In the modern world, jewelry is no longer associated with family jewelery, which is worn on major holidays and passed on by inheritance. For the current generation of active and independent women, they are everyday accessories that reflect individuality and emphasize style. From this point of view, it becomes important every time to choose jewelry for a specific color scheme, occasion and mood.
But, as in ancient times, natural precious metals and stones continue to be expensive. Therefore, buying a lot of gold jewelry that matches different clothes can be too costly. But allows you to harmoniously complement any style and add variety to your everyday look.
What is jewelry?
Costume jewelry (from the French word “bijouterie”, which translates as “jewel”) can be defined as an ornament made of inexpensive materials. Often, jewelry is an imitation of expensive products made of precious metals and natural precious stones. For this, cheaper metals, plating with gold, silver or rhodium are used. Gemstones can be replaced with glass rhinestones, synthetic analogues, semiprecious minerals.
Variety of materials
Another case is often when jewelry is made from materials completely different from traditional jewelry. So, if you classify jewelry according to the materials from which it is made, you will get many varieties:
- From inexpensive metals (bronze, cupronickel, brass, puter, nickel silver);
- From colored or transparent glass beads (rhinestones and complex parts made using the lampwork technique);
- From polymer clay;
- From epoxy;
- Of natural semi-precious and non-precious stones;
- From beads and plastic beads;
- From colored cords and threads;
- Leather;
- From fabrics;
- From natural materials (pebbles, wood, shells, etc.).
Jewelry Styles
There are a great many artistic styles in jewelry, as well as in art in general: art deco, modern, glamor, retro, vintage, etc. It should be borne in mind that some products can combine the features of different styles
Therefore, summarizing, jewelry is divided into several large groups:
- Classical This jewelry is designed to accurately copy jewelry made of precious metals and precious stones. To do this, the metal substitute is coated with a thin layer of real gold or silver by galvanization. Gem inserts are replaced with glass rhinestones, cubic zirconias, artificial pearls or natural zircons. Really high-quality jewelry can be so difficult to recognize that only a professional jeweler can handle it. Classical jewelry can include both modest earrings for a daily trip to the office, and a luxurious diadem for a wedding dress.
- Avant-garde. This jewelry is most often handmade, invented and made by professional designers. The materials in this case can be the most diverse and exotic, and the designs are the most daring, because such things are valued just for their unusual appearance, originality and uniqueness.
- Ethnic. Ethnic jewelry refers to the cultural traditions of different nations, uses folk motifs and, most often, natural materials: wood, stone, animal fangs, shells, leather and thread elements. Ornaments, symbols, magic signs, hieroglyphs and runes - all this gives ethnic jewelry color and mystery.
- Children’s. Usually these are jewelry made of inexpensive materials, often using popular girlish motifs (butterflies, flowers, hearts), and designed to distract the attention of growing fashionistas from expensive mother's jewelry.
Mass and uniqueness
According to the type of production, jewelry can be divided into the following groups.
- streaming (implies inexpensive materials and mass production, which as a result gives a very affordable price, but not the best quality)
- author's ("hand-made" of very different quality and price category)
- jewelry (produced by jewelry production using the same technologies as precious metal products; it can combine cheap and expensive materials)
Thus, thanks to jewelry, almost any woman can find jewelry to her taste and wallet. Dreaming of noble platinum and sparkling diamonds, which are not yet affordable, do not forget about today. Feel free to wear jewelry: this is just another great opportunity to make your look brighter and more diverse.