In the weeks leading up to the Luxury show, attendees may have expected this year—with its tariffs, soaring material costs, and general uncertainty—to bring a more lackluster show experience: daintier designs, lightweight gold, and a collective sense of anxiety about the future.
They’d have been wrong.
Luxury opened (to invited guests) on Wednesday, June 4, and continues through June 9 at the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas.
“We are here with great confidence,” Rebecca Foerster, president of Hearts on Fire North America, tell JCK. “We heard people weren’t coming. They weren’t going to make appointments, but honestly, we’re fully booked. And people are coming with an appetite to really try to do business as usual.”
At Hearts on Fire, that approach translated into a growing, and perhaps counterintuitive, push behind yellow gold, which the brand promoted in Inside/Out, a collection that includes hard bangles and chain link necklaces replete with references to bespoke tailoring (inspired by chief creative officer Yunjo Lee’s mother, a tailor).
“We’re finding great traction with yellow gold,” Foerster says. “More retailers are asking for it. The consumer really takes to it. And this collection happens to look really good in yellow gold. I think the consumer looks at a piece of jewelry, and if they love it and they feel it’s something they can own for a long time, [the metal] price kind of disappears within the total cost.”
Brecken Farnsworth, co-owner of Parlé, a gemstone jewelry manufacturer in Pocatello, Idaho, went a step further. “A flex used to be a big diamond, but gold is actually a bigger flex than diamonds these days,” she says, showing an 18k gold snake lariat necklace interspersed with Australian opals, one of countless snake-like styles at the show.
Of course, exhibitors are not blind to the broader economic context. At Simon G. Jewelry, vice president Brooke Brinkman emphasizes “value and versatility,” the brand’s 2025 themes.
“Especially as prices are increasing due to cost of goods and tariffs and all the things that are happening, how can we continue to provide value and versatility in our pieces?” she says.
In addition to styles that can be worn multiple ways, Brinkman offered a popular flexible 18k gold necklace with a seductive 1980s vibe, now available in a thicker version. “It’s like our take on the omega,” she says. “We introduced this a few years ago, and it’s done so well that now we have a full case of supporting product. It can be dressed up, dressed down. That’s the versatility.”
Elsewhere at the show, bees, butterflies, and other winged creatures—such as beguiling dragonfly designs by Alishan Halebian (see below)—seem ubiquitous, as are bangles and cuff bracelets, like the limited-edition 18k gold anniversary bracelet on display at designer Penny Preville’s booth, where she’s celebrating her brand’s 50th anniversary.
John Hardy is also highlighting its 50 years in business: The designer founded his brand in Bali in 1975, and at Luxury this year, a wall inside the John Hardy booth is decorated with milestones from the past half century.
Giving JCK a tour of John Hardy’s new collections, CEO Jan-Patrick Schmitz paused in front of a display of men’s bracelets and gestured to his own casual outfit, from the stack of colorful heishi bead bracelets on his wrist to the comfy Birkenstock slippers on his feet.
“A lot of brands ignore the fact that 20 years ago, I would have been standing here with a white shirt and tie,” Schmitz notes. “Now it’s all about laid-back luxury. It really changed the whole dynamic around what men buy and how they wear jewelry. And that’s an opportunity.”
Top, right: Ring in 18k yellow gold with Australian opal, tsavorite, and diamonds, $7,395; Parlé
Top, left: Inside/Out Diamond Flip Bangle in 18k yellow gold with 2.65 cts. t.w. pavé diamonds; $21,500; Hearts on Fire
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