Trend spotting: from the jewellery shows to you

Our design journey starts long before a piece lands on our website. Part of that process involves keeping our ear to the ground for what's new in the jewellery world... 

Even though we want our jewellery to feel timeless and love-forever, we also want to design pieces that bring a fun and fresh edge to your styling toolbox. So, even though we never slavishly follow fashion, we always keep our eyes on the trends.

Here’s how we translate what’s hot into something distinctively Carrie Elizabeth.

Our trend-spotting trips

Earlier this year, we hit our first stop on the jewellery-industry calendar: VicenzaOro, an important jewellery show held in Vicenza, Italy.

It’s always a place we go to with our eyes open for trends — the jewellery on show is so stylish, and it’s also the place Trendvision (Europe’s leading jewellery trend forecasting agency) launches their directions for the seasons ahead.

When we’re there, we’re looking for trends in a few different ways.

First, what has changed since last year? When you go every year, like we do, you quickly recognise what’s new. If we see patterns in what brands are showing, it could be a trend. Sometimes this is whole product categories: currently brooches are big, for instance. But it could also be a small feature, like frosted finish instead of high polish, or a flush setting where you might usually see a claw. You know us, we’re all about detail!

We’re also keeping our ears and eyes open as we move through the show. What conversations are happening? Which trends from the Trendvision presentation are everyone talking about? Sometimes identifying a new trend isn't a single 'reveal' but a realisation that builds as you see more and more pieces with a similar feel.

Authenticity, always

So we get to know a lot of trends -but we’re only interested if they feel authentically Carrie Elizabeth. We choose carefully which trends to use and how.

If we see a trend come back time and time again, we’re paying attention. We love to update our collections with styles that feel both modern and timeless.

Signet rings are a great example. Once considered a traditional piece of jewellery, very much associated with the past, they had a real reemergence in the last few years. We saw signets coming back and created our own take on the trend. Now they’re now a much loved part of our core collection.

We’re never going to jump on ‘flash in the pan’ trends, as we aim to create jewellery that can be worn time and time again over the years. However, we love a seasonal update and think there’s something so fun about ringing the changes with a new colour or silhouette. Our plated and vermeil ranges are where you’ll see us play most with current trends, as the affordable-luxury nature of these ranges gives us an opportunity for fun!

This year, we were excited to see some new gemstone styles coming through, and some amazing new chain silhouettes that brought a focus on texture and finish to a classic category.

We were also really taken by Trendvisions’s Modular Core trend. Calling for a return to beautiful craftsmanship and a focus on adaptability, the trend spotlights jewellery that can be transformed and worn multiple ways. They say: “this is jewellery as a dynamic, personal, and endlessly versatile luxury.”

Personal and versatile luxury? We’re already in!

When we come home, we look at how we can take what we’ve learned and see it through a Carrie Elizabeth lens.

We take all our notes and highlight what feels most relevant and exciting. We look at our existing collections and consider what’s selling well, what pieces customers are buying and styling together?

We consider what ideas we’ve already had bubbling in the background, and reach out to our customers and our customer service team for feedback. What do people really want? What would make their jewellery wardrobe more versatile, exciting?

So when we looked at the Modular Core trend, for example, we knew already we had some amazing ideas and gorgeous existing products which fit.

For us, this story is all about versatility, personalisation and building jewellery that evolves with you; jewellery that acts as a base for storytelling.

Our Treasured range, with its essentially limitless combinations of charms, stackers and chains, already speaks to these values. And our Charm Holders add even more ways to transform and style your jewellery.

At a detail level, our Albert style clasps and chains with charm-holder clasps have been designed with exactly this kind of styling in mind.

At this point, we start designing new pieces which fit our customers’ lifestyles and tastes, our own design signature and our existing ranges. From here, the development process is fun, exacting and involved – read ‘Journey of a Jewel to get a behind-the-scenes look at every stage!