NEW YORK — The $5.8 billion bridal business is becoming more difficult for fine jewelers to ignore, and exhibit A is the launch of bridal jewelry collections by Cartier and Temple St. Clair LLC this spring.
The Temple St. Clair line will be distributed in fine jewelers across the country, as well as its own boutiques, while Cartier will retain exclusivity by selling the collection only in its own stores. Cartier has 30 stores in the U.S. and two in Canada.
Engagement ring sales hit $4.3 billion in 2003 compared to $4.2 billion in 2002, according to the Diamond Information Center. The market is on the brink of change, with talks of colored stones as a trend, as well as the prevalence of vintage looks. Esther Fortunoff, executive vice president of Fortunoff, said designs in engagement rings evolve slowly.
“It’s not a revolution but an evolution, while there are some trends, classics remain pretty popular,” she said. “There is a trend toward different types of square cuts, including Aschers, cushion, emerald and princess cuts.”
Branding is getting to be a more predominant factor in bridal jewelry, as companies such as Vera Wang (licensed to Rosiblu) and Movado introduce bridal lines that present established jewelers like Bergio and Christopher some fresh competition.
Cartier, the venerable jeweler which has provided famed brides such as Princess Grace of Monaco with wedding jewelry, has long offered a selection of engagement rings and bridal jewelry, but for the first time in its 150-year history the company has launched an exclusive bridal jewelry collection. The line includes five styles of classic and more modern engagement rings that start at $4,200 retail. For example, the Ballerine ring has a split volute covered in set diamonds at either side of the center stone.
With necklaces, earrings and wedding bands to coordinate, the company plans to take hold of the bridal market more strongly than before. Stanislas de Quercize, U.S. president and chief executive officer, said branding is vital in this market.
“When you open the [Cartier] red box, given to you by the person you love, we want you to say ‘Wow,’” he said.
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In addition to engagement rings and wedding bands, the line features brilliant-cut diamonds surrounded by curly scroll shapes and modified fleur-de-lis, with pavé diamonds. This supplemental collection is purposed to coordinate with the jewelry to create matching sets.
The Cartier collection will bow at the Carolina Herrera bridal show, which will take place at the Cartier mansion in Manhattan on the evening of April 11, followed by a launch party. Cartier will introduce a print advertising campaign to coincide with the launch of the collection.
At the other end of the spectrum, Temple St. Clair’s bridal line embodies the aesthetic of designer Temple St. Clair Carr with bright, punchy colors and simple, geometric shapes. The company has taken personal orders for engagement rings for years but has now launched a full-scale engagement ring collection with 10 distinctive styles.
The line is based primarily on diamonds set in platinum and white gold, but also hones in on the designer’s signature use of brightly colored stones. One style features a brilliant-cut tanzanite with an inverted crenelation of pavé diamonds atop a substantial band. Another style features a triumvirate of circular diamonds, flanking a bezel-set princess-cut diamond at either side.
“I encourage someone to look for a beautiful stone,” St. Clair Carr said. “Size doesn’t matter — color and clarity do.”
The entry-level size stone for the collection is 75 points.
The firm has experienced an increase in consumer requests for color and variation in engagement rings.
“The trend toward vintage jewelry is about finding something you won’t see on anyone else, to be distinctive and individual, which are the key words for me in this collection,” St. Clair Carr said.
By using stones like Santa Maria aquamarine and rare pink topaz, she said the definition of the term semi-precious is changing.
“Sometimes a colored stone can be a thousand times more rare and more expensive than a diamond,” she said. “My branding is built on confidence in what you’re getting in terms of quality and material.”
The collection is comprised of round, cushion, pear and oval-cut stones, which articulate her love of modern, circular shapes.
The line will launch at the Couture show May 31 in Las Vegas, where the company aims to expand its distribution. She intends to sell the mountings that wholesale from $500 to $5,000 to high-end guild stores and fine jewelers, such as Bailey, Banks & Biddle. The line will also be sold at the firm’s two signature stores in Short Hills, N.J., and Costa Mesa, Calif.
Finished rings start at $6,500, retail. The company intends to market the engagement line separately from its other collections.