COMMENTARY – HOMI Fashion & Jewels reveals fashion jewellery as a strong market segment
By David Brough
MILAN, September 15, 2019 – Attendance was high at the September edition of HOMI Fashion & Jewels, signalling a healthy order flow for the Christmas retail season.
The jewellery segment at the Fiera di Milano show is fashion-driven, with the twice-yearly fair showcasing a wide variety of cutting-edge designs in traditional and unusual materials.
Some of the most groundbreaking designs appeared in the “Sperimenta Jewels” section.
The show, running from September 13-16, cleverly fuses Fashion with Jewellery, presenting the two segments in separate, cleanly organised sections side by side so it is easy to walk between the two.
Elaborate designs from Vualle in the Sperimenta Jewels section at HOMI Fashion&Jewels
“HOMI Fashion & Jewels is a ‘fashion forward’ fair, aimed at the consumers of today who like to change their look often,” said Suzanne Eid, Managing Editor of Beirut-based Collection Pan Arab Luxury Magazine, who is a long-time visitor to the event.
Some three-quarters of the visiting buyers are Italian, and the remainder come from around the world, organisers say.
The show is looking to “internationalise”, raising its profile to bring in more buyers from overseas and to reduce reliance on the domestic Italian market.
The fashion jewellery segment has limited crossover with precious jewellery because of the big difference in price points.
Very few exhibitors at HOMI Fashion&Jewels would exhibit also at VicenzaOro, which is an export showcase mainly for precious gold and silver jewellery.
The soaring cost of gold, which hit more than six-year peaks this year, might lead to an increased focus by some jewellers on designer silver jewellery and boost interest in HOMI Fashion&Jewels.
Many high-end jewellery retailers around the world are moving to present fashion jewellery ranges as part of their upscale offerings.
Haute couture fashion often works well when combined with imaginatively designed costume jewellery.
HOMI Fashion & Jewels unveiled extraordinary ingenuity in designs and combinations of materials, such as the blending of ebony with freshwater
pearls by Fornieri Coco Gioielli Di Natura.
Artisanal handcrafting was another feature of the show, which responded to increasing tastes for sustainable jewellery.
Among the most imaginative designs at HOMI Fashion&Jewels, standouts included intricate
bronze jewellery by Miriam Nori, and handcrafted nature-inspired pieces by Vualle.
The fair presented all types of fashion jewellery, testing the boundaries of design in silver, bronze, wood, gems, beads and other materials offered at great value price points.
There was no evidence of lab-grown diamonds offered anywhere at the show, presumably because the prices are still too high.
It remains to be seen whether lab-grown diamonds will significantly enter the fashion jewellery supply chain.
Some jewellery analysts believe that if the supply of lab-grown diamonds keeps rising and prices fall further, more designers could be tempted to introduce them into their fashion jewellery creations.
Brisk enquiries at HOMI Fashion&Jewels
Fornieri Coco Gioielli Di Natura blend ebony with freshwater pearls
