Forget the perception of a string of pearls as a timeless piece of jewellery epitomised by Gabrielle Chanel and grandmothers around the world.
The 1930s photograph of Coco Chanel wearing row upon row of pearls over a black sweater might have immortalised this queen of the ocean as the single most elegant piece of jewellery a woman could own, but new techniques and designs mean the classic strand, choker and drop-earrings set is becoming very last century.
Models at Chanel's spring-summer show in Paris wrapped them around their heads as beauty and fashion accessories. Only recently, Lady Gaga appeared at a charity event in New York with hundreds of white pearls glued to her face and legs. Mikimoto wowed audiences at the Basel Jewellery Fair in Switzerland last month with a one-off necklace featuring 1,490 akoya pearls. With eight choker strands and several long strands that draped across the body, the masterpiece demonstrated the desire for new ways to wear pearls.
Joyce Tong, assistant marketing manager at Mikimoto Pearl Jewellery, says pearls are more popular today than 10 or 20 years ago. They are becoming iconic pieces, with jewellery, accessories and fashion designers employing pearls as a trend-setting element in their collections. 'Customers are more demanding about the design of the jewellery and scarcity of valuable pearls,' Tong says.
In response, designers are combining shapes, colours and techniques to create sophisticated pieces that are versatile and multifunctional. Nevertheless, consumers still want elegance, and Mikimoto's Cherishing Love collection highlights the timeless beauty of simplicity in design with single akoya pearls surrounded by tiny diamonds.
Paspaley has been farming its own cultured South Sea pearls for more than a century but, according to regional marketing manager Eliette Rosich, its designers are using them in a more fashion-forward way. 'The fan base is changing and they are being used in jewellery with more movement and with more uses,' Rosich says. 'The way the under-30s wear jewellery is very appealing and very sensual.'
Paspaley's Muse collection, produced by Swiss-German designer Jurgen Kammler, does more than meets the eye. Feminine, free of motifs and incorporating black onyx, the collection is modern and multifunctional. Strands of pearls and a clasp mean they can be worn combined or as separates, and the collection also includes a pair of earrings that can be worn in four combinations - putting to practical use the reputation of fine German engineering.