The Start of British Summertime: Our Style Guide

The 29^th March marks the official start of British Summer Time, with blue skies, warm evenings and vibrant summer colours, it marks the perfect opportunity to explore this season’s upcoming trends. Within this summer style guide, we explore the bold and bright colours, and gemstones, that bring to light the very essence of summer.

This uplifting season brings vibrant hues of colour that are displayed throughout nature to the forefront of our style inspirations. When choosing precious gemstones, and designing jewellery, our designers each explore such displays, from the iridescent neon petals to the deep rich stems, there are specific gemstones that resemble these distinctive summer shades.

Summer Suites

A jewellery suite can contain one, two or more jewellery pieces, and may include a dress or cocktail ring, a necklace, bracelet or a pair of earrings. When selecting a suite, it ultimately offers you the versatility to wear each piece as one set or each piece individually depending on the occasion. If you are looking to create the perfect summer suite, or a set of jewellery pieces, this season offers the ideal opportunity to experiment with jewellery in varying tones, depths and shades. By selecting designs, or colours, that either compliment, or contrast, one another you can create an aura about your look. 

This summer season, like many before it, there is a variety of enchanting shades, from subtle pastels to neon brights, that can inspire your chosen jewellery suite. Take pastels, for example, pale blues, pinks, and lemons as the harmonious shades can be explored, creating an opalescent summer style. 

You will find a perfect example of subtle pastel hues here, amongst our necklace collection, in a suite of rare radiant cut kunzite gemstones, chosen for their delicate purple and lilac shades. The main feature of this suite being a stunning 10.95ct Kunzite pendant, chosen for its playful character. This suite’s matching earrings are equally as beautiful, both adorned by a selection of round brilliant cut white diamonds.

Summer Brights  

As we leave spring, and its neutral earthy tones, summer approaches bringing the perfect opportunity to experiment with a variation of bold and bright colours. This beautiful season is favoured for its astounding sunbeams, sunsets and thriving wilderness. It is during this charming season that we see life blooming in all corners, radiating connotations of happiness and bliss. And it is this feeling and essence that we take some of our design inspirations from.   

Our showrooms offer a selection of brightly coloured precious gemstones to enable the wearer to incorporate this modern trend into their jewellery collection, whether they are looking for a subtle or a bolder style. One gemstone that displays extreme versatility and lends itself to multi-coloured designs is sapphire. Remarkably this gemstone exists in every colour of the rainbow, excluding red, from tranquil navy blues, to deep purples, from earthy greens to vibrant fuchsias. Here, within our necklace collection, you will find two striking rainbow suites, showcasing a selection of vibrant multi-coloured sapphires. The first a cushion cut design, set in a uniformed fashion between two rows of round brilliant white diamonds, displaying a magnificent gradient of rainbow colour. For those who wish to discover more about the spectrum of sapphires and this striking suite, you can do so here. 

Here, again in our necklaces and pendants collection, you will find the second playful display of colour. This unique circular pendant has been created again with an array of sapphire hues, each in a delicate oval cut, set amongst brilliant white diamonds. This exquisite design is also available with a pair of matching earrings, found here, amongst our earring collections. 

Incorporating bright vibrant colours into your summer style is one suggestion fashion houses are also echoing this season. When it comes to boldly coloured gemstones there is no right, or wrong, way to wear them, however, to adhere to the proposed modernist style we suggest pairing statement stones with designs of subtle or soft shapes. 

Tonal Layers

This summer layering is one style that has been popular throughout both fashion and jewellery publications, with celebrities wearing multiple jewellery styles alongside one another. This trend involves layering or stacking multiple pieces of one particular item of jewellery, such as a necklace, and styling them to work together alongside one another. This can involve utilising different colours, or textures, to achieve your desired look. The trend ties in perfectly with the upcoming summer season and is the ideal opportunity to incorporate an array of coloured gemstones into your summer style. 

This trend also allows you to play with different metals to achieve a textured look, or coloured, style.  When combining contrasting metals this summer, we would suggest layering thinner minimalistic chains in yellow or rose gold to radiate the warmth of the season. As this will also involve styling multiple necklaces, we would advise you to consider the neckline you’re wearing, although style is very much a personal affair, the simpler your neckline the more opportunity this leaves you to be more decorative with your jewellery.

70’s Summer

70’s jewellery design is something we can take inspiration from during the upcoming summer months, as many of the colours and shapes that were prominent throughout this era radiates the vibrancy of this season. This summer’s trend forecasts predict jewellery designers taking inspiration from this expressive era and using vivid coloured gemstones, of a multitude of shades, to mirror the bold colours of summer. 

With 70’s style being all about bright, large structured shapes, this summer you might consider working larger statement pieces into your jewellery collection. A statement piece of jewellery is a contemporary way to effortlessly embrace the decadence of the seventies. This styling could be a pair of striking 18ct white gold hoop earrings, set at both the front and side, with a beautiful array of round brilliant white diamonds, such as the pair that can be found here amongst our earring collections. 

If you would like further information about our jewellery collections or our showrooms, please contact us here, or to explore further features please visit Inside Prestons.