After years of traversing the globe on real-life treasure hunts, Shannon Long has finally come home. Just a few blocks from its original tucked-away storefront in downtown Naples, her Shannon Green Collection recently expanded into an airy, 1,800-square-foot space in the heart of the district—a vacation destination hybrid that merges a relaxed, beachfront vibe with the kind of upscale dining, shopping, and real estate typically reserved for more metropolitan locales. Inside the boutique, ever-apropos seashells and coral mingle with modern Lucite and antique Italian accessories to create the ideal backdrop for its carefully curated inventory. The jewelry mix, which includes Anatol, Buddha Mama, and fellow Floridian Pamela Huizenga, mirrors Long’s enduring dedication to a glamorous, bohemian lifestyle.
AN INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE
Shannon Green Collection has been around only two years, but Long first hatched the idea while working as an assistant accessories buyer for British fashion house Jacques Vert in the late ’80s, a career that took her all over Western Europe in search of hats, scarves, belts, shoes, and jewelry. The jewelry is what stuck. So did the far-reaching influence, manifested in the designers she stocks—from places as distant as Greece, India, and Hawaii—and in the pervading symbolism of her pieces (think Buddha figures, crosses, and evil eyes). In selecting her core group of artists, Long hones in on outlook and creative process. “I look for designers who are really passionate about what they’re doing,” she says. “They are positive and excited and have their own angle on how they see adornment, because that’s what jewelry is—adorning yourself.”
WEARABLE GLAMOUR
Long does all of the buying and selling, a role that requires a laser focus on her unique clientele—a crowd that routinely goes from the golf course to the beach to dinner. “That’s what Naples is all about,” she says. “We’re not a city of suits and closed-toe shoes. We’re a city of sportswear, sundresses, and sandals with our hair up.” Pieces that transition smoothly from day to night are de rigueur in her lineup, which includes untreated Burmese jadeite rings, bracelets of oversize, bezel-cut semiprecious stones, and carved ebony beaded necklaces with elephant pendants (trunks up, of course, for good luck). Prices range from $150 to $15,000; the average, Long says, is about $2,500.
MAKING IT MEMORABLE
A relaxed atmosphere is important to Long, who understands that the space—not just the jewels—can have a lasting influence on shoppers. “Usually when people buy jewelry, they remember where they were when they bought it, especially if they’re on vacation,” she says. “That place will have meaning to them forever.” While it would seem, then, that Long labored painstakingly over the design and furniture—which includes a 1950s Barovier chandelier and a lacquered French ormolu desk, artfully juxtaposed with a display case on a knotted grapevine base—the decor actually came together much more organically. “It’s just who I am,” she says. “I didn’t really put a lot of thought into it. These are things I’ve liked that I’ve bought along the way in my life. It’s always changing. But I really don’t have anything in here that I don’t love.”
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