Edra Blixseth's Jewels Up For Sale originally appeared on Luxist on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Luxist Gift Guide 09: Top 10 Jewelry Gifts

Luxist Gift Guide 09: Top 10 Jewelry Gifts originally appeared on Luxist on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Julianne Moore Fronts New Bvlgari Campaign

Julianne Moore Fronts New Bvlgari Campaign originally appeared on Luxist on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

More Jewelers Fall Victim To Gold-Selling Scams originally appeared on Luxist on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Nominations have been received and vetted for the best-of-breed in jewelry, watches, leathergoods, department stores and clothing lines. The Luxist Readers' Choice Accessories Awards will be awarded based on your voting.

Each of finalists for the Readers' Choice for the Best Jewelry Line is a leader in the industry. One is not only known for its signature jewelry, but also for the blue box that it comes in. Another is known for its handcrafted pieces, but it is also known for its many innovations. Another nominee is a newer designer on the scene (relative to the others, that is) who is inspired by Florentine jewelry-making, but also astronomy, celestial, mythological and astrological influences. Another nominee is synonymous with glamour and fame and has ties to some of the world's most famous jewels. Finally, there's a nominee known for the panache of its founder, as well as its vast collection of the world's finest diamonds.

The Readers' Choice for the Best Watch Line nominees include a perennially favored brand among the watch-loving elite that is known for making the most complex wrist watch in the world. Another nominee is known for its functionally-themed luxury sport watches. The third nominee, while an historic brand with almost 200 years of heritage, is known for being a forward focused luxury watch maker of the future. A fourth nominee is perhaps the best-known luxury watch brand in the world, with a stellar reputation to match. Lastly, there's a watchmaker that epitomizes Swiss haute horology with its modern classics and technical innovation.

The Readers' Choice for the Best Leathergoods Line for a Luxist Award include award-winning brands from France, Italy and London. One started out making equestrian equipment in 1837, and still makes its goods by hand; some of its handbags are so coveted, there's a two-year long wait list to buy one. Another was started in London by a former fashion editor who partnered with a couture shoe maker to create a company now synonymous with the "red carpet". The third nominee is known for its clean lines and simple classic color palettes while the fourth is a global force of tradition and innovation. And finally, the last nominee epitomizes luxury with its delectable designer bags and vaunted luggage--some pf which command five figure prices.

Nominees for Readers' Choice for Best Department Store include one based in London that has no fewer than 330 different departments, a staff of 5,000 from 50 different countries and is visited by as many as 300,000 people on a single day. Another, with roots in Texas, is known for its superior customer service, in addition to its luxury merchandise, including some of the world's most extravagant items. One New York-based store has a shoe department that is so large, it was given its own zip code. Another Manhattan-based store specializes in hard-to-find international designers, many of which it will help launch into fame. Lastly, there's an upstart from London that is so cutting-edge and up-to-date, it launches 300 new styles on a weekly basis.

Readers' Choice nominees for Best Clothing Designer are award-winning fashion designers from Italy, England, France and the United States. One was started by a wunderkind who was named chief designer of one of the most respected fashion houses when he was still in his 20's. Another has been one of the leading names in fashion for nearly 100 years. A third nominee, known for its timeless style, has outfitted First Ladies on both sides of the aisle for decades while the fourth is famed for its understated elegance. The final nominee is synonymous with high fashion though its roots are in luggage and leather goods.

Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed for each of these categories. Readers' Choice Awards for Accessories will be announced on December 31st.

Cast your vote for the Readers' Choice Awards at .

Vote Now For The Readers' Choice for Best in Accessories originally appeared on Luxist on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sears Discounts Jewelry For Holiday Season originally appeared on Luxist on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Recut Wittelsbach Diamond Goes On Display originally appeared on Luxist on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ever since Harry Winston draped actress Jennifer Jones in diamonds at the Oscars more than half a century ago, the jewelry company has been synonymous with glamour and fame. From the legacy of Hope Diamond to the sparkle of the red carpet, Winston diamonds have become an icon of international glamour, earning the company a nomination for Luxist's best jewelry line award.

The son of turn-of-the-century Ukrainian immigrants, Winston was a savvy gem-hunter from an early age. As legend has it, a 12-year-old Winston recognized a two-carat emerald in a New York pawnshop, bought it for 25 cents, and sold it two days later for $800. In 1932, he opened his own store, focusing on buying stodgy collections to re-cut, re-set and re-sell.

In 1949, Winston purchased the Hope Diamond from the estate of socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, who had acquired the gem from Pierre Cartier nearly forty years earlier. Over the next decade, Winston highlighted the stone in his "Court of Jewels," exhibited to audiences across the country -- but not before daringly re-cutting it to increase its brilliance. Winston donated the stone to the Smithsonian in 1958, reportedly sending it in a plain brown paper bag via U.S. Mail.

Winston passed away in 1978 and the company is now publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (HWD). Today, the company's gems adorn stars from Halle Berry to Madonna. They're also available to the public through Harry Winston Jewelers' two-dozen stores across the world. Just be sure to pack a hefty checkbook before shopping -- Winston rings usually start at around $10,000.

Cast your vote for the Readers' Choice Awards at http://www.luxist.com/awards-vote/accessories-awards.

Gallery: More from Harry Winston

Harry Winston: Synonymous with Glamour and Fame originally appeared on Luxist on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Van Cleef & Arpels, nominated for a Luxist Award for Best Jewelry Line, is known for its handcrafted fine custom pieces. The company was founded in 1906 on the famed Place Vendôme in Paris by Alfred Van Cleef and his brother-in-law, Charles Arpels. The company first opened its doors at the New York flagship in 1939 and has continued to expand to the world's most exclusive locations. For more than a century, the company has fused inspiration and technical prowess into beautiful creations.

Van Cleef & Arpels has long been known for striving to capture nature at its most beautiful. This is evident with several collections, such as the classic Snowflake Collection, as well as "Birds of Paradise", the new creative jewelry collection comprised of whimsical and figurative birds in flight and fancy.

The company is known for its many innovations and technical creativity in its storied ateliers, one of which is the Mystery Setting. The Mystery Setting is an exclusive and patented technique in which prongs are concealed beneath the gems they hold. The technique allows the creation of voluptuous, gem-encrusted, three-dimensional shapes that shimmer with simplicity and grace that allow the precious stones to take center stage. The process was introduced by Van Cleef & Arpels in 1933 and is still used in many of the jeweler's finest unique pieces.

Another innovation by Van Cleef & Arpels was the Minaudiere. In the 1930's, when Charles Arpels caught Florence Jay Gould slipping her lipstick into a white tin box, he was astonished that such a fashionable woman had nothing in which to store and carry her cosmetics. As a result, he invented this ultra-sophisticated version of the vanity case that allows the cosmopolitan woman to tuck away her lipstick, handkerchief and powder puff without being encumbered.

The company's Zipper necklace, which was first commissioned by the Duchess of Windsor, took over a decade to realize in its workshops. The necklace is one of Van Cleef & Arpels most iconic, innovative pieces. The necklace zips, literally, just as a zipper does.

Van Cleef & Arpels launched its famed Alhambra Collection in the late 1960's, reflecting the pop culture of the time. The Alhambra is still one of the company's signature lines and has since grown into a larger collection featuring a variety of precious stones, charms and variations while staying true to the original meaning of the clover motif. The iconic quatrefoil is the time-honored symbol of health, wealth, true love and luck, at once an embodiment of simplistic elegance. The Alhambra has become a most-desired addition to the jewel boxes of legends of the screen and stage, members of the royal set, exquisite tastemakers and jewelry lovers throughout the world.

Annually, Van Cleef & Arpels produces one to two collections of high jewelry, which are unique, one-of-a-kind pieces that are handmade in its workshops in either Paris or New York. These pieces, which are never to be replicated, are thematic, creative and romantic--always based on the idea of one of the founding blocks of the company: nature, fantasy, couture and the arts. Its most recent high jewelry collections include "California Rêverie", "Les Jardins", "Ballet Precieux", "L'Atlantide" and "Une journée à Paris".

In addition to its jewelry, the company has an extensive collection of timepieces and fragrances. Van Cleef & Arpels has two flagship boutiques: one in New York and the other in Paris. At 22, place Vendome, and since 1939 at 744 Fifth Avenue in New York in addition to select locations throughout the rest of the world.

Cast your vote for the Readers' Choice Awards at http://www.luxist.com/awards-vote/accessories-awards.

Gallery: More from Van Cleef & Arpels

Van Cleef & Arpels: Simplicity and Grace originally appeared on Luxist on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Neiman Marcus is a nominee for the Readers' Choice Award for Best Department Store. The Dallas, Texas-based luxury retailer was founded in 1907 by Herbert Marcus, Sr., his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman and her husband A.L. Neiman. Since then, the company has become known for its merchandise leadership and superior customer service. Its upscale assortment of apparel, accessories, jewelry, beauty and decorative home products cater to the affluent customer.

The company is credited with many firsts. In 1926, the company premiered the first weekly retail fashion show in the U.S. It began offering menswear in 1928, featuring items like French-made ties and English shirtings--items rarely found west of New York City. In 1934 the company started running national advertisements in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines--the first retail establishment outside New York City to do so. In 1984, the company established InCircle, the industry's first customer-loyalty program.

In 1939, the company launched its annual Christmas Book tradition with a wonderland of fur coats, fashion accessories, perfumes, toys and more. The book has since become famous for extravagent, over-the-top luxury items, such as a $25,000 customized and motorized cupcake car and a Jaguar XJL Supercharged Neiman Marcus edition sedan for $105,000, both offered in the 2009 book. The Christmas Book's "His and Hers" gift, which is an annual tradition, currently features a pair of ICON A5 Sports Aircrafts and pilot training for two for the princely sum of $250,000.

Now more than a century old, the company has 41 stores and a total of more than six million gross square feet around the country, from California to Massachusetts. In 1999, Neiman Marcus launched its website, neimanmarcus.com, making it possible for customers around the world to easily access its large selection of designer and luxury brands via the Internet. The Neiman Marcus Group is the parent company of two other esteemed companies: Bergdorf Goodman, the luxury department store based in New York and The Horchow Collection, a luxury mail-order catalog.

Cast your vote for the Readers' Choice Awards at http://www.luxist.com/awards-vote/accessories-awards.

Gallery: More from Neiman Marcus

Neiman Marcus: Premier Luxury and Superior Customer Service originally appeared on Luxist on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sarah Jessica Parker once said, "If you're a nice person and you work hard, you get to go shopping at Barneys." It's not just Parker and her Sex and the City contemporaries in New York that frequent this Luxist-nominated department store -- flagship locations are sprinkled throughout the country from Boston to San Francisco.

According to legend, Barney Pressman opened his first store with the $500 he received for pawning his wife's engagement ring. He packed the 500-square-foot location at Seventh Avenue and West 17th Street in Manhattan with brand-name suits sold at discount prices. To get good deals on his merchandise, Pressman raided showroom sample sales and even a few bankruptcy auctions. He lured customers by offering free alterations and free parking.

Barneys expanded and focused on the high-end lifestlye during the middle of the 20^th Century, emerging as a major purveyor of luxury goods. Barneys also expanded geographically, opening its first store beyond the Big Apple in 1988 and opened its first international location in Tokyo in 1990.

Today, the flagship Barneys in New York is located in midtown. Like the store's other locations, it peddles goods produced by hard-to-find international designers. Products from the likes of Manolo Blahnik, Diane von Furstenberg and Ermenegildo Zegna dot the displays. Though the Pressman family sold its stake in the company in 2004, free parking is still available -- if you can find it on the street.

Cast your vote for the Readers' Choice Awards at http://www.luxist.com/awards-vote/accessories-awards.

Gallery: More from Barneys New York

Barneys New York: A Leader in Cutting-Edge Fashion originally appeared on Luxist on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With its trademark blue boxes and over a century of luxury lore behind it, Tiffany & Co. is perhaps the world's most identifiable emporium of opulence. Above all, Tiffany is known for its jewelry, which made up 87% of the company's revenues last year. Unsurprisingly, Tiffany is a finalist in Luxist's Best Jewelry category.

Founded by Charles Louis Tiffany in 1837, the store's first day receipts totaled $4.98. But Tiffany soon found success. By 1851, Tiffany became the first company to institute the silver standard that was eventually adopted by the U.S. By the turn of the 20^th Century, Tiffany had moved into a spacious new Manhattan headquarters, which it outgrew by 1940.

The following years saw Tiffany & Co. grow as an icon with the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, starring Audrey Hepburn. Flush with success, the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1987.

The company is now known by its style which has long been defined by groundbreaking designers (Louis C. Tiffany, Jean Schlumberger, Paloma Picasso, Elsa Peretti and Frank Gehry, to name a few). It is also known for its glamorous collections that are now classics, from the Atlas, Classic, Etoile and Open Heart to the Tiffany Keys collection (above) which are innately chic pendants and charms inspired by Tiffany's archives.

Shares debuted at a split-adjusted $1.91, and have since soared some 2,000% despite the recent recession. Today, the company's current New York flagship store accounts for roughly one-tenth of the company's net sales. Tiffany & Co. boasts 85 other stores in the U.S., 96 in the Asia-Pacific region and 24 in Europe. Its signature jewelry, most notably its famed engagement rings and statement diamonds, still come in the same Tiffany blue boxes.

Cast your vote for the Readers' Choice Awards at http://www.luxist.com/awards-vote/accessories-awards.

Gallery: More Jewelry from Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany & Co.: Signature Jewelry in a Signature Blue Box originally appeared on Luxist on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Laurence Graff, the British billionaire jeweler to the stars, has seen diamonds all the way from the rough to the ring for decades. Not since Harry Winston has a single man been so involved in every aspect of the world of diamonds. Graff's panache and success have earned himself and his company, Graff Diamonds, many accolades -- including a nomination for a Readers' Choice Award for Best Jewelry Line.

Things weren't always so peachy for the East London-raised Graff. He grew up in a single-room apartment with his mother, a Romanian immigrant; his father left to fight in World War II. The young Graff did so badly in school that his parents urged him to drop out and learn a trade at age 14, according to Forbes. He soon scored an internship with a London jeweler; Graff's duties included scrubbing toilets.

By the age of 24, Graff had made some inroads in the London jewelry scene, but he was getting restless. So in the early 1960s, he jetted off to the Far East, where he would gain expertise buying and selling diamonds out of his briefcase. Once ensconced, he made several connections that endure to this day, including a friendship with one of the princes of Brunei. When he returned to London to operate two small stores, his royal friends often visited him to schmooze -- and to buy his wares.

Today, Graff helms a vertically integrated diamond empire with two-dozen retail outlets in Monte Carlo, Dubai, New York and Moscow, to name a few. Graff's gems have adorned the necks of stars from Oprah Winfrey to Paris Hilton. He shows no signs of slowing down: on December 1, 2009, his five-carat Vivid Pink diamond set a world record for such a stone, fetching $10.8 million in a Hong Kong auction.

Cast your vote for the Readers' Choice Awards at http://www.luxist.com/awards-vote/accessories-awards.

Gallery: More from Graff Diamonds

Graff Diamonds: The Most Fabulous Jewels in the World originally appeared on Luxist on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ruff & Cut's Holiday Jewelry Sale originally appeared on Luxist on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Elizabeth Taylor Misses House of Taylor Opening Due To Illness originally appeared on Luxist on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: The Blackout Collection

Continue reading The Blackout Collection from Rafaello & Co.

The Blackout Collection from Rafaello & Co. originally appeared on Luxist on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Evening Star Diamond Sells For Over $5 Million originally appeared on Luxist on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Rare Stamp Locket Up For Auction originally appeared on Luxist on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Bulgari Save The Children Auction

Bvlgari Auctions Off Rare Jewelry originally appeared on Luxist on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Stolen Cartier Jewels Recovered originally appeared on Luxist on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.