In years past, I’ve noticed several obvious—and some surprising—gemstone trends in Las Vegas. As always, I like to begin by putting an asterisk on the word trends—by no means are these passing fads, but rather, slow-building, often-enduring, noticeable surges in certain colors or variations of stone that seem to have a hold on jewelry-makers and their consumers, whether influenced by current market prices, color markers in the fashion industry, or really good marketing on the part of mining companies.
There have been years when opal was the clear star of the show, then tourmaline, and one of my favorites, the unexpected Montana sapphire. This year, I saw a lot of blues and greens—sapphires and emeralds are, as ever, hot, as is tourmaline—but nothing stood out like a cover star of the year, at least not to me. I inquired with many gemstone-heavy brands about consumer preferences, and they echoed my findings—everyone still loves green and blue, and what’s not to love?
But let’s focus on a mini-trend, shall we? And I mean mini—I saw a handful of faceted moonstones on the show floor and immediately thirsted for more. Moonstone (which happens to be the birthstone of this month, along with ruby) is one of my favorite gems. I love its mystical quality, its captivating color, and just its general relaxed, cool vibe. Moonstone just knows it’s cool. And faceting this fab gem? It’s on a whole new level.
The first sighting was at Omi Privé (pictured at top), and as you may well know, if it’s Omi, it’s amazing. No subpar gemstones found here: this moonstone was pristinely cut and glistening with all the colors of, well, what I like to imagine is moondust, or something magical and celestial like that.
I saw a few more at Lauren K, like these earrings, equally mesmerizing with gorgeous swingy movement.
There were others, of which I either neglected to take a picture or took a really bad one (after all these years, you’d think I’d have learned all the photo tricks by now). But the faceted moonstone is my new obsession (and perhaps now yours, at least for June?), so I wanted to hunt down a few more.
For those not intimately acquainted with jewelry and gemstones, the variation offers an “Oooh, what IS that?” sort of gift, the envy of onlookers and shopaholics alike. And for those who do collect jewelry, a faceted moonstone might just be what they’re missing.
Top: One-of-a-kind ring in platinum with 10.33 ct. faceted moonstone, 0.46 ct. t.w. paraiba, and 0.33 ct. t.w. orange sapphire, price on request; Omi Privé
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