2020 Jewellery trends we Love
Wild & Fine is not a brand that encourages excessive consumption to keep up with the latest faddy trend. It’s bad for the planet, it clutters up your life and it is the enemy of creating your own unique look (based on what you truly like and what really suits you). We don’t follow fashion when looking for ideas to take back to the studio; we follow our noses, taking inspiration from the places we visit and from nature.
However, sometimes you can look at what is happening on the catwalk and in glossy magazines and think “Yes, this I can get on board with!” So without further ado, here are our favourite jewellery trends for 2020. Some of them are jewellery specific and some of them are more general and applicable to the entire retail industry…
SILVER
We were delighted to see that silver is back in a big way for 2020. Stronger than gold yet lightweight and versatile, sterling silver is the Wild & Fine material of choice for making the vast majority of our designs. Silver is adorning models on catwalks the world over at the moment, meaning that current trends are mirroring our perennial love of this gorgeous precious metal, so we may be wearing even more of it than usual this spring and summer!
ODD EARRINGS
A great way to showcase more of the designs in your jewellery box at once, odd earrings can be fantastically mismatched or carefully co-ordinated, depending on your individual style and taste. We love the idea of pairing one of our large starfish hoops with the small stud of the same design and will be trying this look out during Spring 2020. Valentino, Prabal Gurung and JW Anderson have all experimented with the trend for odd earrings recently and if it’s good enough for their models, it’s definitely good enough for us!
PEARLS
Pearls have been back in fashion for a while now, but fashion giants such as Miu Miu and Jason Wu are showing no sign of tiring of them any time soon.
Jess is busy in the studio look for a way to incorporate a pearl into the W&F Venus Clam, as so many people have approached us at events to ask if we have a shell design with a pearl inside. We can’t wait to write the story of the pearl charm when it is ready to be included in the shop. Pearls are the only jewel to be created by a living animal and have a rich and interesting history that is just waiting to be incorporated into a Wild & Fine story.
LAYERING
This 2020 jewellery trend really is music to our ears! We love layering necklaces, both as an opportunity to showcase more designs and as a result of crippling indecision when getting dressed each morning. The opportunity to wear more than one necklace at a time and to be fashionable - rather than faffy or over the top - is truly welcome news.
HOOP EARRINGS
On the international catwalks at the moment hoops are big and bold and occasionally verging on the Pat Butcher school of fashion in their inspiration. We love hoop earrings but prefer something a little more lightweight and understated, if only because we spend a lot of time introducing ourselves to other people’s dogs and an over-excited spaniel and an outsized hoop earring are a recipe for disaster in anyone’s book. That said, we are glad to see Versace and Proenza Schule getting hoops the attention they rightly deserve this season.
SUSTAINABILITY
As with most aspects of life at the moment, the debate around climate change is making a lot of people assess their lifestyle and consumer habits to see where they can make changes that have a positive impact on the environment. One of the buzz words for 2020 and beyond is going to be “sustainability”. What changes can we make on personal, community, national and international levels that will ensure that human civilisation co-exists with the biosphere successfully for many years to come?
This is a huge debate and not one that we will dwell on in it’s entirety here, but one of the positive changes individuals can make is to buy less and, when they do head to the shops, to choose businesses that take their social responsibility seriously; sourcing their raw materials from ethical suppliers and giving something back to society whenever they can. Jewellers and jewellery designers are not exempt from this and 2020 will see a rise in the use of up-cycled, recycled, recyclable and natural materials in jewellery.
RESETTING OLD GEMSTONES
One of the ways that magpies like the Wild & Fine team can indulge in their passion for sparkly things without over-consuming is to re-set old gemstones. If you are lucky enough to have any pieces of family jewellery, you may also be in the awkward situation of not wanting to wear it (maybe because it is not your style or it doesn’t fit properly and you are afraid of losing it) but feeling too sentimental to sell it. If this sounds familiar, consider getting the gems re-set into something you will enjoy wearing. If only all recycling was this glamorous!
THE REVIVAL OF SMALL
Busy lifestyles mean that we are often drawn to big corporates that can be a one-stop-shop for the majority of our consumer needs. From Amazon and Tesco Extra to Walmart and Ikea, sometimes it’s just easier to have everything under one roof! But as more and more people try to change their habits to buy fewer items and buy more ethically, there is a huge opportunity for small businesses to thrive.
A small range of products that can be created ethically and sustainably has a real opportunity to develop an engaged and loyal following. By marketing these products effectively to a target audience, who are buying less frequently but are really doing their homework before they do spend, small businesses can be head and shoulders above those big corporates who struggle to be rigorous and transparent in their production processes, due to the sheer scale of their operations.
THE LONGER PRE-SALE RELATIONSHIP
Another consequence of the current trend to consume more consciously and less frequently is that shoppers are developing a longer pre-sale relationships with the brands from which they are interested in purchasing. You only have to type a product into a search engine to suddenly be followed wherever you go on the internet by ads from brands who specialise in what you seem to be looking for.
The result of this is that consumers are sitting back and waiting for something to catch their eye. Once something does they will probably visit the website, read customer reviews and follow the brand on social media for a while to really get to know it before making a purchase. Industry know-how suggests that consumers need to see a brand’s offering an average of seven times before they make a purchase.
CROSSOVERS AND COLLABORATIONS
John Donne once said ‘No man is and island’. We think that this goes for brands too. One of our favourite aspects of running a small business over the last year has been the friendships we have forged with other like-minded brands along the way. According to industry insights we are not alone. 2020 is going to be full of linkups, cross-promotions and collaborations throughout the retail sector. We are working on our first one for 2020 with Littlemore Candle Co. Watch this space for more details!