Sunday, April 18, 2010

“Get Kate Walsh’s Bridal Style – Wedding Jewelry ... - News Trends” plus 1 more

“Get Kate Walsh’s Bridal Style – Wedding Jewelry ... - News Trends” plus 1 more


Get Kate Walsh’s Bridal Style – Wedding Jewelry ... - News Trends

Posted: 18 Apr 2010 06:49 AM PDT

When a high profile celebrity gets married, she typically has her choice of gowns and accessories, no matter the price. So it's not surprising that a woman like Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice star Kate Walsh looked so incredibly radiant on her big day. While designers may not be lining up to make you the perfect wedding gown, and your guest list might not include McDreamy, Dasha Boutique designer Sarah Stephens will show you it's cheap â€" and easy! â€" to capture Walsh's wedding style on her own day.

Delicate Sparkle

As if her engagement ring from husband Alex Young didn't sparkle enough, Private Practice star Kate Walsh opted for Neil Lane diamond jewelry throughout. Her style is usually quite simple and includes single chain necklaces with small pendants, short drop earrings and tennis bracelets. The diamonds set off her strong red locks, acting as a natural enhancement of her natural features. For a look that echoes this actress's love of delicate adornments (but not her endless pockets), opt for sterling-silver based jewelry coupled with raw diamonds and clear, sparkly gemstones like quartz and moonstone.

Get the Look

Kate's diamond and platinum chandelier earrings look a lot like these Keishi Pearl Cascade Earrings.

Jewelry is the secret weapon of every female celebrity, whether she's walking the aisle or stepping out to the corner store for another box of ginger tea. A subtle pair of earrings, a bracelet full of bling, or a bold gemstone pendant necklace all add a particularly personal touch to an outfit and over time, each individual woman's accessory style becomes part of her signature look. Unlike clothing, the most beautiful jewelry is timeless, so it can be worn again and again, with almost any outfit. However, just like clothing, jewelry colors and designs must be tailored to the individual wearer to complement her natural features best. So while you read up on these particular celebrity looks, keep in mind that accessories are your opportunity to make your wedding ensemble specifically yours and act as a subtle reminder to all how personal this day really is.

Sarah Stephens is the Fashion Director for Dasha Boutique. Visit our online shop today, featuring hundreds of handmade jewelry designs, all crafted by San Francisco Bay Area artisans. Customize your design online – orders ship in 3 business days. Dasha Boutique is frequently featured in Lucky, InStyle, People, Bridal Guide, Brides, Glamour and Bazaar.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

How to tie an eco-friendly knot - Vancouver Sun

Posted: 18 Apr 2010 03:03 PM PDT

In Paris, in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral on Christmas Day in 2008, Brian Eberdt proposed to Sarah Facini, his girlfriend of three years. He read her a love note -- their holiday tradition -- and presented her with a ring: a diamond solitaire with an 18-karat white gold band.

Eberdt had chosen the ring carefully, keeping the environment, sustainability and human rights in mind.

That "ethical engagement ring" choice represents a new environmental trend in wedding jewelry.

The factors at play in this trend are as varied as the couples getting married. Some of the jewelry buyers want to reduce the environmental impact of gold mining -- reports vary, but it can take up to 20 tonnes of ore to produce enough gold for a single ring. Others are motivated by human rights issues, such as ensuring there is fair trade and that communities aren't negatively affected by the diamond trade.

Eberdt, a 28-year-old law student, and Facini, 27, an events manager, are a pretty green couple. They have a worm bin for composting, ride bikes whenever they can, and take in their recycling to a monthly neighbourhood depot. As often as they can, they buy local, organic, ethical products.

"If I was going to get Sarah a ring, I wanted to know that it was meaningful, and that it aligned with our own values and lifestyle," Eberdt says. "And it adds to the character of the gift, you know? It's more suited to her. And it's going to be on her finger for the rest of her life."

There are several ways to find an ethical engagement ring. You can buy a band made from recycled gold, silver or platinum and set with a Canadian diamond. You can also purchase antique or second-hand jewelry, further reducing the impact on the environment. If custom is what you want, you can have a ring made by a local jeweler, using a Canadian diamond, adding a "buy local" flair to an ethical ring.

Eberdt had looked around at local stores, but couldn't find something that would fit Facini's style -- classic, minimal, refined -- so he started searching online.

"When I initiated the search, I didn't even know what the spectrum was in terms of what environmentally friendly or socially responsible rings were out there. So I did all my research online, looking at websites and options," he says.

He learned about the differences between Canadian and African diamond mines (Canadian mines are better run, generate less waste and pay people well), and about the Kimberly Process, an international certification for conflict-free diamonds.

From an environmental perspective, buying second hand or antique is the greenest and most ethical choice, which Eberdt says he considered. But from a life-as-a-balance sustainability perspective, buying a new, ethical ring just felt like the right choice for the couple, they say.

Eberdt found the perfect ring for Facini through Brilliant Earth's website. A well-known purveyor of ethical engagement rings, the San Francisco-based company sells recycled gold, silver and platinum rings, paired with Canadian diamonds from their showroom and online store. For their wedding bands, both white gold, the couple travelled to the San Francisco showroom to pick through the selection more closely.

Brilliant Earth salvages gold, silver and platinum from old computers, existing jewelry and industrial materials. Until recently, the company only used diamonds from two Canadian mines, but have begun purchasing from a diamond mine in Namibia that fits its ethical standard. The company also donates five per cent of its profits to charities which benefit African communities affected by the jewelry trade.

Casey Van Wensem, 22, and his fiancée, Amy Collins, 21, try to buy second hand before buying new in most cases. So they examined a variety of options before deciding on second-hand wedding rings. The university students had already purchased fair-trade engagement rings from a dealer on Saltspring Island, in an effort to find something unique that they could afford.

"We buy a lot of things second-hand, naturally. It just seemed the most logical thing for us to do," Van Wensem says. The environmental aspect factored in as well, he says. "By buying something used, you're not using up any new resources. You're just taking something someone has already loved, and has a bit of history to it."

Van Wensem and Collins did consider rings from Idar, at 946 Fort St., because of its commitment to ethical sourcing of diamonds, metals and its from-scratch construction. In the end, they decided to go with the antique rings instead. Collins' wedding band has three diamonds set in white gold from the 1940s, while Van Wensem's is a 14-karat hand-hammered gold band, almost the same as the one he considered buying new.

Jocelyn Zumach, the workshop manager and a jeweler at Idar, thinks the ethical engagement ring craze is a bit of clever marketing. The business at Idar focuses on trust: trusting suppliers to provide what they consider to be the only ethical diamonds out there -- Canadian and Australian -- and the trust gained from working with Canadian metal refineries. There's also a big difference between a local jeweler, who, like Idar, makes all products from scratch, and others who order wax moulds from catalogues and assemble the rings for a premium, or the assembly-line practices used by some jewelry companies.

"This marketing -- this yada-yada-yada -- is really pretentious," says Zumach. She found one website advertising vegan jewelry, which encouraged jewelers to use organic cotton polishing pads, and in the same paragraph, encouraged them to use eggs instead of chemical polishing products, which is absolutely not vegan. "There's so much marketing hoopla, and there are a lot of untruths out there."

Idar Bergseth, the award-winning Victoria jeweler who started the shop in the 1970s, says good jewelry is an amulet, a heritage piece to be passed down from generation to generation, and that people should be wary of claims about recycled gold. Quality gold doesn't get recycled, and unless its re-refined -- which takes a huge amount of energy -- a karat stamp can't be given. It could be brittle, fragile or porous, he says.

People bring in their jewelry purchased online, and often it can't be fixed, Zumach says.

"Gold has always been recycled. Nobody would ever throw gold away. It's all sent to the refinery. A lot of what we use is gold that we're getting back from what's refined," says Zumach. "Not a lot of new gold gets added in there."

Bergseth says a lot of gold is mined as a byproduct of other mining, such as copper. He also says people need to be wary about whether their Canadian diamond is really Canadian.

"Nowadays you have to be determined to get Canadian diamonds. You have to know the supplier and trust them. You have to be able to say, 'Where did this diamond come from?' " Bergseth says. "I am very proud to sell what I believe is a true Canadian stone. When we opened up the Canadian mines, it was the first time I felt good about selling a diamond."

The staff at Idar plan to launch a blog on their website, www.idar.com, in the next few months to try to dispel misinformation surrounding ethical jewelry.

Read Steve Carey's blog at timescolonist.com/rethink

WHAT IS AN ETHICAL ENGAGEMENT RING?

An ethical engagement ring is one made with sustainability in mind. Many types of rings fall into that category, including:

  • a handmade ring produced by a local jeweler using a Canadian diamond
  • a ring produced by Brilliant Earth (www.brilliantearth.com) or another ethical engagement ring company
  • a ring purchased second hand, such as an antique or estate piece
  • If you are buying a diamond, it should be certified through the Kimberley Process, an international certification process to ensure that diamond trade doesn't fund war or violence. If not, don't buy it.

    Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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