Jewelicious: Gems galore at L’atelier

Jewelicious exhibits premium accessories at Islamabad’s fashion house.

ISLAMABAD:

Jewelicious, a Lahore-based brand for jewellery, wrapped up its two-day exhibition on June 10 at L’atelier. Azmat Akbar and Uzma Toosy, joint partners heading the brand, offered a very affordable range of interesting jewelled accessories for wedding and other formal events.

“Maria B was wearing our label at her wedding,” said Akbar, proud of the credit to her label. The diversity of their collection displayed ensured that there is a little something for every jewellery enthusiast. Prices vary from Rs600 to Rs50,000; a marked difference from the astronomical prices of original jewellery.

The exhibited pieces included the Maharani collection with Mughal motifs and the Princess collection inspired by western designs.

Apparently a great deal of care went into making the bridal accessories of the Maharani collection, particularly the polki sets. Polki designs, native to the sub-continent, traditionally comprise glittering uncut diamonds and can sell at a market price of Rs500,000 or more. The Jewelicious collection used a high-quality glass substitute for costly diamonds. Their bridal sets range from Rs18,000 to Rs50,000 depending on the stones — the sets also include genuine pearls and rubies.

“The glass beads come from Agra, which is why they add authenticity to the polki sets. You really can’t tell ours apart,” said Uzma proudly.

The Princess collection is particularly interesting because of its contemporary cut and style. They include everything from durable pewter necklaces with dangling blue ferozas to flower earrings, all ideal for the summer.

“Big and bling is in this season, so we’ve got a lot of youthful funky floral pieces,” explained Uzma enthusiastically.

Since these imitation pieces are priced very low — Rs700 onward — cash-strapped teens and adolescents will find them particularly affordable. The zircon and diamond dust bracelets are also a hot buy, given their deceptively real appearance. Donning this jewellery is certainly a clever way of looking good without burning a hole in your pocket.

Brides to-be can be pretty unreasonable when they blow wads of cash on the most exorbitant jewellery. With cheaper alternatives available in such difficult economic times, brides need to make wiser financial decisions.

In fact Jewelicious’s display showed that the difference between superior quality glass beads and legitimate diamonds is irrelevant, when the former actually looks authentic and fabulous. The brand is aware of this fact and so is its clientele.





Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.