It's nice - but I would never wear it!
Exhibiting at craft fairs is a wonderful way of conducting market research. There is nothing like it for finding out what the colours and styles of jewellery are that women like. It's also an eye opener as so many women seem not to have a clue what would suit them!
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Looking at fashion magazines and noting what celebrities and others in the public eye wear is all very well and good but many is the time I have found women, when admiring a necklace that ticks all of the boxes as far as trends go declare: "It's nice – but I'd never wear it."
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So, as we go about our daily lives we tend to stick with the same pieces of jewellery we always wear: a small pendant on a chain perhaps, or a single strand of pearls, or something else, equally innocuous, that we can wear without worrying about it.
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It's the same with bracelets and earrings: the majority of us wear jewellery which is understated and comfortable to wear and which absolutely doesn't draw attention to us.
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From behind my jewellery stall this is what I see – women who have lost their "eye" for jewellery that will enhance their looks and express their personalities.
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Occasionally I see women wearing big bold jewellery in the latest fashion designs and colours, invariably made from cheaper materials such as acrylic or other plastics and sold in the dozens by department stores. But this type of jewellery never pretends to be anything than what it is – fashion jewellery designed for one or two seasons only and it is easy to see that the women wearing it understand this.
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At the other end of the scale is the jewellery gifts market – with husbands, boyfriends, mothers and so on buying costly jewellery in silver and gold with tiny precious stones as a mark of how much the recipient is loved. And if it bears a designer brand name – so much the better.
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But in between there is a wealth of jewellery in wonderful designs using semi-precious stones in a rainbow of colours, usually handmade with skill and usually in unique designs.
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I had a long necklace in shades of blue, mainly agate and lapis lazuli on display on my stall. It is not for everyone, but one lady came in to the craft fair and made a beeline for it. Her partner told her it would really suit her – and it would. "But" she said "I'd never wear it!" Why not? She was a big lady and the necklace would have looked stunning on her. The couple wandered off, without buying the necklace and I thought how sad it was that by not wearing jewellery that celebrated her size she remained simply that – a big lady. Only she, and others like her, could get away with wearing this particular necklace and look fabulous, yet she preferred to try and shrink in with the crowd.
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Another jewellery exhibitor at some of the fairs I attend makes beautiful jewellery in all shades of amber. There are so many women who have just the right eye or hair colour, or skin tone that amber jewellery would be perfect for. They stop, admire, and walk on by. Again, despite encouraging husbands willing to treat their wives, the women simply state that they "would never wear it" and their husbands put their wallets away.
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It makes me wonder how confident these women are in their lives. Are they really saying that their lives are so mundane that there is never a time when they would need to wear beautiful jewellery? I would love to be able to say that they can wear their jewellery every day! With anything! In the little town where I live I see the more confident women wearing their jewellery all the time. Their lives are no different from anyone else – they shop for groceries, they take their children or grandchildren to school, they attend meetings, they have coffee together. They do the same ordinary things as the rest of us. And they always look good.




