With historic roots that wind back to the 15th century, Le Vian is a family-owned jewellery brand with deeply held traditions and a commitment to doing things its own way. Even today, the brand continues to reinvent the classics with strong colour combinations, blending gold, coloured gemstones and diamonds, as well as more unique and unusual hardstones for dramatic effect. It’s also known as an innovator; Le Vian was one of the first to use rich shades of brown diamonds and make them covetable through its ‘Chocolate Diamonds’ trademark.
And thanks to its longevity and success, Le Vian can make daring decisions. For example, it employs a strategy of finding gemstones at mine sites that are enjoying a period of peak production. This allows it to buy large swathes of material at reasonable prices, which can be passed along to its clients or preserved for use in future collections when inspiration strikes.
We all know that trends come and go. Or would it be more accurate to say that trends ‘turn and go’ and always come back! Having created more than 100,000 original designs in its history, Le Vian is an ideal source of knowledge for cyclical trends… after all, what hasn’t the brand seen or got stashed in its archives?
At this year’s JCK Las Vegas in June 2022, I had the pleasure of being invited to the 23rd annual Le Vian Red Carpet Revue – a catwalk show coupled with the formal unveiling of the 2023 Trend Forecast. This red-carpet event was especially meaningful in 2022 as it marked a special milestone for the LeVian family - the 100th birthday of their late father and grandfather. As a little side note, Eddie LeVian revealed that nine fresh-faced members of the LeVian clan have joined the family business in the last two decades, but it was the job of just seven of them to reveal the seven trends included in this year’s forecast.
As they took to the stage, they shared with attendees at The Venetian Hotel the charities the brand supports, including St Jude's Children's Research Hospital and Jewelers for Children as well as the Diamonds Do Good organisation that empowers people in the remote diamond-producing areas of the world. More than $1 million has been raised for these charities collectively over the last year alone. Let me guide you now through the seven facets of the 2023 Trend Forecast, which span nature, peace, tranquillity, joy and balance.
Officially the ‘Trend of the Year for 2023’, Alive! Beautiful Creations is based on “a primal desire to attach ourselves to life itself, to nature, and to a sense of rebirth”. To bring this concept to life, Le Vian has focused on the flora and fauna of land, air and sea, including dogs to symbolise loyalty, fish to denote good luck and butterflies to remind us of transformation.
For 2023, Le Vian forecasts that periwinkle blue is going to be the colour we are all dreaming of. It’s an unusual shade, characterised by blue with varying subtones of pinks and purples, and is inspired by the calm of blue skies, still waters and vast expanses of seawater that make us feel grounded and peaceful. In jewellery, this manifests as ‘blueberry’ tanzanite, cornflower sapphires, denim shades and ombré gradients of blue sapphires, aquamarines, topazes and ‘grape’ amethysts.
“After being thrown way off-kilter, we crave a return to normalcy, to the restoration of balance, of opportunity, of possibility,” says Le Vian. To find this equilibrium, the brand is reaching to emeralds and is declaring the emerald-cut as the ‘Shape of the Year for 2023’. Its jewels feature traditional emerald-cut emeralds updated with a checkerboard facet patterns on the table, as well as bold halo settings with brown and champagne-hued diamonds, splashes of opal, baguette-cut diamond side stones, pops of peridot and coloured enamel. Here, we see great combinations of precious metal shades too, including emerald centre stones, yellow gold talon claw settings and white metal shanks.
Inspired by the sensation of having a bite of luxurious dark chocolate, the Euphoria trend is all about relishing and indulging in life’s pleasures. Of course, this lends itself perfectly to Le Vian’s ‘Chocolate Diamonds’ as well as a new collaboration with Belgian chocolate maker, Godiva. Brown diamonds are set in “Wrapped in Chocolate” jewels with ribbon motifs and chunky yellow gold settings that have a vintage, almost 1970s-inspired twist. Voluminous and curvaceous pieces are balanced with geometric designs too, such as stiletto-inspired pendants and paperclip-shaped earrings.
Who doesn’t want to live life spontaneously? Le Vian explains: “The fresh, enticing, electrifying colours of Le Vian Enamel bring moments to life, infusing them with energy and the impulse of joy. The perfect antidote to routine and restriction.” The brand predicts a 2023 full of creative colours, including cartoon-like smiley face motifs, canary yellow enamel, and vibrant gemstones set in halo designs with matching enamel hues.
Platinum is the “precious metal of resilience, purity and high style,” according to Le Vian, which is why the brand predicts 2023 will be its big year. Imagine sleek monochrome outfits accented with bright white platinum and pops of rubies and sapphires in openwork settings. This is power dressing with jewellery!
As Le Vian says: “Optimism sparkles like rays of the sun, lighting up our darkest hours.” This trend prediction is where yellow diamonds come into play, especially in illusion settings that make their sunshine properties sing. Look for medallion pendants, rings and earrings all gleaming with natural fancy and fancy light stones. A collection of bee-inspired jewels with honeycomb-shaped adornments are also included, sparkling with chocolate diamonds, champagne and nude diamonds and hints of citrine.
Hearing about next year’s trends from such a large fine jewellery brand certainly gave me and the other attendees food for thought. The night was one of the high points of my Las Vegas experience and was live-streamed by US retailers like Kay, Jared and Belk to allow others to enjoy the moment too. Now, all that’s left to do is remember these seven predictions and see if they bloom into life when 2023 rolls around.
