Jewelry Highlights of 2025, So Far
A highly personal list of 10 things
It struck me as odd, or at very least premature, when I saw several “Best of 2025, So Far” stories on my favorite media outlets this week. Then I read July 1 was the halfway point of the year. That inspired me to make a list of my own, in a "if you can’t beat them, join them" kind of way.
Following are 10 of my highly personal jewelry highlights so far this year.
1. The Original Miami Beach Antiques Show (OMBAS)
In January, I attended the Original Miami Beach Antiques Show as a guest of the event. I believe it is the biggest vintage show in the world so there is a lot to see. We are all so fully absorbed and committed we don't go to the beach or anywhere else in Miami except out to dinner.
While it is almost impossible to pick a favorite piece from the show, I don’t want to be a wuss and say I couldn’t possibly. So I will select the Verdura chessman brooch that Benjamin Sberro from the Odeon Collection showed me. It has lingered in my mind. Part of the reason is I love the found object and precious gems combo. I also like the story behind the jewel.
In 1940, the designer, Duke Fulco di Verdura read a Life magazine article about antique chessmen. Shortly thereafter, he bought some 18th century chess pieces and began his very limited series of brooches, embellishing the chessmen with gems. The first one was bought by Henry Fonda for his wife, Frances. Others in the elite chess club included Tyrone Power’s wife, Annabella, Irene Selznick and Dorothy Paley.
2. Lady Gaga wore a Meta Overbeck-Louis Comfort Tiffany Necklace at the Grammys
In February at the Grammys, Lady Gaga left jewelry history lovers, like yours truly, in awe. I believe she was the first person to ever wear a Meta Overbeck design on the red carpet. Meta was one of the women who worked under the direction of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
The gold jewel Gaga sported with a glam-goth look was made at some point between 1930 and 1933. Set with tourmalines, pearls, and onyx, it was borrowed from the Tiffany Archives.
For the Grammys, I only wrote a brief summary of the best red carpet looks for The Adventurine website, which left another jewelry history enthusiast, Neil Lane, as in Neil Lane, from The Bachelor fame, very disappointed. He wanted me to write a story specifically about Meta Overbeck and the jewel. It’s not that he doesn’t know everything about Meta; he does. He just wanted me to chime in.
To try and amp me up, he sweetly gave me the book from The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Meta Overbeck’s Designs for Louis C. Tiffany Art Jewelry, which features her notebook, including the design for the necklace Gaga wore.
I was in Los Angeles for the month, and Neil and I went out to dinner at Sal’s Place where we reviewed every single page of the book by candlelight. I still need to write a story about Meta Overbeck.
3. Opening the GEM Awards with a Special Announcement
It’s a cliché to say, but the GEM Awards are the Oscars of jewelry. I’ve been fortunate to be part of the event as a GEM Awards Committee member for about ten years.
For the past couple of years, I’ve had the privilege of serving as the GEM Awards Chair and opening the show, which takes place in March at Cipriani 42nd Street.
I had the honor of announcing the David Yurman GEM Awards Grant this year, which will get underway in August. The prize includes $50,000 for an up-and-coming designer who shows potential. Click the Instagram embed above, which is a video, to hear me announce it.
4. ‘Solid Gold’ Talk at the Cartier Mansion
In March, I had the pleasure of joining the curator of the Brooklyn Museum’s ‘Solid Gold,’ Matthew Yokobosky and Greg Bishop, Cartier's AVP of Heritage, at the Cartier Mansion in New York for a discussion about the array of Cartier jewelry on display in the exhibit.
There was so much to love in the epic exhibit, but I am picking favorites for this story. So, I am going with the Draperie de Decollete Necklace. Made in 1999, the jewel took design cues from a Cartier pearl necklace from around 100 years earlier. The piece demonstrates how the French firm reimagines work from its past in a cool new way.
I vividly remember the presentation of the necklace in 1999 at the very Mansion where we were talking about it as a bit of history. At the time, I thought how the ball chain was a simple and radical design for Cartier. This year, ball chains are everywhere.
5. White Lotus Conversation
In April, David Webb’s beloved archivist, Levi Higgs invited me to moderate a panel with him and the ‘White Lotus’ costume designer Alex Bovaird at the glamorous Fifth Avenue Hotel on the morning the finale was airing.
During the talk, we learned Webb made the special snake necklace featured in the show at Alex’s request. The piece was originally a bracelet. Parker Posey’s character, Victoria Ratliff, also wore Webb's designs in the series. Learning about how Alex and Levi worked together and Alex’s connection to Webb from way back was also fascinating.
Alex wouldn’t give away even a hint about the finale. In fact, she tried to throw us off the scent during the Q&A section of the conversation.
But we guessed correctly that a “tell” was linked to the Stay Gold necklace Alex commissioned from Luna Flo for Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) to wear. The necklace's caption on the designer's website included a deep movie reference: "Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold," the line that Johnny Cade says to Ponyboy Curtis in the 1983 film The Outsiders before he dies.
6. The Adventurine by Marion Fasel Debuted on Substack
On the first Sunday in May, I launched my debut Substack story on The Adventurine by Marion Fasel. It’s been a wonderful new platform for many reasons. The biggest one being that it's a community of writers and editors. Smart people abound. There is an air of positivity. Honestly, I thought this kind of thinking was gone forever.
On the status end of things, Substack is encouraging in all kinds of ways. No one is quite sure how they compile their lists, but in just over two months, I gained Best Seller status and my first checkmark.
A couple of times in the last two months, The Adventurine has made the New Bestsellers leaderboard, alongside Substacks in every category like Food, Culture, Politics, Sports and Katie Couric. This has felt very encouraging. The Adventurine has consistently been ranked in the top 100 Rising Fashion and Beauty category.
My breath has been taken away at the kindness of the recommendations I’ve received.
GoFugYourself, one of the best in the blogging business, has linked to my stories a couple of times.
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Blake Lively gave The Adventurine a shoutout which was unexpected and totally thrilling.
The legendary former Lucky editor, Andrea Linett said I was an “encyclopedia of jewelry.”
7. 92Y Talk on The History of Diamond Engagement Rings with Christopher Young and Benjamin Zucker
The legendary location in New York for intelligent conversations is the 92Y. In May, I had the opportunity to share the stage there with Tiffany’s Christopher Young and diamond expert Benjamin Zucker.
We discussed the origin story of The History of Diamond Engagement Rings, expanding on the first two chapters of my book of the same name. As the picture above shows, it was fun. I believe it was also informative. We debunked myths and so much more.
You can watch the hour long talk here.
8. Ana Khouri Showed Her Collection at TEFAF
In May, at the TEFAF art fair held at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, the extraordinary jewelry designer Ana Khouri showed her High Jewelry collection in a way that changes your eye and your thinking. The gold, rock crystal and jaw-dropping diamond jewels were hung on the wall like paintings against crinkled paper that echoed the texture in the work. (You can see video of it in the Instagram embed below by clicking on it.)
The display reflects Ana’s modern sensibility and imagination as much as the jewels themselves which feature unique techniques not to mention a brown gold alloy that she developed over three years.
Ana’s jewelry is the type modern women of means want to wear for its individuality, the craftsmanship and sensitivity that goes into it. It's not presented in an over-the-top ostentatious mode in some faraway location that feels like some form of a distraction or camouflage. Quite the opposite.
Ana Khouri’s jewelry exudes absolute confidence in the designs, the quality of the workmanship and the materials. All of it was there on full display for the connoisseurs, critics and collectors to touch and examine up close at TEFAF.
9. The COUTURE jewelry show in Las Vegas
The only equivalent of seasonal fashion runway presentations in the jewelry industry is the COUTURE show in Las Vegas, which took place in early June. Of course, designers present collections at various points throughout the year. However, there is no other event where you can see a wide variety of styles and connect the dots on trends, or see how designers stand out side-by-side over the course of three days. That only happens at COUTURE.
As always, there was plenty to love. For this story, as I’ve mentioned, my theme is about making selections. But I can't do just one COUTURE designer. I will limit myself to three.
The new hand-cut gem earrings from Ten Thousand Things stood out as a spectacular evolution of designers Ron Anderson and David Rees's popular new signature style.
Hiba Husayni's Zahn Z collection deserved to win Best in Debuting at the COUTURE Awards.
Marie Lichtenberg continued to serve wit and wearability with her glorious collection. I briefly discussed it on the COUTURE Instagram video above. Click to watch it.
10. I identified the designer of THE engagement ring
Last week in the midst of the Bezos-Sánchez wedding frenzy, I read a story in Vogue about the engagement ring. I was surprised that among “all the details” they didn't bother to hazard a guess about who designed the jewel.
From the view Vogue showed above, I thought it must be Lorraine Schwartz. It features her signature super micro pavé-diamond slender setting. I thought that since she designed all of the Kardashian engagement rings, they must have introduced the couple to her. She also specializes in extraordinary gemstones.
I posted these thoughts on Instagram Stories, not thinking too much about it. Well, the THOUSANDS of views and scores of DMs showed other people were deeply invested.
There was a faction who were wildly concerned that the platinum mounting was so thin it would break under the weight of the gem.
A number of people believed the ring was JAR. Many shared this opinion with me. I reiterated my belief that it was Lorraine.
As an aside, the algorithm is intense. There is no need to wonder why there was so much coverage of the wedding. The numbers don’t lie. People were interested.
Anyway, I got a call from a source close to the matter who 100% confirmed the ring is Lorraine Schwartz.
Now, if only I could get the same type of energy from the Instagram audience to fly over to Substack. Oh how I wish the same intensity would happen with stories covering design history greats like Meta Overbeck.
Thank you for reading and supporting my Substack. I truly appreciate it.
Happy 4th of July!
x Marion
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Gorgeous chessman brooch!
What an interesting article, thanks, Marian! Welcome to Substack, congrats on your success!