Taking their cures from precious metals, the evening gowns worn to the Daytime Emmy Awards, with rare exceptions, dazzled with their incorporation of metallic beading or metallic fabric, the effect of which was heightened by the addition of spectacular jewels that coordinated with the metal accents on the dresses.
Diamonds were the runaway favorite, most often white stones set in platinum, and so it was no surprise that silver was the favorite color of beading on the gowns, as seen on the dresses of Kyra Sedgwick and Vanessa Williams.
Golden accents also had their moment, with the gold leaf print of Christina Applegate’s dress being a spectacular example of use of the warmer metallic. Yellow gold earrings complemented the gown.
Mixes of warm and cool together are unexpected and therefore interesting. Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s tangerine gown, definitely a warm-hued dress, could easily have been accented with yellow gold jewelry, but she stayed with diamonds set in white metal, for a cool, sophisticated accent.
In the September 2008 issue of In Style magazine, actress Paula Patton is featured in a spread focusing on “Fall’s most head-turning hue,” pink. The most girlish color, pink can range from soft cotton candy colors to bright fuchsia or even a high-voltage neon version of the color. Although pink is a derivative of red, pink is not necessarily a warm color. For instance, icy pastel pink is much cooler in tone than a salmon pink. “With bold gold jewelry, pink says regal queen rather than pretty princess,” declares Patton. Notice the pleasing effect of soft yellow gold jewelry with the pink dress in the photo below.
[In this photo, from In Style, yellow gold adds pizzazz to an ice pink dress worn by Paula Patton.
I would have preferred larger earrings of a scale more similar to that of the bracelet.]
The individual who can best wear a combination of warm and cool herself will have in her personal colors both warm and cool. For instance, a blue-eyed blonde has the coolness of the blue eyes with the warmth of yellow hair (unless it is almost white-blonde in hue). A brunette may have warm golden-brown eyes but cool, dark hair color.
It is my observation that it is easier for a woman whose coloring is warm to wear white metals than it is for a woman with cool coloring to wear yellow gold. Why? Because the white metal, particularly if set with white diamonds, is almost a non-color. In contrast, yellow gold makes a bold color statement. Softer hues of yellow gold can be worn easily by more women than the hues of more orangey high-karat yellow gold.
For the woman whose personal coloring is completely or partially warm, yellow gold can be used to enrich every color she wears. Yellow gold is stunning as an accent to navy blue, to ice pink, even to a grey or silver dress.
As you work with customers in considering the colors of gemstones they like to wear, don’t forget the creative potential of metals to add pizzazz to a wardrobe. At the same time, every customer, whatever her coloring, can be confident that diamond earrings set in platinum or other white metal are universally a beautiful, wearable choice.
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