooch-tassel, long earrings, including earrings-tassels that adorned the bobbed heads of beauties, heavy belts, bracelets worn not only on the wrist, but also on the forearm, a headband (bandeau), decorated with rhinestones, pearls, and for some, diamonds, a cocktail ring, a collar necklace, a necklace and bracelet in the shape of a snake, a ring and bracelet in the shape of a panther...

During the Art Deco period, precious lighters and cigarette holders also came into fashion, in which black and white components also alternated.

Wristwatches gained exceptional popularity, in the creation of which jewelers showed extraordinary imagination. The watches had a variety of shapes, rich decoration, originality and grace. The watch case and bracelets were decorated with precious stones.

One of the most famous jewelers of that time was Georges Fouquet and his son. The Parisian jeweler Raymond Templier also created interesting artistic solutions. A special place in his work is occupied by jewelry with strict geometric elements decorated with bright enamel, with spectacular color contrast.

The history of the House of Cartier clearly illustrates the development of the Art Deco style. Jewelry works of the 20-30s by Louis Cartier demonstrate the main stages in the development of the new style. Initially, Cartier used more circle or segment, believing that these geometric shapes were suitable for women's jewelry. Then he started using square and rectangle.

The jeweler decorated his jewelry with diamonds in combination with other stones and enamel. His jewelry pieces played with bright colors and exquisite colors, for example, he added luxurious diamonds to products made from onyx, rock crystal and jade, coral and mother-of-pearl. Gradually, Cartier jewelers abandoned bright colors and began to use white. This is how the style “white art deco” appeared.

Jewelry with strict geometric shapes in a contrasting combination of white and black colors - white platinum and diamonds with black onyx or black enamel - were magnificent. It was on the basis of this color contrast that a unique motif was created, called “panther skin”.

Subsequently, the motif was used to create brooches in the shape of panthers, as well as to decorate hair decorations and wristwatches. But, nevertheless, it was difficult to completely refuse the bright colors of emerald, rubies, sapphires, even in “white art deco”. Therefore, Cartier loved to create brooches - “vases of fruit”. Multi-colored jewels in the tutti frutti style became famous Cartier jewelry.

After the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, there was a surge of interest in Egyptian jewelry; among Cartier’s jewelry were spectacular pendants made of jade plates with diamonds and rubies, the famous “scarab” brooch made of smoky quartz, earthenware, decorated with diamonds.

Brightness and color in jewelry increased even more in 1929 and beyond, because these were the years when purchasing power was lost in all areas of life, and in order to attract attention and survive in difficult times, the brightest objects of jewelry were created. Jade, topaz, zircon, coral, and aquamarine have become popular.

The Art Deco style can be called finally formed by the beginning of the 20s, and in 1925 it received final recognition, and therefore it was at an exhibition held in Paris in 1925 that the style received its name.

The exhibition featured jewelry works by Fouquet, Templier, Sandoz, Boucheron, Van Cleef, Cartier, Mauboussin and many other French jewelers. The success of the jewelers was amazing. Parisian jeweler Georges Mauboussin received a gold medal for Art Deco jewelry.

The visitors' admiration knew no bounds. Everyone admired the necklaces created by Mauboussin, in which diamonds in a platinum frame alternated with beautiful pearls, a jadeite ring, pendants in the form of flower vases and fountains. After the exhibition, the Mauboussin company became famous.

Not only the works of jewelry by Cartier and Mauboussin glorified the Art Deco style; thanks to the jewelers Boucheron, Van Cleef and Arpels, the Art Deco style became internationally recognized as a synonym for luxury and admiration. In those years, many things changed in people’s lives, new technologies were developed, new materials were searched for, and research was carried out in science and technology.

It was a century of achievements in all spheres of human activity and life. All this was reflected in the activities of jewelry art. At Van Cleef & Arpels, jewelers invented a new type of setting for precious stones - invisible setting. The stones were cut in such a way that they could be installed close to each other, thus the base metal was completely covered with “stone pavement.” This made it possible to create the most excellent jewelry.

Diamond clip brooches, sautoirs, and elegant bracelets with clear ornamental patterns made of precious stones were in demand in the jewelry markets. Brooches-tassels and beads made of natural stones came into fashion. Particularly popular, thanks to the fashion for short haircuts, were long cascading earrings and large clip-on earrings that covered the earlobe.

Art historians believe that the Art Deco style dominated the art world for only about two decades, from World War I to World War II. But something else is important - many of the techniques and achievements in jewelry technology developed during Art Deco turned out to be so universal that master jewelers felt the influence of this style for a long time in subsequent generations.

In modern fashion, the Art Deco style is again popular. It is chosen by self-confident women who prefer luxury and at the same time aristocratic restraint.

In the 20-30s of the twentieth century, a direction in art was formed, which in America was called the “style of stars”, in Europe jazz modern, streamlined modern and zigzag modern. But this style is more known as Art Deco. And just like the star, this style burst into flames between the two world wars and was forgotten. After the shocks of the Second World War, it began to seem too archaic and pretentious.

Art Deco antiques on the world art market

It took several decades for the world antique market to remember and appreciate the spectacular and refined Art Deco products. The return of interest in the “star style” was influenced by the Paris Exhibition of 1966, and then by the famous sale at auction of a collection of Art Deco items by Jacques Doucet; these events made the works of “streamlined Art Nouveau” one of the most expensive and exclusive. Now purchase in the Art Deco style - a real event for collectors. After all, not many “jazz modern” products have survived. The rarity of Art Deco products can be explained simply; after the military disasters, few of them survived in Europe, and somewhat more in America. That's why buy antiques in the Art Deco style and at the same time being sure that it is not a fake is quite difficult.

Antique Art Deco jewelry: style features

The term Art Deco originated from the shortened name of the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. In order to distinguish products of this style from Art Nouveau or later movements in art, it is worth remembering several of their external features: geometric shapes, a tendency towards stylization, the use of expensive and exotic materials, the use of various artistic techniques when working with the material. The twenties of the twentieth century were the time of discoveries of the treasures of ancient Egyptian civilization; artists used motifs of ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek art for many products.

Stylization based on African, Chinese and Japanese motifs was popular. In order to buy antiques It is Art Deco, and not a later fake, that is worth remembering about its main features.

The same style features are characteristic of antique Art Deco style. Jewelers combined in one product materials that were incompatible according to previously existing rules: semi-precious, ornamental and precious stones. By the way, jewelers of the predecessor of Art Deco - the Art Nouveau style - were the first to practice the use of semi-precious stones; in the earlier Victorian era, products using only precious stones were considered truly valuable jewelry. Art Nouveau brought stones such as opal into fashion, and artistic skill was considered more important than the cost of the material. This trend was continued and developed by Art Deco jewelers. The new style required non-standard and bold solutions. The famous jeweler Georges Fouquet combined enamel and diamonds, topazes and aquamarines in one piece. Ivory in combination with black onyx was used to create brooches; now these products by Georges Foucault are decorated with antique collections, buying antiques this level is a great success for collectors.

The heyday of Art Deco was the time of the first industrial revolution, people were captivated by the speed, rhythm of big cities, and the recently appeared jazz music. Georges Fouquet, explaining the features of the new style, emphasized the importance of speed for modern life. Therefore, for jewelry, wrote one of the founders of the Art Deco style, simplicity of lines and freedom from unnecessary and superficial details are important. Such laconicism is necessary for instant perception of the entire composition of the jewelry.

Among other representatives of jewelry art, in addition to the already mentioned Jacques and Georges Fouquet, it is worth mentioning Paul Brandt, Jean Despres, Raymond Templier, artists from the companies Van Cleef and Arpels, Cartier, and the jewelry houses of Tiffany and Chaumet.

Art Deco - antiques in St. Petersburg and Moscow

One of the features of Art Deco jewelry fashion was the popularity of long pearl necklaces. They were wrapped several times around the neck or they decorated an evening dress, going down the back of its neckline. It was fashionable to combine pearls with corals, black crystal, onyx or turquoise; sometimes stones were mixed together on one thread. Pendants were especially popular. Like all Art Deco products, they were characterized by a strict geometric shape. The twenties were a time of fascination with cars and speed. It is not surprising that the personification of “jazz modernity” was the self-portrait of Tamara de Lempicka; her “Self-Portrait in a Green Bugatti,” painted in 1925, depicted an independent, elegant lady driving a car. The Fouquet jewelry house definitely sensed this “technocratic” trend. He released a series of jewelry with a unique geometric design: discs made of gold or platinum were covered with engraved stripes, into which aquamarine, citrine or topaz were embedded. These decorations were a little reminiscent of car parts; journalists were ironic about this and wrote that it was desirable for a woman to be a woman and it was not becoming for her to wear nuts and screws as decoration. However, at that distant time, humanity was still intoxicated by the possibilities of technology and inclined to poeticize it.

Despite the relatively small number of surviving Art Deco items, they began to appear in antique stores Moscow and St. Petersburg. At the antique salons held in the Central House of Artists, large Art Deco collections were presented for the first time: the private collection of S. Morozov and the Ethno gallery. So fans of “jazz modernism” may well purchase jewelry created during this period or stylized after it.

Art Deco (French art deco) is a style movement in art between World Wars I and II, which is characterized by a combination of monumental weighted forms with sophisticated decoration, a combination of elements of Art Nouveau, Cubism and Expressionism, and the use of expressive forms of technical design. Jewelers, always sensitive to the mood in society, quickly realized that their art could bring people joy and help them forget about the horrors of war. But to achieve this it was necessary to offer fundamentally new products. In search of new means of expression, they turned to clear geometric forms, with a clear construction of symmetrical compositions, in which beautifully cut precious stones played a dominant role. It combined simplicity and luxury, clarity of geometric designs and a bright play of sparkling stones.

Among the most picturesque decorations, undoubtedly, was the “tassel brooch” that decorated the open collar of an evening dress; in daytime, more modest, toilets, it was replaced by an unusually long string of artificial pearls or beads made of stones. Long earrings came into fashion, effectively decorating cropped heads, heavy belts and bracelets, which were often worn not only on the wrist, but also on the forearm. A new type of jewelry appeared - a two-piece brooch with a clip lock; It was used to pin fashionable truacarts. Wristwatches gained exceptional popularity during this period; when creating them, jewelers showed amazing imagination. The watches were distinguished by their variety of shapes, richness of decoration and elegance. The body and bracelets were decorated with precious stones. In the 1920s, during the early days of what was sometimes called “jazz modern,” jewelers often used materials such as enamel, chrome, glass and plastic, and favored bright colors. But very soon they realized that the post-war “lost generation” needed the illusion of well-being that only gold, platinum and the most beautiful natural stones provided. Many people have already learned from their own bitter experience what a life-saving financial source jewelry can be in difficult times - moreover, they have been deprived of them for a long time.
It is generally accepted that the Art Deco style dominated the art world for a little over two decades, from the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second. However, the figurative structure and techniques developed by the Art Deco masters turned out to be so viable and universal that its influence was felt by jewelers of all subsequent generations. And herein lies the amazing phenomenon of Art Deco.