Yearly Archives: 2017

……………………I am always searching and on the hunt for beautiful ethnic jewelry from around the world……………….Sometimes I find fabulous pieces on my travels, and sometimes they are right under my nose………….For this beautiful pendant from India I didn’t have to go far. I purchased this from an incredible store in SOHO right in NYC. The owner of the store was Jacques Carcanagues, and his name was above the door. The store was very large, and it was filled to the brim with treasures, mainly from Bali, Morocco and Africa, but he also had wonderful things from India. He carried, tapestries, rugs, fabrics, object d’art, boxes, sculptures, beaded African hats, and incredible antique furniture. He even had wonderfully carved wooden doors that people used as wall hangings, and head boards for their beds. Whatever caught his eye, and he thought was beautiful, he would buy for the store…. He also had an incredible collection of jewelry. Jacques had impeccable taste. He was an eccentric man, and though he would be in the store often, for the most part he would ignore the customers, but we became friendly. He would even allow me to go in the basement where all of his inventory was kept……it was Ali Baba’s treasures!!!! Over the years I bought many of his pieces. I was terribly sad when he decided to retire and close the store. It was a great loss for me and the city. There has been nothing to replace it……. I showed the India pendant I purchased at Jacque’s to the people I work with and they loved it. In the pictures at the upper left you can see the original piece and my reproduction. The original piece is to the right. I was hesitant about trying to have the piece reproduced, because honestly my experience has been that they never capture the beauty of the antique pieces. I said OK try it and let’s see what you can come up with……I was astonished when I saw the new piece. It had all the patina I had hoped for. They took the old piece and made it new, but kept all the character…….no missing stones and no missing metal fine wire surrounding each stone as the original. We even when one better and added an ENHANCER to the back so you can open it up and add any cord, ribbon, chain or whatever you can think of to wear it around your neck. As you can see in the photos you can wear it at full length or double the chain up and wear it at a shorter length depending on what you are wearing………All of the stones in the pendant are faceted glass. The fringe at the bottom is made as the original with links, and a metal ball bead at the bottom……..The metal is done in a BRASS OX plating to look like the aged original….It is approx. 2 1/2 inches round, and with the fringe it is approx 4 inches long….The EARRING that comes with the pendant is a simple RED FACETED Stone surrounded with the Brass Ox metal and a Shepard’s Hook……To illustrate the versatility of the piece I photographed it on some of my WK swing sweaters in different colors plus the new PORT DRESS and the new PORT TN…..all with my olive slim pant……To say that I was pleased with the final pendant would be a huge understatement………If you are a lover of all ethnic jewelry from different cultures as I am, I know you will love this necklace. If you haven’t ever bought a piece like this before, this would be a wonderful place to start…..I know some of my world travelers among you will really appreciate the authenticity of this piece……………J350150 is the style number…………………………………..enjoy……………….much Love……………………Louis

……………………………The “Spirit” necklace is the first of my jewelry sneak peeks!…………………………enjoy………………much Love…………………………..Louis

……………………..As many of you know, on August 25th, on QVC2, at 6:00pm I will have my very first show that is entirely devoted to JEWELRY! It has been a long time coming!!! All the pieces will be NEW, and I have been showing most of the pieces on previous shows as sneak peeks……………..One of the necklaces I have been showing is what I call…..the “SPIRIT” necklace. The style number is…..J350153……..Why did I give it this name? When I looked into the stones there was, for me, something soothing and calming…..The way people talk about crystals and their healing power came to mind. I make no such claims, but I must say they do give me a sense of calm….. I have never been a follower of such things, but that was the effect these stones had on me…………..These are REAL STONES. They are not acrylic, resin or plastic. Due to this fact each stone will be slightly different, but all are very similar. Some are a little paler, some deeper, and some have slightly different markings. When you use a REAL stone this is accepted. Even expensive GEM STONES like diamonds, emeralds and rubies are all different, and no two are alike……The one you receive will be unique and yours alone…………….The stone itself is approx. 1 1/4 inches long. The width measurement will vary slightly . As you can see from the stones above, some are a little narrower at the top than others, but they are all approximately the same size as the stones were hand selected. Each stone is encased in a faux gold. The gold is very thin, and can barely be seen from the front….There are “pins” that go into the stones from which the chain is hung. The chains, there are two on each side, have a VERY FINE OPEN LINK. There are TEENY TINY FACETED GLASS BEADS that are attached to the double chain all the way to the tiny lobster claw at the back. There is also a three inch extender……Each of the COLORS are BEAUTIFUL, so it will be a hard choice to make. I know many of you will select more than one!…….By now you all know I LOVE STATEMENT JEWELRY…….but sometimes a delicate piece, such as the “Spirit” necklace, can make just as huge an impact…………………Now for the colors……………..enjoy……………………much Love……………………………….Louis

………………………………Perfectly Pink…………..has the look of Pink Quartz. You all know how pink quartz stones can vary. This stone has the same characteristics………Talk about fragile looking….this Perfectly Pink pendant has it in spades! I have shown it above with Perfectly Pink WK and the new ANTOINETTE BLOUSE in Perfectly Pink, just because it IS so perfect….but….you must PLAY with it………It will look wonderful with all of your pastel shirts, sweaters, and TEE SHIRTS……Pale Yellow, Pale Aqua, Pale Mint and Pale Lilac will all look beautiful with the P.P pendant…..Then pull out your deeper tones and you brighter colors, and all will look fabulous worn with the P.P stone……………Please notice the photo at the lower right, which illustrates the chain with the attached beads. Each necklace will have TWO color tiny beads attached to the chain. This adds so much to the overall appearance to the necklace. I could have easily done away with these beads, and the necklace would have cost less for the labor alone, but I though the addition of these little stones added to the fragility and gracefulness of the piece. I hope you agree………………………………………….enjoy……………………………much Love……………………………….Louis

………………………DESERT SAND…………is a beautiful “translucent stone”, meaning you can see through it. It is neither “transparent” nor is it “opaque”. Translucent is somewhere in between. We are calling it, for QVC purposes Desert Sand, but between us it really is the color of AMBER. I’m not permitted to give it this name because technically it is NOT amber, and to call it that would be misleading, but it is the color of amber or delicious HONEY. You can see that the Desert Sand stones are very unique in that they are translucent, as already mentioned, but they have very distinguished MARKINGS and VEINING. This gives the stone character……….The IMPORTANT picture here is the one at the lower right with the four stones. I purposely took pictures of four different stones so you can see the variation of the stone. They are all very very similar, but there is a unique difference with each one…..Truly, I know you will be delighted with your special stone…………..The two upper corner photos I have the necklace with the Desert Sand Crepe Gauze separates. The bottom right is the Alabaster WK S/S sweater, and the bottom left is the new Winter White WK sleeveless TN…………My next comment is very important, and applies to each of the stone colors! YOU MUST PLAY WITH THEM AGAINST EVERYTHING and EVERY COLOR YOU OWN. You will be surprise how each combination gives the stones new life. If you only wear them tonal you will be doing a disservice to the necklace, and limit its’ wearing unnecessarily………Browns, grey, pecan and purple are just a few colors to try with your new Desert Sand pendant………………………enjoy……………………….much Love……………………Louis