Claire’s has launched a line of jewelry and accessories inspired by the TV smash hit Glee – the line includes everything from rings, bracelets and necklaces to bags and even a bit of home décor.  The line of accessories was introduced in pop-up shops in just a few major cities prior to the official release and was scheduled to be on the shelves of more than fifteen hundred Claire’s stores across North America as of yesterday.

With the tremendous popularity of Glee and the fact that millions of kids across the country who are devoted to the show are heading back to school and in search of the perfect way to compliment their new outfits, this line is sure to be a success for Claire’s. 

As jewelry designers begin to see the success that can be had from a line of affordable accessories inspired by a popular TV series, we may very well see more and more jewels spawned from our favorite television series in the near future.  With just as many hot, high fashion looks portrayed on the small screen as there are on the big screen, there is a potential endless array of roads that creative designers could go down and with the help of high quality cubic zirconia and other lab created gems, even the most extravagant looks can be re-created at affordable prices.

Shoppers are always hungry for affordable ways to compliment their favorite outfits in every situation and cubic zirconia is the perfect raw material to help jewelry designers make that happen.  Whether the trends lean toward classic or modern or take inspiration from the movies, TV or the red carpet – high quality looks can be achieved at the right prices with cubic zirconia.

Platinum, which is no stranger at all to fine jewelry, is the precious metal used throughout ShopNBC’s new line of affordable fine jewelry, and though each and every piece looks as though it has been crafted from the finest diamonds, the stones in the platinum settings are actually high quality cubic zirconia. 

The collection offers a nice selection of designs to meet a number of different personal styles and each stone present in the collection has been certified with at least an AAA rating.  These rings, earrings and pendants are fine jewelry in every single sense of the word, with the exception of the astronomical price tag.

There has been quite an increase in the popularity of all types of cz jewelry lately.  In order to save a little bit of money during the economic drought young couples who are looking for attractive and affordable engagement and wedding jewelry, established couples who want to share nice gifts without disrupting their retirement fund and fashionistas who want to keep up with the hottest accessories are all turning to cz in favor of the much more expensive naturally mined diamonds usually found in fine jewelry.  It was just a matter of time until a reputable source decided to put an entire collection together that contained beautiful fine jewelry crafted from more affordable components like high quality cz.

It might take a little time to get used to seeing a fine jewelry collection with prices that are so affordable, but if this collection from ShopNBC begins to take off there will likely be many more manufacturers following suit with their own collections of affordable fine jewelry crafted from cz in the not to distant future.

In an effort to cut down on organized crime involving jewelry, the world’s most active online marketplace is partnering with the Jewelers’ Security Alliance.  The close partnership and free sharing of information between EBay and law enforcement is intended make it much more difficult for criminals to sell their stolen or counterfeit wares by eliminating one of the largest customer bases for the stolen product.  Identifying and catching criminals in the act of selling stolen and fraudulent goods and ultimately eliminating one way for them to quickly redistribute stolen property could go a very long way toward cutting down on the criminal activity involving fine jewelry.

Hopefully, in time, the partnership between EBay and the JSA will help make owning and selling fine jewelry safer, but in the meantime while crimes involving fine jewelry are soaring, many fine jewelry hounds and some jewelry retailers are looking to lab created gem jewelry as a safer alternative.

Cubic zirconia mimics the look of natural diamonds so well that only a trained professional can tell the difference between the two, but in terms of money cz has some unique advantages over natural diamonds for retailers and end users.  Due to cost and availability, cz doesn’t have the same resale value as a natural diamond, this makes a jewelry store that stocks mainly cz and lab gems jewels much less attractive to prospective criminals.  For the people who are actually wearing the jewelry, cz jewelry looks every bit as good as natural gem jewelry but because the cost is so low in comparison to natural gem jewelry it is usually reasonably easy to replace if it were to get stolen or lost.

The Funktional Art line which contains pieces like “Baduwings” and Earwings,” which seem to fit right into the artist’s eclectic style are just part of what’s to come.  Badu remarked in a recent interview with Billboard magazine that she is continuing to work with different designers to come up with new pieces for the line that will match her style and the style of the fans that support her.

There seems to be no shortage of celebrities jumping on the jewelry design bandwagon lately and for jewelry lovers, that is certainly a good thing.  With the help of talented and experienced professions, much of what these celebrity designers are producing is on the cutting edge of fashion and many of them are keeping the costs reasonable by using more affordable resources in their designs like cubic zirconia and other lab created gems.

We all want to be able to look and feel as glamorous as our favorite movie, TV and music personalities when we go out, but there aren’t very many people who are willing or able to spend thousands of dollars on the fashion accessories that we see them wear on the red carpet.  With designs created from high quality lab created gems that are expertly set in fine metals, those of us on a budget can achieve the look of our favorite celebs without having to pay astronomical prices.

Customers are invited to search the site’s extensive inventory and then once they’ve made their selection, EternityDiamonds.com will send them and exact replica crafted from high quality cubic zirconia that they can keep free of charge for up to ten days before officially placing their order.  Cubic zirconia can mimic the look of a natural diamond so well in term of appearance and feel that these replicated rings will give the shoppers the perfect idea of what their ring will be like when it arrives and that is a tremendous way for a retailer to instill the confidence necessary in their buyers to ultimately make a large purchase.

Up until this point, shopping at a jewelry store front was considered to be much more personal because the customers could touch, feel and briefly wear the rings that they intended to buy rather than just look at images of them – but the engagement ring test drive takes the personal shopping experience to a whole new level.

The only real danger that I see in this innovative practice is that potential customers will realize just how incredible a ring crafted from cubic zirconia can be.  That may spur some buyers to rethink a purchase that could potentially cost them several thousand dollars in favor of a much more affordable, but equally beautiful ring crafted from cz.

Brinkley’s wears seem to have launched at the absolute perfect time – her line includes plenty of color, lots of movement and each and every piece is certainly capable of turning heads.  Christie Brinkley seemed to learn something from her past days in the fashion industry and has managed to stay completely current with today’s trends in her 1st attempt at jewelry design.

As an added bonus for shoppers on a budget, the Uptown Girl has managed to keep the majority of the pieces accessible to even those of us with overly wallets and purses  – with prices as low as forty five dollars, this is certainly a line that has the ability to sell despite the still lagging economy.

Affordability seems to another more recent trend in the fashion and jewelry world, and hopefully it’s not one of the ones that will be short lived.  More and more designers are recognizing that people simply don’t have the money to spend on accessories that they did a few years ago and are responding with excellent low cost efforts that don’t sacrifice quality.

Instead of using natural diamonds, rubies and emeralds, designers are turning to the much more affordable and readily available cubic zirconia and lab created versions of these gems to bring down the costs of their finished products.  Cz lets a designer put together a piece or an entire collection that is just as beautiful as anything with a natural diamond, and still make a profit with a much smaller price tag.  With Cz and other lab created gems, anyone can look like a celebrity or super model, regardless of their line of work.

Major jewelry retailers like Zale’s often have a wide enough selection of inventory that jewelry lovers can “shop around” without having to travel to a bunch of different stores, but despite that feeling of convenience many smaller scale jewelry retailers are starting to grow and make names for themselves in this rough and competitive business.

Par t of the reason that smaller sized retailers can thrive in an industry that is dominated by retailers with large store fronts is the evolution of internet retailing.  Over the course of the last decade or so, smaller jewelry retailers have learned that they can increase their “showroom” infinitesimally with the use of the World Wide Web.  Internet sales can let you show each prospective customer thousands of pieces, without having to pay the rent of a store front.  As long as you have enough space for storing your items (which takes considerably less space and effort than properly displaying them) you can offer more than enough inventory to satisfy a wide array of customers.

Another big step for small retailers comes in the willingness to stock pieces crafted from cubic zirconia and other lab created gems.  For a long while, fine jewelry stores were reluctant to carry lab gem pieces because they were often considered to be of a lower quality than pieces containing natural gems.  With the recession came an increase in demand for more affordable jewels and that helped open the door for smaller jewelry retailers. 

When inserted into a high quality platinum or gold setting, cubic zirconia can easily rival the beauty of any natural diamond, and with a much lower material cost cz jewelry can be offered with a much smaller price tag.  With the recent success of many cz lines and more and more innovative designers choosing cz to work with, it probably won’t be too long before a larger portion of the inventories of even the largest fine jewelry retailers are filled with cz and lab gem pieces.

The new collection contains thirty six dazzling different pieces, each designed by Neil and hand carefully handcrafted by professionals.  The vintage inspired designs are sure to be a hit with young and old diamond lovers alike.  Kay Jewelers plans on offering the Neil Lane Bridal collection at select retail locations and online to reach the broadest possible customer base for the rings that range in price from just over twenty-five hundred dollars to just under eight thousand.

Though these rings are hand crafted with incredible diamonds selected by Kay, those price tags may be just a bit out of some shopper’s price range.  If you have an extra three, four or five thousand dollars to spend on bridal jewelry the rings from the Neil Lane Bridal Collection would be a fantastic choice, but in this economy most people don’t have quite that much money available.

Thankfully, for the budget conscious among us, rings that are just as eye catching and just as stunning can be crafted from AAAAA cubic zirconia.  Cz of this clarity and quality will rival the beauty of even the most perfect diamond and the wearer won’t have to sacrifice one bit of quality.

Just because you don’t have upwards of ten thousand dollars to spend on a ring, there is no reason that your bridal jewelry can be every bit as amazing as someone who does.  Cz gives shoppers the opportunity to own the ring of their wildest dreams without having to take out a loan to get it.

There isn’t much doubt that more gold, more platinum and more diamonds all swaying along to the rhythm of movement will certainly attract the right kind of attention, but unfortunately the more raw materials that go into the production of a piece of fine jewelry, the more the price tag goes up.

Just because the price of a piece of dangling jewelry loaded with diamonds may be way out of your comfort zone in terms of price, that doesn’t mean that you can’t keep up with this hot new trend.  All you need to do is look for dangling earrings, layered necklaces and beautiful pendants that are crafted from high quality cubic zirconia rather than from naturally mined diamonds.

High quality loose cz is available at a fraction of the price of it’s naturally mined counterpart, but the resemblance between cz and a naturally mined diamond is so close that only trained jewelry professions are capable of telling the difference.  You can have every bit of the beauty and all of the eye catching glitz and glamour that you would enjoy from a freely moving pair of earrings or necklace that contains natural diamonds, but with a price that you can comfortably afford.

Plenty of new styles are spawned by celebrities, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve got to spend celebrity money to keep up with the latest trends.

A recent news blurb about superstar Megan Fox losing her two carat diamond engagement ring while on holiday at the beach brought to light plenty of similar stories from less famous brides to be.  Of course, Miss Fox and her husband to be have enough money not to have to worry too much about replacing their very impressive engagement ring, but for people who’s bank account don’t contain seven figures, the loss of an expensive diamond ring can be a very serious situation.  Losing your engagement or wedding ring isn’t a problem that’s relegated to the beach either, restaurants, restrooms, movie theaters and taxi cabs are all locations frequently mentioned by brides and brides to be where precious jewels have gone missing.

Theft of jewelry is also another very common problem when it comes to eye catching jewelry, even diamond that are left in hotel rooms for safekeeping during trips to the beach or pool may not be safe from unscrupulous staff members.  If you take diamond engagements rings, earrings, bracelets or pendants with your when you travel, you are unfortunately putting yourself at risk for not coming home with them.

This is a huge part of the reason that many people are selecting engagement, wedding and everyday jewelry from collections crafted from cubic zirconia.  With cz you not only get the incredible shine and shimmer of a natural diamond, you also get the quality and durability to rival a naturally mined gem as well – all at a much more affordable price.

That’s not to say that you couldn’t lose a piece of jewelry that contained a two carat cz just as easily as you could a two carat diamond, but if you lose a piece of cz jewelry you’ll most likely be able to replace it, even if you are on a budget.  If you lose a natural diamond that large, and your name isn’t Megan Fox, you might have a very difficult (maybe even impossible) time scraping together the money to buy another.