Miley Cyrus Strikes Gold

Tween sensation, Miley Cyrus, has a little movie coming out today in case you’ve been living in a cave, and the marketing budget leading up to the debut probably equaled the GDP of most developing nations.

The Hannah Montana star attended three premieres, the ACMA awards, and many of the early morning shows – and her jewelry style has been fun, fresh and littered with gold along the way.













Miley loves to layer her chains, and yellow gold appears to be her metal of choice. Stacked bangles are also a trademark look and tasteful statement earrings make their mark when there is a more elegant event on the agenda.

While there has been controversy surrounding the age-appropriateness of Miley’s choices in the past (the infamous Vanity Fair photo shoot with Annie Leibowitz, her 20-year-old boyfriend), it’s refreshing to see the star steer well clear of the Britney/Lolita syndrome. It’s just not what her brand is all about.

Call me old fashioned, but I’m glad young girls have a role model who isn’t catering to the fantasies of emotionally stunted men by wearing school girl uniforms, loads of diamonds, pounds of make up and belly baring costumes.

There’s plenty of time for that later.

And jewelry looks for this generation – including Taylor Swift and the High School Musical set – never seem to take things to Paris Hilton levels. There is bling and there is bling.

So even though I’m just as sick of seeing Miley or Hannah or whatever her name is as the rest of adult America, it’s nice to see that overexposed in her case doesn’t have to mean her body too.

Am I right? Or do I need to loosen up?

From Whitesnake to the Great White Way

The 80s is inspiring more than just jewelry trends and catwalk fashion these days - now Broadway is getting in on the act.

The latest jukebox musical to hit the boards is called Rock of Ages and features rockin’ 80s hits from the hair bands of yesteryear, including Poison, Styx and (of course!) Journey.



















The opening night festivities brought out Broadway’s big guns this week (can Patrick Wilson be any more adorable?) in addition to the likes of Dee Snyder, the Rock of Love bus babes and Night Ranger.

A ‘motley crew’ to be sure.










The red carpet fashion was appropriately metal-esque – with lots of skull rings, layered bangles, heavy chains, leather wristbands and fringe akimbo.

The talented cast, which features onetime American Idol hopeful Constantine Maroulis, and an onstage metal band led by Night Ranger’s Joel Hoekstra, uses familiar tunes including “More Than Words” and “Heat of the Moment” to tell the story of a wanna-be rocker who works in a legendary L.A. dive and chases the girl of his dreams while German developers threaten to demolish the Sunset Strip.

Just another day in the life of a head banger.


According to Rolling Stone, the show begins with an announcement from Whitesnake’s David Coverdale: “No flash photography unless you’re really, really hot and willing to show us your boobs.” - and ends with a sing along to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'.”

Sprinkled along the way are over 25 more 80s hits, beer sales for the audience, and free LED flashlights to sway for the power ballads.

I can smell the perm solution percolating....

So if you 'Wanna Know What Love Is" get your big hair to the Big Apple and bang your head with Broadway's best. Cross necklace and fingerless gloves not included.

Brooch Diplomacy - Michelle and Madeleine Communicate with Jewelry

If Michelle Obama is ushering in a new era of power brooch diplomacy, she wouldn’t be the first. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a tenacious negotiator, loved to communicate her mood and intentions through her brooches, and now the Museum of Arts & Design in New York will exhibit 200 of her favorites.

Albright "found that what she wore and how she presented herself had a lot of interpretive meaning to those she was with," said Holly Hotchner, the museum's director. "The pins became an added way that she communicated as secretary of state."

"Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection," scheduled to open in September, comes 10 years after the museum presented "Brooching It Diplomatically," a show of pins created by contemporary artists inspired by the ones Albright wore.

"She started acquiring pins because of their inherent messages, their whimsical and pictorial quality," said David Revere McFadden, the museum's chief curator. "It's not about jewels and gems, it's about jewelry as a communication device."

The collection is diverse, ranging from Americana styles — including flags and eagles — to ones with flora, fauna and insect themes. She always brought a selection with her on her travels so she could be ready for any situation.

For instance, Albright chose to wear a bee pin whenever she felt talks amounted to "something like a sting," McFadden said.

"It's a very gentle way of saying to whomever she is speaking to: 'Listen carefully because I'm kind of telling you where I think this conversation is going,"' he said.

When she thought negotiations would likely go well, she would wear a balloon pin. Another pin, made of stainless steel, shows the head of Lady Liberty with two watch faces for eyes, one of which is upside down. The pin allows both her and others to check the time.

I wonder how many times Albright said the word ‘pinhead’ during the Bush administration?

The exhibition, running from Sept. 30 though Jan. 31, 2010, will be accompanied by a book, "Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box," written by Albright.

A-list Jewelry on a D-list Line-up

Bravo’s second annual The A-List Awards filmed in Los Angeles over the weekend, and our favorite reality show stars showed up in diamonds, gold and gowns galore.

Life on the D-List star, Kathy Griffin, hosted the event which celebrates the best in food, fashion, beauty, design and pop culture. And while the ‘best’ is certainly debatable considering their line-up of reality show divas (The entire Real Housewives casts), wannabe reality show divas (Making the Band’s Aubrey O’Day. Ick.), and long lost reality show divas (trashy Trichelle from the Real World? Really?), there were some A-list jewelry statements worth celebrating.



















Yellow gold lit up the red carpet on a glowing Mila Jovovich in a daring yellow gold statement necklace and headpiece. And Top Chef host, Padma Lakshmi, was decked out in golden jewels from her own signature jewelry line.



















And someone sent a memo to all the blondes, with a skeletal Tori Spelling, Travis Barker ex, Shanna Moakler, and Jim Carey main squeeze, Jenny McCarthy all opting for yellow gold statement earrings – and all looking quite lovely, actually. (Tori. Eat a sandwich. Please.)


















No one does skanky chic quite like Paris Hilton – whose shocking diamond fan earrings and icy pink diamond cuff made her hot pink Barbie doll dress walk on the right side of trashy.

And Kathy Griffin looked like anything but a D-lister, actually, in a black sequined number with shoulder dusters to die for.

Bravo!

What reality show diva does Kathy tongue kiss onstage? The show airs on April 15th so set your DVRs to find out!

Michelle Obama Brings Fuchsia Fashion to France

The highly anticipated fashion showdown between the world’s most stylish first ladies went down today as our Divine Mrs. O and France’s Carla Bruni-Sarkozy finally met face-to-face.(I love that she hyphenated even though he’s a leader of the free world).

The French model and chanteuse wore a subdued but classy gray Dior trench and Mighty Michelle rocked it in a fuchsia poppy coat by Thakoon. Both had power bow necklines. Coincidence? You make the call.











Bruni-Sarkozy was interviewed inside the Michelle Obama issue of Vogue in March, telling the magazine that she hates makeup, clothes and jewelry (not a sparkle could be found on her today from what I could tell), but she has emerged as France’s fashion icon despite it all.

And while Bruni-Sarkozy is often spotted in haute couture frocks, Obama likes to mix it up with commoner clothes to keep things real. Her color choice today was a massive improvement over the strange teal and brown number she wore yesterday – and the cut couldn’t be more sophisticated.

And she finally gave that pearl strand a break, as she chose to go sans jewelry for her afternoon activities in Strasbourg.

What do you think of our First Lady’s fashion so far? Too flashy or a much needed splash of color?

Kate Moss Is The Tops

Long lines and throngs of photogs waited in Soho today as the UK’s popular Topshop clothing chain opened its doors for the first time in the US.

Topshop, owned by British billionaire, Sir Philip Green, completely gutted an historic four-story building to create their New York flagship store, and by the looks of the crowds winding around the big city block they’ll have plenty of takers – despite the lingering recession.

“You’ve seen a few retailers collapse, but I think the big people will ride out the storm,” Green, 57, said in an interview while wandering the 25,000-square-foot New York store. “People haven’t stopped shopping. The young fashion market has still remained pretty resilient during these difficult times.”

Topshop is known for mixing designer duds with your run-of-the-mill ready-to-wear at price points we mere mortals can afford. Call it a step up from H & M, with Kate Moss as its Karl Lagerfeld or Stella McCartney.

The New York store has 32 changing rooms, a DJ booth, and a shoe lounge and stocks everything from cocktail dresses to $70 “skinny jeans” as well as jewelry and lingerie.

The divine Miss Moss made a brief appearance to christen the store today and celebrated with the city’s fashion elite last night at Soho’s signature hotspot, Balthazar.

Wearing pieces from her Topshop collection and a pair of chandelier diamond earrings, Moss rubbed elbows with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, who wore white with her Lorraine Schwartz diamond danglers, and singer Jennifer Hudson, who performed for the dinnergoers in a sequined Topshop number.

That Sir Philip doesn’t spare any expense. And it’s no wonder. He and his wife, based in Monaco, shared an estimated fortune of 4.3 billion pounds in 2007, according to the U.K.’s Sunday Times Rich List.

That’s a lot of skinny jeans!

Michelle Obama Dazzles in London

The anarchists may be protesting, but the fashion police have nothing to worry about in London as our fab First Lady proves she can she can travel abroad in high style.

The divine Mrs. Michelle took off for London yesterday wearing an ivory Thakoon coat and a signature brooch (which I’ve been missing of late). Ever the fashion plate, she changed - on the plane of course(!) – into a chartreuse Jason Wu dress to greet her legions of fans upon arrival across the pond.

This morning brought breakfast with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and wife, Sarah, and later a visit to Maggie's Cancer Care Center. Maybe the bloody protestors of the G20 Summit influenced Obama’s downshift from designer duds to J Crew garb – but she emerged this morning in a J Crew bejeweled cardigan and a mint green jacquard pencil skirt accented with another old friend – the pearl strand – and a series of layered bangles.

When in Rome, right?

The cardigan, by the way, is already sold out in case you're wondering.

Later today, our First Lady is scheduled to have tea and cucumber sandwiches with Queen Elizabeth herself. Will she go for another outfit change (I'm pulling for a big hat, Michelle. Bring it!) or will she J Crew her way to Buckingham Palace?

Stay tuned!