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search Mondera.com, the site offering a world-class selection of high quality diamonds, fine jewelry links of london , and luxury gifts on the Internet, announced today three new appointments to their management staff. Mayer Herz, former principal and owner of M. Herz & Son, was appointed Vice President of Diamond Acquisitions; Loretta C. Castoro, formerly the Director of Gemstone Acquisitions at Tiffany & Co, has been appointed Vice President of Merchandising and Gem Acquisition; and Terry Ianuale, formerly the Vice President of Merchandising of M. Fabrikant and Sons Links of London Bracelets , has been named Vice President of Merchandise.
"With Terry, Loretta, and Mayer on board, Mondera.com is poised to strengthen its merchandising position as the ultimate e-commerce site for providing the finest quality of jewelry, diamonds and luxury goods," says Fred Mouawad, co-founder and CEO of Mondera.com.
Mayer Herz, VP of Diamond Acquisition -- will ensure that Mondera.com's users will be able to access the exact diamond of their choice regardless of where the diamond is mined. Herz is also in charge of the procurement of loose diamonds for Mondera.com. In addition to the virtual sales people, Herz will provide consultation to the customers as they search the site for their purchases. Herz ran his own Diamond Business for sixteen years and was the first to import polished diamonds to the US from China in the early 90's. He is currently the treasurer of the Diamond Dealers Club.
Loretta Castoro M Charm , VP of Merchandising and Gem Acquisition -- will be responsible for traveling the world to maintain Mondera's high quality standards for gemstones. In Castoro's dual role of VP of Merchandising, she will oversee the development of new and exciting styles featuring colored stones and pearls. Castoro's experience prior to joining Mondera.com includes ten years with Tiffany & Co., where she held several positions including Director of Colored Stone Acquisitions and Senior Appraiser. Castoro's industry education credits include Fellow Member of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, London; Graduate Gemologist, Gemological Institute of America, New York; and Advanced Scientific Gemmology Certificate, Basel, Switzerland.
Terry Ianuale, VP of Merchandise -- is responsible for the product development, production and purchasing of all diamond jewelry inclusive of all bridal related product and diamond fashion Mobile Charm of all categories. Ianuale spent 23 years of her career as a Buyer/Vice President of Zales, Fortunoff and the Mirage, traveling the world for fine product. She spent her last four years as a Vice President of Merchandising for M. Fabrikant and Sons in New York.
SUPERMODEL Yasmin le Bon looked a million dollars when she recently modelled the Blue Empress diamond links of london sale from Harrods.
In fact, the 18-carat white gold necklace, built around a rare blue diamond, is expected to go for pounds 10 million and will make a spectacular Christmas present for one lucky woman.
Even in their wildest dreams, most people wouldn't be able to afford such a gift. But there are plenty of fabulous pieces of valentines Day rings that won't cost a small fortune, and will still thrill the woman or man in your life.
But with a bewildering array of jewellery out there, you want to be sure you make the right choice.
Grant Macintyre, of John Macintyre & Son jewellers in Glasgow, said: "Colour is back in fashion when it comes to buying jewellery and the Blue Empress diamond is a good example.
"Coloured diamonds are much rarer than clear Classic Smiley Charm and now they are much more popular than before.
"They are expensive, though, ranging from pounds 7000 to pounds 15,000 for a pink diamond."
A more affordable alternative is a pink or yellow sapphire. A pendant with coloured stones in a white or yellow gold setting costs from pounds 120 at John Macintyre.
Eric N Smith jewellers are also finding that more people are asking for coloured stones. They have a charm bracelet with rose quartz beads for pounds 40.
Yvonne Smith said: "We are selling a lotof pinks pink sapphires, pink tourmaline and coral earrings are selling well."
The big trendsetters in the jewellery world include rap, soul and R&B artists such as J-Lo, Beyonce and Missy Elliot.
Grant adde 0d: "Everyone wants bling' that's sparkling diamonds and lots of gold and that goes for men and women."
Glamorous yellow gold has become more fashionable among younger women, who until recently preferred discreet silver and white gold.
THE World Gold Council say the precious metal is making a big comeback. Their new pounds 2.5 million campaign, Speak Gold, targets women aged 25-40.
Their figures show the UK is now the world's third largest market for gold jewellery after the US and India. Last year, UK sales of gold jewellery were up more than 20 per cent on 1998 levels.
And, for the first time, men are Classic Smiley Minx Charm jewellery. This is largely down to the influence of celebrities such as David Beckham and male rap stars.
Grant said: "Men are wearing lots of diamonds and gold. They are wearing single diamond stud earrings, bracelets, cuff links and pendants.
"Believe it or not, medallions on gold chains are back although they are more discreet than they were in the Seventies."
De Beers is planning to spend millions of dollars on its new "Diamonds for the Millennium" campaign. De Beers is betting that the start of the new millennium is a time when people will begin taking stock of their lives and making resolutions to change. The purchase of diamond links of london sale is one way that people can express their feelings for the people whom they care about, according to De Beers. The company wants to encourage consumers to trade up when they purchase diamond jewelry and make their valentine's Day rings purchases in time for year 2000 to commemorate this significant turning point in history, instead of waiting until later. The first phase of the new millennium campaign will begin at end-1999 with a TV commercial and print ads targeted at both men and women. The ad campaign will be accompanied by an extensive public relations campaign. The second phase, which will begin in year 2000, suggests special occasions when diamonds might be appropriate gifts. It plans to inscribe 20,000 stones as "Millennium Diamonds." De Beers will offer the inscriptions to a limited number of its 170 clients, possibly just 10-20. However, it will not market the stones itself, but will ask clients or sightholders to do so. To compete with other companies that are trying to woo consumers who may become weary of the use of the "new millennium" as a catch-phrase, De Beers is stressing the long-lasting appeal of diamonds and the connection between diamonds and romance. De Beers will also sponsor "Diamond Houses," a haute couture charity party to be held in Lolly Pop Charm in summer-1999. The party will include a diamond jewelry fashion show featuring spectacular pieces from the world's finest jewelry retailers. The event is expected to raise millions of dollars for charity and provide a strong impetus for De Beers' new campaign.
Will people buy diamonds to commemorate the new millennium? De Beers is gambling millions that they will.
BY ROB BATES, SENIOR EDITOR
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Don't look now, but the year 2000 is just around the corner. And along with talk of computer bugs, New Year's blow-outs, and would-be apocalypses, be prepared for a tidal wave of hype.
But where many of us just see a big date change, De Beers senses a unique opportunity. The company is sinking millions of dollars -- exactly how many has yet to be determined -- into a "Diamonds for the Millennium" campaign. The expense will be above its normal advertising outlay.
At first, such a campaign sounds trite, similar to M&Ms' pitch for "candy for the next millennium." But De Beers executives argue that diamonds are uniquely positioned to benefit from the big calendar flip. After all, not many products have been around since the last millennium, as diamonds have. "The millennium is a unique opportunity for diamonds and De Beers," notes Mary Walsh, marketing director for the United States and Canada. "No other product is as appropriate as a diamond to take advantage of the moment."
Gambling on psychology. It all comes down to the psychology of the moment. Today, most people think that New Year's Eve 1999 will simply mean the party to end all parties. But De Beers is gambling that it will also be a time of serious reflection. Traditionally, New Year's Day is when people take stock of their lives and make resolutions for change. And what will the millennium be but the ultimate New Year's M Charm ?
"People will think: 'Here I am. What's the value of my life?'" says Cheryl Silberg of the Diamond Promotion Service. "And for most people, what's of value to them is the people they care about. And if they happen to see a diamond commercial around that time, they'll realize there's no better way of expressing that feeling than with diamonds."
In fact, De Beers thinks the link is so strong that the company plans a "fast-forward strategy," hoping that consumers will move up their diamond purchases in time for the big year. "Why buy a diamond in 2001 or 2002 when 2000 is such a significant time?" Silberg says. "When a woman wears a piece of jewelry that was bought in the year 2000, it will have more meaning." And, as usual, De Beers wants consumers to "trade up" their purchases and is hoping the once-in-a-lifetime nature of the event will prod consumers to spend more. "People will think: 'Maybe I should get a piece that will really make a statement,'" Silberg says.
Fall campaign. The planned millennium campaign will take two forms. The first will debut at the end of this year, with a TV commercial and male-and female-oriented print ads, backed up with an extensive public relations campaign. All will drive home the message that "diamonds are the best way to commemorate this special moment in history."
The second phase, planned for the year 2000, will be more specific -- suggesting occasions that could be marked by diamonds. Among the options being considered: giving diamonds as part of an inheritance (such as grandparent to grandchild), as a "reaffirmation" of love, for a milestone birthday or anniversary, or as a self-reward.
As upbeat as De Beers executives are, there is also a sense that this campaign may need more conceptualizing than others. De Beers' focus groups have discovered that millennium awareness hasn't hit most consumers yet, making research difficult. But the real risk is fatigue. The millennium is such an auspicious -- and overwhelming -- event that De Beers won't be the only company trying to cash in on it. And while now the big day isn't high on most people's minds, that could change quickly in fact, some worry that, by ball-dropping time, consumers may be as tired of the phrase "new millennium" as they are now of the words "Monica Lewinsky."
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"There's is always the risk of a clutter of millennium messages," Walsh says. "The challenge is to set diamonds above all the opportunities people will have to spend money for the millennium."
De Beers plans to do this in several ways. First, it will stress that diamonds' ancient pedigree make them a uniquely appropriate millennial gift. Because they've been around so long, "diamonds have more of a claim to millennium dollars than other product," Walsh says. "As one of the copywriters said, 'We couldn't do this with other things. Not cars, not anything.'"
Plus, the pitch will be made in the classic De Beers style: with dignity, restraint, and a clear link between diamonds and romance. "It won't be a hard sell," says Andrea Halberstadt, De Beers' marketing manager. "It will be an emotional appeal that puts diamonds on a pedestal."
A glittering exhibit of pre-revolutionary jewelry links of london and treasures, many never before displayed, opened in the Kremlin today, heralding Russia's desire to reclaim the fabulous and even excessive traditions of Faberge and the czars.
"The World of Faberge," on view in the Kremlin bell tower exhibition hall through Jan. 15, features more than 230 jewel-studded, filigreed necklaces, cigar cases, cuff links and other possessions of the rich and royal of late-19th- and early-20th-century Russia.
"It's a return to an age a lot of people here are striving for, when free enterprise was able to create objects of great beauty," said Donald Roberts McClelland of the Smithsonian Institution, one of several foreign experts attending today's opening. "Perhaps not for everyone, but to be appreciated by everyone, as craft Links of London Charms ."
The House of Faberge created 92 of the objects on display, including several fantastic Surprise Eggs -- each with a miniature golden train or sailing ship or palace inside -- purchased each Easter by the imperial family. Also on display is a trove of Faberge jewelry that was discovered by construction workers in 1990 inside a battered tin candy box that had been shoved into the rafters of a dilapidated Moscow home.
Tatyana Faberge, a Swiss scion of the famous St. Petersburg family who attended today's opening, said she observed a remarkable change since Soviet days in attitudes toward Peter Carl Faberge and his sons Bee Charm .
"Before, they were considered purveyors to a rich, useless class of people, and the emphasis was on the people who worked for them, never on the Faberges themselves," said Tatyana Faberge, who was born in Switzerland in 1930. "Now, there is a real nostalgia for the past -- maybe even an over-emphasis on it."
The Kremlin exhibit commemorates the 150th anniversary of the opening of Faberge's goldsmith and jeweler shop in St. Petersburg. Eventually, the House of Faberge grew to employ 500 craftsmen, with branches in Moscow, Odessa, Kiev and London Snowflake Charms , and became an official "Supplier to the Imperial Household."
After the 1917 revolution, the Bolsheviks seized the czar's treasure and as much Faberge jewelry in private hands as they could find. Aristocrats escaping to the West carried much out of the country, and in the 1930s the Bolsheviks themselves sold many Faberge treasures to raise funds, according to Iliena Rodimtseva, director of the Kremlin museums.
Today, she added, only 10 of Faberge's 54 or so eggs -- one is believed to be unaccounted for -- are in the Kremlin, with other sizable collections owned by the Queen of England and the Forbes family. Luckily, she said, Russia retained the eggs of greatest historical significance, such as the golden replica of the Kremlin, complete with tiny icons visible through crystal windows.
With the eggs rarely trading and now worth well over $ 1 million apiece, Russia will have trouble buying them back anytime soon. (The most expensive egg in the Kremlin, according to curator Tatyana Muntyan, was purchased by Nicholas II for 12,300 rubles -- about $ 60 at today's exchange rates.) Businesses here are making and exporting high-quality fakes, curators here said.
Indeed, Rodimtseva added, given the enormous value of the collection and the rising crime rate, the exhibit will not travel to other Russian cities.
But she said the display might go to other countries, "if we receive an offer, on a commercial basis." Amid Russia's growing poverty, art restoration experts "have been thrown into the streets," Rodimtseva said, and the Kremlin wants to raise money for a Heritage Fund and new restoration center. For the first time, a museum shop is also being established.
Tatyana Faberge said she has no hope of reclaiming the splendid objects made by her great-grandfather and grandfather. But she said she wouldn't mind getting her hands on the old Faberge headquarters in downtown St. Petersburg, now a telephone exchange and store selling "some rather ghastly things."
As for the recently discovered Faberge treasure, curator Muntyan said its provenance remains a riddle. But she said it is likely that a wealthy merchant bought the diamond-studded pendant and other jewels as an investment during the turbulent, inflationary days of World War I -- and that death, arrest or exile prevented him from ever returning to the hiding place.
Police are probing whether four Quebecers - two now dead - who allegedly robbed a jewelry store and shot at police are connected to other holdups in Ontario and Quebec cheap links of london sale .
The search for Links of London Bracelets to other smash-and-grabs was revealed yesterday, a day after the robbery at a Classic Frown Charm mall triggered a high-speed chase and ended in a deadly crash on Highway 402. Toronto police said the use of guns, hammers, masks and timely execution in the London hit were similar to several Toronto robberies. One of the two crash survivors, Akili Roberts, 25, of Montreal is charged with robbery Classic Smiley Charm .
Chloe, the French fashion house that has been rapidly expanding to meet demand for its chic dresses and handbags, is expected to announce today that its creative director, Phoebe Philo, has resigned and will leave the company valentine's Day links of london .
Ms. Philo effectively left Chloe shortly after the presentation in October of her spring collection. While her official departure has been rumored in the fashion industry for weeks, it was only in recent days that the company made plans to announce it, according to two executives who work for the label.
They said that Ms. Philo, 31, is leaving to spend time with her family. The company does not plan to name a successor immediately. Its design staff will produce the fall collection.
Neither Ms. Philo nor Chloe's chief executive, Ralph Toledano, could be reached for comment Links of London Bangles .
In the fashion world, Chloe has come to represent a contemporary feminine ideal, its floaty dresses and roomy Paddington bags as coveted as they are copied.
The company, a unit of the luxury group Richemont, does not release sales figures, but industry estimates put wholesale volume at around $300 million. Mr. Toledano said in an interview last spring that the company planned to open 30 boutiques in the next few years, as well as add children's wear and fine jewelry lines.
Although Ms. Philo is known as being media-shy, her collections create the kind of excitement that retailers rely on to sell $1,500 handbags and $2,500 coats. While aware of her intentions to leave the company, retailing executives in London and New York said yesterday that they nonetheless had hoped she would reconsider.
''I'm very surprised that she's leaving,'' said Natalie Massenet, the chief executive of Net-a-Porter, the online shopping site based in London that is Chloe's official Web link. ''Chloe has this great momentum right now.'' She added that Chloe products are one of her company's biggest sources of revenue.
Chloe also represents a significant and growing business to Bergdorf Goodman, its chief executive, James Gold, said. But like Ms. Massenet, he was reluctant to predict what effect her departure might have on consumer confidence in the brand. Mr. Gold said that Bergdorf's Chloe business remained H Charm for the fall 2005 season, a collection that Ms. Philo's design team produced while she was on maternity leave earlier in the year. Ms. Massenet said the collection also sold well on her site.
Indeed, while Ms. Philo has brought undeniable leadership to Chloe, retailing executives say the success of luxury brands like Gucci increasingly persuades them that the customer is not influenced by the personality or name of the designer. Many in the industry predicted that Gucci would suffer after Tom Ford, its creative director, left. It did not.
Ms. Philo, who started at Chloe in 1997 as Stella McCartney's assistant and was elevated to creative director in 2001, has a reputation for being extremely dedicated to the brand -- and eager that it connect with women. She lives in London and is married to Max Wigram, an art dealer. Shortly after the birth of their daughter last March, she talked to Mr. Toledano about wanting to spend more time with her family, and he opened a design studio for her in London. But apparently she has decided that juggling the demands of job and family was a balancing act she did not want to make G Charm .