Balboa Jewelry

This year is the year. The one where you check things off your list, set things right, and buy what you need and adore, instead of gorging on sales that often reap regrettable purchases that can’t be returned. Yes, you’ve decided, this is the year. You’re going to own a swimsuit that fits and a beach hat that wasn’t borrowed from your boyfriend. And finally, you’re going to buy a versatile necklace that you can rotate with your work outfits, casual weekend attire, and hitting-the-town evening ensembles. A tall order, indeed, but Jane Pope’s necklaces from her Balboa hit the mark perfectly.

Like many designers out there, Pope uses vintage elements as the main ingredient in her designs, but the difference is that her pieces are streamlined confections heeding to the mantra “less is more” where many of her counterparts pile on, and on, and on. The result is genuinely successful, imparting a signature feel to the designs that breathe femininity and easiness. Necklaces dangle pretty pendants, but nothing too girly, and earrings have an heirloom vibe to them. The best part? The pieces are all reasonably priced, with many of her earring selections around $50.

To view styles and to purchase, visit the designer’s Web site.

Lizzie Fortunato Jewels

It's amazing really, that a piece of jewelry can actually inspire you to conquer the world outside, but then again, that's what the best items do. Inspire you at the last minute to drop by a midnight party that an acquaintance casually mentioned, but you never thought you would truly attend...inspire you to convincingly walk into a bar knowing your ex will most likely be there too...inspire you on a weeknight to hit the hottest nightspot in town overflowing with sexy men and great music. Yes, a jewelry selection can inspire a can-do lifestyle, if, and only if, it is brimming with all the right elements.

Lizzie Fortunato Jewels, a kicky line of jewelry created by twin sisters Elizabeth and Kathryn Fortunato, is overflowing with beautifully crafted pieces that embody a good-time attitude, but with a decidedly grown-up flavor. Whimsical necklaces flaunt hand-sewn leather and silk elements adorned with antique chains and precious gemstones, and include fanciful touches like gold skulls and vintage buttons. Previous collections are still very relevant and wearable...check out their Fall 2007 collection, which pairs porcupine quills and shark's teeth with Peruvian opals.

To view styles, visit the designer's Web site. To purchase (including the necklace above with hand-sewn chiffon rosettes), visit La Garçonne.

Pade Vavra

For some, it's a cathartic experience...toes dipped in sand, salty air kissing your face, and the soothing sound of lapping waves. For others, it's a lifestyle filled with indulgent freedoms, from tossing your shoes aside to letting your work become a distant memory. And then there are those who see it as a reminder of what's pure and essential, and commit themselves wholly to the power of nature. But that's the beauty of the beach, there's always a staunch personal connection, and a level of unwavering devotion that can never be matched by any urban structure.

Los Angeles designer Pade Vavra has indeed created a passionate homage to the beach with her collection filled with sparkling seahorse locket necklaces, and bangles inset with coral. Vavra's gold vermeil jewelry flaunts precious and colorful elements, such as turquoise, pearls, and gemstones such as Peridot and Iolite. Her serpent necklace, a pendant adorned with opals and sapphires is a decadent piece, but it's her shark tooth necklace that makes the most majestic statement, dangling a hefty fossilized tooth from a double chain with tiny pearls (her Prehistoric Mako Shark Tooth in her fine jewelry collection is even more dazzling).

To view styles and purchase, visit the designer’s Web site.

Daughter of the Sun

You left it in the dust years ago…a frantic lifestyle brimming with sharp edges and one-upmanship. These days you’re calmer, more in sync with yourself, less in tune with what everyone else is doing. Sipping on iced peppermint tea, casually paging through The Secret of the Golden Flower, while Eva Cassidy serenades you through your ear buds…yeah, if this isn’t the good life, than someone has deceptively pulled the wool right over your eyes. Either way, your compass has been set just perfect, with your instincts never more in focus, your choices especially discriminate.

Native American artistry is on vibrant display with designer Amy Woodruff’s Daughter of the Sun line, a collection of hand crafted leather jewelry with a vintage flavor. Staying true to her ancestral Chocktaw and Cherokee roots, Woodruff’s pieces are hand-cut, tooled and dyed, and flaunt intricate nature landscapes. Each necklace boasts adornments such as feathers, bells or brass pendants. Our favorite is the macramé necklace (above), woven with brass beads, and tooled with an Art Nouveau design.

To view styles and purchase, visit the designer’s Etsy store. For more information, visit the designer’s Web site.

Delaila

There’s nothing in your rules of conduct about throwing down the “play it safe” card. After all, boring is as boring does, and you’d much rather be the life of the party, than sit upright with your legs properly crossed while making polite small talk. With a stiff drink in one hand, you’re a fearless mischief-maker with a special blend of smarty-pants wit and dry intellect that would have even Dorothy Parker beaming with pride. And so, of course, you relish jewelry pieces that match your spirited nature...bold and energetic, but still thoughtful and feminine.

Designer Laila Aitken was bitten by the fashion bug early own, growing up in her mother’s NYC store Samson and Delilah, which catered to a range of adventurous clients from Alice Cooper to David Bowie. And as if it was all meant to be, she became very passionate about vintage accessories, so much so, that after a stint selling pieces to boutiques, Aitken decided to launch her own jewelry line that would winningly blend the past with the present.

Inspired by the Art Deco movement, Aitken’s Delaila line is filled with wearable, modern pieces that are crafted from brass metal, Plexiglass and Swarovski crystals, and then color-coated. Many of the pieces flaunt fan-shaped elements, and are offered in stirring colors, from fuchsia to bright orange.

Visit the designer’s Web site to view styles, browse a store list, or shop online.

Jacqueline Sanchez

It’s the unlikely pairings that always seem to create magic together…Run D.M.C. and Aerosmith, Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin, Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort in the 1971 movie classic Harold and Maude. Because the best collaborations don’t cross each other out, or compete with one another, but define something new, something fresher, something powerful.

With her Forever Young jewelry collection, designer Jacqueline Sanchez introduces an unpredictable, yet perfectly balanced threesome -- modernist plastic squares resembling Lego building blocks are encased with sandblasted silver and adorned with sparkling diamonds. The range of rings, earrings and cuff links are offered in a plethora of eye-popping colors, from primary red to magenta.

To view styles and purchase, visit the designer’s Web site.

Vesper Jewelry

Never one to live life as a spectator sport, you categorically define optimism, bouncing from one adventure to the next with smiling authoritative glee. And your friends, well they love you to pieces, thankful for a genuine cohort who’s up for anything, day or night, rain or shine. But don’t paint you with a brush dipped in sticky sugar, because you’re no one’s fool…just someone who’d rather not get her hands dirty with self-centered drama. So unsurprisingly you favor jewelry pieces with an infectious playfulness that radiate your live-it-up lifestyle.

Working in collaboration with her main squeeze Jason Sho Green, Seattle designer Jessi Frenkel crafts a light-hearted collection that proves jewelry doesn’t have to be grim to be taken seriously. Let others corner the skull and crossbones market, because Frenkel’s joyful robots, angry totem poles, and delightful storm clouds are right-as-rain objects to adore (shown above are the peacock feather earrings). The sterling silver and copper pendants are created using a production process that entails toner resist etching and roll printing, and then hung on complimentary chains or ear wires.

To view styles and purchase, visit the designer’s Web site.