It felt important to start the New Year off honoring a woman that represents change and rebirth. Who better than Madonna? A cat may have 9 lives but Madonna’s repertoire seems unlimited. Each time you think she is down for the count, she comes back different, shiny new and better than ever.

Somaly Mam is one remarkable woman.

Barry Kronen Designs creates modern yet vintage looking pieces that are definitely worth craving. Maybe now is the time to add something sparkly to your own jewelry box. These elegant 18kt white gold chandelier earrings are dripping with cultured pearls and .32ctw round brilliant cut diamonds.

Nothing whispers elegance more than a strand of pearls. Whatever size, color or shape, these beauties make a statement that promises to enhance every outfit or occasion.

It all started in the 1930s when Coco Chanel, the French designer of “all things glamorous” stated that “Elegance is Refusal”. Her fine jewelry offered the first glimpse of haute couture for women, the vibrantly feminine woman who considered herself ‘powerful while ladylike’. Her fashion jewelry designs were the first ventures into “high-low” fashion whereby exquisite jewels were combined with other stones to add interest and to bring the price point for one or two pieces of fine jewelry out of the “royalty only” range. In many ways, she set a bar that continues to stand. Coco Chanel’s most famous fine jewelry included elegant pins and bracelets.

This season, I particularly love freshwater styles featuring warm autumnal hues like bronze, peach, and yellow. But no matter their color, their not-so-perfectly-round shape (the result of a culture process that does not involve the implantation of a bead nucleus) adds a unique, eye-catching, and not-so-precious touch to the bracelets, earrings, and necklaces they adorn.

With fashion’s flower power in full effect, it’s only natural that this natural trend would blossom into the accessories world as well. From brooches to bracelets, some of summer’s most stunning pieces were inspired by the great outdoors.

And while it certainly can be, the meaning behind a personal piece of jewelry doesn’t have to be that deep. Coco Chanel pinned a white camellia to her lapel simply because it was a flower she loved. According to Chanel’s website, she “adored the camellia for its almost geometrical roundness and the regular perfection and classic order of its pure white petals.” Now a symbol of the French fashion house, the camellia adorns some of the most jaw-dropping pieces of Chanel’s fine-jewelry collection, in the form of rings, pendants, earrings, and watches.