fabulous wear it with pride!

To celebrate the Queen’s 60 year reign as monarch, this month kicked off with an amazing long weekend of Diamond Jubilee celebrations and here at fabulous we had a great time involved in the celebrations wearing our most patriotic jewellery! 

Swarovski Union Jack Boots Charm, £47

There were many celebration highlights, from the BBC Jubilee Concert to the fleet of 1,000 boats along the River Thames, but we were most excited to see what the royals were wearing! The Duchess of Cambridge looked fabulous and all British wearing an all red assemble as she boarded the royal barge – The Spirit of Chartwell -whilst the Queen looked truly majestic all in white, which she of course accessorized with a gorgeous brooch!

Tresor Paris Union Jack Studs, £14

In Solihull, the fabulous girls took part in a Jubilee parade dressed in  red, white and blue. It was a fantastic day and it was amazing to see how much effort all involved had put into their costumes. There was a chicken from Nando’s, a flower princess from the florist Fleur de Lys, and even Spiderman from Cineworld! The occasion was also marked across the country through Jubilee lunches where Leamington Spa was treated to a Jubilee Tea Party in The Pump Room Gardens.

But as it was a diamond jubilee it was only right for us to wear our crystals! Tresor Paris’ Union Jack Studs were a popular accessory over the weekend and Trollbeads British Colours Charm Bead and Swarovski’s Union Jack Boot Charm were perfect to mark the occasion!

Tresor Paris Crystal Bracelet, £149

Whilst we have now packed away our bunting, Jubilee fever lives on and so does our enthusiasm for all things British! Not least whilst supporting the England football team in the Euro 2012 tournament and of course during the run up to the London Olympics!

Nomination Olympics Rings, £16

For the first time in 64 years, the Olympic Games are back in the UK! Today’s best athletes will be competing in venues across London in the Olympic Games from the 27^th July and in the Paralympics from 29^th August -we can’t wait!

But until then, the Olympic torch relay continues and is coming to Leamington and Solihull on the 1^st July! So we’ll see you there in your best British accessories!

fabulous inspiration from The Jewellery Show London

Sinade from our Solihull store joined Jo in London for the first ever Jewellery Show London at Somerset House…

I arrived at Somerset House ready to be inspired and was immediately excited by the refreshing change of a Jewellery Show in such a stunning house, as apposed to the usual exhibition centres!Although it was not to the same scale as other Jewellery fairs we have attended, the diverse choice at Somerset House was spot on with some real highlights that may hit fabulous this year!

Having done our background reading on Chavin Jewellery and Rachel Galley who were due to exhibit before we arrived, we were already excited about the show. Chavin Jewellery is still in its infancy but we loved their vibrant collection and we are particularly excited to see how it will grow and adapt from Summer to Autumn/Winter and look forward to seeing them again later this year.

Rachel Galley beamed individuality. Her designs are split into a number of collections but each has her distinctive style (which customers, magazines and celebrities alike already love) and so a piece from each of her collections would sit perfectly alongside each other. We had already seen and loved her ‘Memento Globe’ collection but exclusively for the show she released some smaller pieces that bring the popular high-fashion and statement pieces into more delicate, and easy to wear pieces – including a whole range of ‘Mini Globe’.  This is definitely a designer we’d love to see at fabulous soon!

Glamrock Watches are another of our favourites.  This wasn’t the first time we had seen the collection and we still left loving it. Glamrock have a collection of high-end, well designed, Swiss made watches based on the luxury and lifestyle ofMiami.  From beautifully detailed leather straps in the Miami collection to fun and bright designs in the SoBe collection, there really is a design for everyone.

One brand we couldn’t resist was Pure Attraction by Ntinga – a company that started up by accident when a diamond business owner was shown a new bracelet concept that he loved! We had seen this collection before but when we sat in on the catwalk show and saw how it came to life on the catwalk we knew we could resist no longer.

The collection comprises of sterling silver bracelets and necklaces where each is fitted with a magnetic clasp and is available in a number of thickness, clasps styles and a variety of colour finishes including yellow and rose gold plate. The magnetic bracelets and necklaces that recently featured in OK! Magazine’s Trend Setters’ feature, will hit our Solihull store this autumn!

And as always, we got to catch up with our fabulous friends who were exhibiting. We spotted James Boyd at Daisy, who was extremely excited about attending our upcoming Garden Parties, as well as familiar faces from our new watch brand Bering, as well as Brown & Newirth who bring us our ‘fabulous forever’ wedding and engagement ring collection.

All in all we’d count the day as a success which leads us excitingly to the next season of buying, kicking off next month with the Thomas Sabo Autumn/Winter collection preview…

Jo attends Pandora Conference and AW Launch!

On Monday 11th, Pandora held their annual conference for their UK retailers in the stunning surroundings of Somerset House in London. This event also saw Pandora give us a sneak preview of the brand new Autumn Winter collection, which is due into stores in late August/early September, as well as the lovely new Christmas collection!

 Jo Stroud, owner of fabulous, attended this event and is thrilled about Pandora’s new collection:

“I can’t reveal too much here, as the collection isn’t due in for some months – but I can happily tell you that I am extremely excited about it, and I know our customers are going to love it! In fact, it is going to tempt me to start a whole new Pandora bracelet full of sparkle, as there are some truly beautiful new designs set with pavé CZ which are a real departure for Pandora, along with brand new faceted-cut Muranos, which catch the light beautifully.

 “With many more charms intended for gift-giving, such as a really lovely Christmas stocking, and a dangling engagement ring, I predict many more customers choosing Pandora as their gift of choice.”     

 The Conference was followed by a fantastic party in a beautiful marquee at Somerset House, where Pandora are sponsoring this week’s ‘Jewellery Show’, set during London Jewellery Week. This was complete with Catwalk Show in one of the historic rooms at Somerset House. 

A really fantastic couple of days, with some truly beautiful jewellery on its way to us soon….!