Nearly a quarter of the 800-brand accessory-only show is devoted to jewelry, from costume to precious

“Gold! Gold! Gold!” That’s show manager Sylvie Pourrat when asked what jewelry trends she’s seeing at Première Classe, the 800-brand Paris trade show devoted solely to accessories. It was the morning of day two—the show ran Jan. 22–25 at the Porte de Versailles, alongside Who’s Next and a couple pavillions away from Bijorhca—and Pourrat, who was sporting quite a bit of the yellow metal herself, clearly knows a trend when she sees it. 

Première Classe was created more than a quarter of a century ago to showcase three primary (and complementary) areas of accessories: shoes, bags, and jewelry. “We are still, after 26 years, the place and the platform for accessory designers,” she says proudly. As for jewelry, the January 2016 edition featured 180 brands: “We have costume jewelry, we have more commercial, we have more precious,” she continues. “We have exhibitors who have been with us for a long time, like Babylone and Philippe Audibert—they ask the buyers to come see them, so they are the references.… Chan Luu, they are here a long time. And then around them we have emerging talent, very strong, leaving from school.” The main criteria for a jewelry exhibitor, she explains, is “what this collection brings in terms of new things. We add new styles each season. I don’t mind if it’s trendy or not. I just prefer to say it’s new. People know when they’re coming here they will find new things.”

In addition to gold, Pourrat also saw, not surprisingly, lots of boho styles on the show floor. “We are not coming out from the bohemian trend. Even if it’s the winter launch of the season, we have the bohemian.”

Here are a few of my favorite gold and bohemian styles from the Première Classe show floor. 

 

I wanted to drape myself in everything from Belgian brand Rindu. These beaded necklaces were deceptively light!

 

Boho alert! These bead and fringe bronze beauties are from Portuguese brand IZI.MI Porto-Vecchio.

 

Now that is a body chain. I was absolutely wowed by Anisha Parmar London and by the designer’s sculptural work.

 

Not all cigarettes are bad for you! (Bonus: Caroline Najman’s gold-plated brass bracelet retails for just 89 euros.)

 

 

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