Emeryville, Calif.–based Belle Étoile has a bit of a bow fetish (evident in three collections of bow motifs), so after executive vice president Carolyn Thamkul read Open Plea to Industry: Will Someone Please Make Emma Stone’s Itty-Bitty Bow Tie in a Precious Metal? she reached out to remind me of theirs.
“I read your fun article on bows and bow ties, and we are glad someone is appreciating and loving the trend!” said Thamkul in an email. “We have been doing bow-inspired jewelry and just wanted to share!”
I could have kicked myself—of course Belle Étoile had bows! I had seen some of their pieces—oversize spotted bow cuffs and cute little champagne-color bow-shaped stone studs—over the past few years and had forgotten. But did they have a little bow pin that could be fastened onto collars like Stone had? No, but they had something that was perhaps better—adjustable choker collars with bows in three different colors: Italian-made white rubber with rhodium-plated sterling silver, hand-painted white Italian enamel, and a lab-created aquamarine; black rubber with silver, white enamel, and a lab-created black stone; and black rubber with silver, black enamel, and a lab-created, champagne-color stone.
“The way they sit on the neck is really nice and flat,” observes Thamkul. “They’re loved by a more feminine, playful customer who appreciates that girliness.”
Each choker retails for $350, and their best-selling one is the black-and-white version. (Overseas, more color options are available.) Collar lengths are available in three sizes, from 14.5 to 16.5 inches, with even tinier bows dangling off chain closures that adjust to within an inch in size.
The chokers are part of the Bow collection, which debuted in 2010, and were such a hit that Bow Grande followed in 2011, and the Gala collection—“which is very stone oriented,” notes Thamkul—appeared in 2012. Besides being irresistibly cute, all the bows mix and match easily across collections because the company “plays with a lot of black and white tones, and a lot of our other colors coordinate well together,” she adds. Some 48 total bow SKUs exist across all collections.
But back to those chokers (one of which you might spy me wearing come JCK Las Vegas). All are custom-sizable since Belle Étoile cuts the rubber in-house. “We can get it to any size so every woman can wear our jewelry,” says Thamkul.
Adjustable Bow choker necklace in Italian-made white rubber with rhodium-plated sterling silver, hand-painted white Italian enamel, and a lab-created aquamarine, $350
Adjustable Bow choker necklace in Italian-made black rubber with rhodium-plated sterling silver, hand-painted white Italian enamel, and a lab-created black stone, $350
Adjustable Bow choker necklace in Italian-made black rubber with rhodium-plated sterling silver, hand-painted black Italian enamel, and a lab-created champagne-color stone, $350
The Style 360 blog is your editorial source for the newest jewelry, trends, market analysis, trade show insights, designer profiles, and more.
Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazineFollow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
