The Hoard Gazette blog is devoted to fashion, beauty & grooming. And of course jewellery: designer jewelry, jewelry making, vintage jewelry and restoration techniques. We try to include only practical information and tips which could be used in everyday life and would like to invite you to share your style, experiences, information and tips with us. Write us, we want YOUR INPUT!
On the note of femme diva, there is no other that goes way back from the 80s to the very millennium. Madonna, the girl with many faces. But mostly known as the Material girl/Vogue.
Remember the 80's?Madonna the Boy Toy, Material Girl Young, fresh and invigorating. The ambassador of the tattered fashion and the icon of the 80s.
Pop-trash style harlot Madonna - Wedding gown with Boy Toy belt
1990, early 90s. Vogue Madonna Yes you know the tune Vogue, you know the cones. The image Madonna has and will always be most clearly remembered as. Costume design by Jean-Paul Gaultier.
1991, Marilyn Monroe Madonna (the sultry chick in Dick Tracy)
Mid 90s, Evita Madonna Don't cry for me Argentina? Madonna
Ohh the red lipstick, flawless white skin and hair tucked into a bun. Tai tai?
1999 Grammy, Geisha Wannabe The rage then from Memoirs of a Geisha, inspired Madonna to do a live impersonation, of course with a wicked Madonna twist to it - stilt-high platform boots. JPG designed.
2000, turn of millennium. Rock-cowboy chick Music, the electro-pop single demanded a new image. And the woman of many faces, Madonna was herself in DSquared outfits.
2005, Material Girl Meets Guy - Mommy Madonna She shows her toned-town, yet sleek and sophisticated side with D&G outfits.
2005, Uber-Style Disco Diva She shows that a mum can be every bit hot and FIT, outclassing any one confident lass with her svelte figure and sexual oomph....in her 50s!
2008, Gucci-chic Madonna - Black, form fitting chic with a twist, Madonna style Bottom, right: Material girl - bohemian chic style
Trivia: Anita Mui Now which celebrity would look this good in her 50s! Well, I think the only Asian celebrity who would parallel such versatility & styling would be Anita Mui.
Trivia: Posh Spice - Victoria Beckham (Adams) Notice the similar Gucci sleek image Victorian digs too?
Posh Spice - Victoria Beckham In a Bag for Marc Jacobs
If you hadn't come by the celebrity lined collaborations of Marc Jacobs campaigns, he's got Posh Spice Victoria Beckhams for his spring campaign.
Her comments on the shots:
“The images are humorous and ironic. You can’t be afraid to experiment with fashion, especially when working with Marc and Juergen — you have to push the envelope and show a different side. Marc is a genius. I completely trusted his vision and the opportunity to work with Juergen again after so many years was a privilege.”
Which ad is her favorite? “Truth be told, I love them all. If I have to pick favourites, it’s the package series: me coming out of the box in the gray knit dress shot with the hat, as well as the image of the oversize shopping bag. Certainly, if you can’t get locked inside a Marc Jacobs store, then trapped inside a Marc bag has got to be the next best thing."
This rare, large13.39 carat blue diamond ring sold for a world record high price of 8.9 million dollars at Christie's auction in Geneva.
The stone is a type IIb diamond which are prized by jewelry lovers and collectors and contain small amounts of boron which gives them their color. They also have the property of being semi-conductors that conduct electricity.
An interesting read for all designer jewelery lovers, collectors and just plain you and me who would like to know more about the big rocks we're obsessed with and how much value there is in it, really..
Diamonds like any other commodity, are very much the marketed, perceived value which operate by the economic rule of supply and demand.
Though diamonds may not at all be rare (annual world production of gem-quality diamond exceeds sixty million carats --- TOP SECRET), some diamonds are more precious than others, and they may not even warrant the price tag of what you may be buying! On the reverse, the most precious gem stones, may not even be worth much market value...
Without further ado, here are the Top 10 most precious stones (Some of the following are surprisingly affordable, simply because the general public doesn’t know or care about them and thus demand is relatively weak)
PAINITE Origin: Burma (Myanmar) states of Kachin, Mogok The painite is an orangish or reddish brown, with the brown tint coming from iron in the crystal. It was first discovered in Burma in the 1950s.
SERENDIBITE Origin: Sri Lanka, India The name comes from the old Arabic term for Sri Lanka, Serendib, India
POUDRETTEITE Origin: Mogok, Myanmar A Mohs hardness of 5 poudretteite is the softest stone on this list — too scratchable for a ring but suitable for earrings, a pin or a pendant if care is exercised
GRANDIDIERITE Grandidierite is a bluish green mineral, found primarily in Madagascar. It is trichroic, transmitting blue, green and white light.
JEREMEJEVITE (ye-REM-ay-ev-ite) Origin: Namibia Jeremejevite is colorless, sky blue or pale yellow stone.
MAJORITE Origin: Purple form of garnet discovered in 1970 in the Coorara meteorite near Eucla, Western Australia. Majorite forms under the extreme pressure that occurs 250 miles (400 km) or more beneath the earth’s surface or from the shock of a meteorite impact.
TAAFFEITE Last Origin: Sri Lanka The number of Taaffeite existent is equivalent to a cupful only. However, despite such rarity, it's cheaper than diamond. Colorless Taaffeite go for between 500USD - 4000USD per carat depending on color strength
MUSGRAVITE Origin: South Australia, Greenland, Madagascar, Antarctica
There is another species chemically and optically similar to taaffeite, MUSGRAVITE, which is even rarer. Facetable musgravite was first reported in 1993; as of 2005 there were eight such specimens
BENITOITE Origin: San Benito County, California, USA Benitoite is a strong blue with a dispersion similar to that of diamond, and fluoresces an intense blue-white under UV light
COLORED DIAMONDS Strongly colored diamonds, called fancies, can be genuinely scarce. About one carat out of every 10,000 sold is a fancy. These shades include yellow, green, blue, orange, brown (“champagne”), purple, gray, black (called carbonado, recently shown to be meteoric), milky white, pink and red.
Red (ruby red) is by far, the rarest. Prices have so far ranged from about $800,000.00 to $1.9 million which makes this substance one of the world’s most concentrated nonradiological forms of wealth
