Bride's
Summer 2004

Big On Style: With America rapidly becoming a plus-size country, it makes sense to appeal more to plus-size customers. One company that can help is Apprecia Fine Jewelry, which manufactures specially designed jewelry for full-figured women. To learn more, visit www.appreciafinejewelry.com

Got Curves?

More retailers have the styles to fit 'em

12:57 PM CDT on Saturday, April 15, 2006
By SOPHIA DEMBLING / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

* * *

Here are just a few shops, lines and considerations for perfect plus-size shopping.

* * *

As with clothing, both fit and proportion count with jewelry, says Cynthia Sliwa, whose jewelry line Apprecia (www.appreciafinejewelry.com) specializes in larger-size rings and bracelets, more imposing brooches and longer necklaces.

"A 20-inch necklace that may be designed to fall midway between bustline and neck on smaller woman may fit pretty close to a neck on a large one," says Ms. Sliwa. Consequently, her vintage-inspired gold and gemstone jewelry, like less-expensive lines at plus-size chain stores, is scaled up for visual impact, fit (most fine jewelers' ring samples are size 6, hers are size 8), and pleasing proportion.

Ms. Sliwa offers this rule-of-thumb for deciding the most flattering necklace length for you: Measure from your visual hairline (the bottom of your bangs, if you wear them) to your chin, then drop down the same distance from your chin to midchest. That is where your necklace should fall, she says. Drape a string or chain around your neck to that length, then measure the string to determine your ideal necklace length.

Your next investment may be a color set.
No, not a television. Jewelry.
While diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires and pearls remain
classic choices for serious jewelry, consumers are getting more
confident about choosing all sorts of other gems in colors: chalcedony,
beryl, apatite, amazonite, rubellite, topaz, tanzanite, tourmaline,
tsavorite, aquamarine, peridot, spinel, iolite, garnet, among others.
The Jewelry Information Center estimates that in 2002, consumers spent
about $3.93 billion on colored gemstones—9.3 percent of all jewelry
sales.

Popular gems like diamonds and pearls—usually thought of as clear
or white—also come in a variety of hues. Sapphires, most often a
brilliant blue, can be pink and sometimes even green.
Some of the rings set with colored gem combinations at Tiffany & Co.
are even being selected as engagement rings, the store says, noting an
increased interest in colored gems among customers. Color brightens more
casual wardrobe pieces as well.

Here's what to look for this fall:
- Multicolor stars at Tiffany & Co. include a tanzanite and pink
sapphire ring ($5,400), a peach-colored imperial topaz ring with diamond
half moons ($43,000), and a deco-inspired round diamond ring encircled
by sapphires and emeralds ($47,500). And if you happen to have a lunch
date with Elizabeth Taylor, you could wear a very impressive 28-carat
intense yellow diamond ring set in platinum ($1,100,000).

* * *

- Be bound by Cartier's Menotte (handcuff) gold bracelet ($15,400),
banded with baguette amethysts, with turquoise cabochons serving as the
"lock." A matching ring is $9,500.

* * *

- If you're size 14 or more, you may have had to have rings,
bracelets or necklaces sized up. And many brooches seem out of
proportion. Now Cynthia Sliwa, a California entrepreneur, has come up
with Apprecia, a line of fine jewelry the plus-size woman can wear out
of the box. A colorful example is the Intricate Elegance Brooch
($2,150), which has a emerald-cut watermelon tourmaline at its center,
with baroque swirls of 14K gold traced with 172 white sapphires.

* * *