Customer Watch: Warm or Cool – Choice or Habit
We all know individuals who “only” wear white metals or “only” wear yellow gold. There are any number of reasons for this mindset, many of which have nothing to do with what actually looks best on the person. For example, the preference may arise:
- From a time when she could afford only sterling silver pieces, and she has built an entire jewelry wardrobe around those pieces;
- From her cultural and ethnic background;
- From her family’s view that only the best will do (platinum or high karat gold);
- Because her mother always wore yellow gold (or silver or platinum);
- Because she built her wardrobe around one or several pieces received as gifts;
- Because she personally won’t settle for anything but the most expensive option;
- Because she is an artist who works with a particular metal;
- Because she does or did work for a designer, manufacturer or association that promotes a particular metal;
- Because she built a jewelry wardrobe around her wedding ring, and she accepted the metal preference of her husband for her ring, too;
- Because she personally thinks a particular metal is beautiful and doesn’t give any thought to how well it suits her;
- From the preference of someone whose style she imitates; or
- Because she has undertaken a determination of what metals are most flattering to her personally.
(I feminine pronouns here, but the same principle applies to men.) There are any number of reasons why someone gravitates toward a particular metal.
While it is always important to honor the customer’s preferences, at the same time, you may perceive that the customer would look better in a different metal, whether that’s yellow instead of white, white instead of yellow, a different quality of white metal, or a different shade of yellow.
If the customer is interested in knowing about current styles and trends in jewelry, you may have an opportunity to expand her view and ultimately her jewelry wardrobe to incorporate the more flattering metal.
The resurgence of pink gold as an option presents an ideal opportunity to introduce your customer to metal options that perhaps she hadn’t considered. Pink gold, like yellow gold, comes in various shades, of course, and there will almost certainly be one (or several) that flatter your customer, whether she favors yellow or white metal.
Mixing metals is a great way to introduce additional metals into a customer’s wardrobe. For the customer who wears a wristwatch on a daily basis, a watch designed to incorporate multiple colors of metal is a readily available choice that can open up new vistas of color for the customer’s jewelry wardrobe.
Why is color important? And how can you train your eye to see warm and cool colors? More to follow in the weeks ahead.
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