Diamonds and Gold Most Advertised Goods This Festival Season

As the dazzling dark night of Diwali draws near, the most advertised goods in Indian media are – believe it or not – diamonds and gold! Diwali Shopping lights up Indian Markets! A week before the commencement of the festival of lights, a million fairy lights sparkle on dark nights in India! Fireworks dazzle up the horizon! It's the greatest shopping experience of the year!

Art Nouveau jewellery designed by Farah is exotic and studded with diamonds and other precious stones. While she seeks out her dazzling precious stones in Jaipur, the city of gems, she fashions her pieces in a fusion of Indian traditional and Western Gothic motifs to create an absolutely new range of pricey baubles! The model in this image shows off a rare emerald of 56 carats with a carved tree of life design on it!

Living between Mumbai and Dubai, young and enterprising Farah is one of the most in-the-news jewellery designers this Diwali. Her collection of art nouveau jewellery has taken lovers of diamonds and other precious stones by storm because of her unusual designs, which are a fusion of old-world India and old-world Europe. “I am unfolding the enigma of the past,” says the designer, “I have used Indian precious stones like emeralds, uncut diamonds and cabochon rubies and given them a setting of Gothic architectural motifs. I am fascinated by the European art of the Renaissance period and I have made an effort to include the arch like shapes in my jewellery – and I am thrilled that women have fallen in love with this fusion. I sourced my large emeralds and rubies in Jaipur, the city of gems and have had workers from that city make special pieces. I sell my jewellery in the Middle East and India depending on the season. I started with making small pieces for myself and when all my friends and colleagues admired my jewellery, I thought of becoming a professional in jewellery designer! The specialty of my line is that my diamonds have an antique finish and they are set amidst other precious or semi-precious stones. Some of my emeralds are sourced with great care and are really large. The pendants are large and the combination of Indian elegance and Gothic style is stunning. Women are falling head over heels in love with this unique concept of jewellery and my collection has created great enthusiasm among the connoisseurs.”

Traditionally, Indian women all over the world are extremely fond of jewellery. They love to deck themselves for festive occasions, weddings and social dos. This Diwali is no different. Seeing the crowds in every jewellery studio or shop, one wonders how Indians have so much money to spend on gold and precious stones. But then, this is also a sign of the bouncing economy, say financial experts!

In the fashion world, long crinkled skirts in plain colours or tie-dyed fabrics with glittering sequins or zari and ethnic kurtis are the rage in festive season! These are worn with ethnic mojdis, also embroidered with zari. For fashion markets, dazzle and glitter are the keywords!

Kamal Sidhoo, Miss India Canada 1992 and an eminently successful model and anchor on several international television channels, models the Festive 05 collection showing off a crinkled gypsy style skirt and ethnic top with mojdis. Notice the background of miniature paintings, which hark back to the Radha Krishna love legend, which continues to inspire Indian fashion through all ages!

Strange are the ways of the fashion and style industries. They definitely go in a circular motion. Remember? Many decades ago, the popular Janpath market in Delhi and Fashion Street in Mumbai used to be full of gypsy-style swinging skirts made with crinkled cotton fabrics? What goes out comes back and in a cyclical manner! These skirts were considered beautiful 40 years ago by the flower children and hippies who came to India in hordes from faraway Europe and US and loitered around on the virgin beaches of Goa.

With Diwali 2005, these skirts have come back into the limelight with a vengeance. Every model and starlet shows them off in bright colours like green, yellow, blue, purple, red and maroon! Designers – from the hi end to the street fashions level - have added the dazzle of zari and badla work to them or made them shimmer with borders embellishing them at the waist and the hem. Swinging skirts are back on the Indian fashion scene, with new energy and style and have captured the hearts of the most fashionable women in metro India. The ethnic crinkled tie-dyed or printed skirt is now worn with a rural-style top or a sexy t-shirt with spaghetti straps or even a boob tube. Every fashion store this festive season is offering heavily gathered gypsy-style long skirts in blazing colours and shimmering sequins or zari work and teaming them with short or mid length tops and chunnis or scarves that are crinkled too. The hair is worn curly in the shaggy dog style and the jewellery is chunky. Shoes – these are called mojdis – are also studded with sequins and zari.

Amitabh Bachchan literally becomes a ‘rock’ star this Diwali – receives a diamond-studded sculpture!

What more did Amitabh Bachchan need than his recent gift of a diamond studded gift of a sculpture designed by artist Arzan Khambatta? This was presented to him at the 30th anniversary celebrations of the International Gemological Institute. Big B was also called the Diamond of India on this occasion for his contribution to the film industry and to Indian society in general! Amitabh has been an ambassador for diamonds formerly and shown off solitaires in media endorsements. The International Gemological Institute (IGI) found the superstar to be a worthy recipient of the title IGI Diamond of India Award because he is ‘the epitome of the values IGI stands for – integrity, consistency, accuracy and quality’ according to Roland Lorie CEO of IGI, which is one of the world’s largest diamond certifying institutes. No wonder then, that most FMCG manufacturers see the Big B as the best promoter for their products. AB Sr. therefore has grossed the maximum moolah as the endorser of more than 60 products – and amongst them, Dabur’s Chawanprash, an Ayurvedic health supplement is an example. It has earned a market share of 60 percent among similar products and confirmed AB Sr’s hold over consumers. Now Emami, the company that produces Sona Chandi Chawanprash, is roping in the other top shot in Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan to enhance its market share during 2005!

Uncut diamonds studded in a bangle-bracelet create a stunning effect. Design by Farha.

Films stars and ordinary people alike, Indians are shopping for gold and diamonds like never before. Even cursory glimpses at the magazines, television commercials and society events show that the craze for diamonds and gold jewellery is sweeping India notwithstanding the tsunamis, earthquakes, terror attacks, rain havocs, raging fires and the health epidemics. Indians across the sub-continent are busy looking at jewellery, fireworks, sweets and new clothes – perhaps to forget the woes of 2005 and to show that life is all about getting on and moving ahead!

Some figures give an idea of the gold-and-diamond buying scenario in India at present. India’s glittering jewellery business earns a whopping sum of Rs.40,000 crores every year. Of this Rs.8000 crores is spent on diamonds. Branded jewellery rakes in Rs.600 crores each year. In the US, six out of every ten couples buy a diamond ring for their engagement. In India however, only one out of ten couples buys a diamond ring.

Aishwarya Rai poses as the ‘Goddess of the Home’ or the traditional Hindu ‘Lakshmi of the Home’ in a seasonal ad from the Diamond Trading Company (DTC). The copy says, “Decorate the ‘Lakshmi of your Home’ with diamonds”!

Who best to represent the typical Indian concept that the woman is the ‘Lakshmi of her Home’ than Bollywood star and diamond queen Aishwarya Rai? In the De Beers Nakshatra diamond jewellery campaign this Diwali, she features prominently as the Goddess of Fortune in the Home who ‘must be decorated with diamonds’. In fact, the Diamond Trading Company (De Beers) calls the festive season the ‘diamond season’ and is pushing diamonds as the most attractive buy for all strata of society!

Ash, on her part, confirms that diamonds attract her among all precious stones because of their depth, dignity and grace. Selected as one of the most beautiful women in the world, Aishwarya has successfully increased the market for diamonds, which is going up by a healthy 15 per cent every year. Not to be left behind, other top actresses of Bollywood too, are endorsing diamond jewellery brand this season. Among them are the talented Kajol, who shows off Asmi jewellery for the successful woman and Sridevi, who wears fabulous diamond jewellery designed by her sis-in-law Maheep Kapoor for Notandas Jewellers.

Farah’s Victorian look in diamond and ruby jewellery is shown off by a model. A cabochon ruby and diamond necklace and dangle earrings create the picture of ornate, opulent excess, which is a favoured look this season.

Give us diamonds in any style whatever and we will buy them, say Indians. And designer Farah meets this demand by creating Victorian style jewellery with uncut diamonds and rubies to please every heart. Rubies have been a favourite of hi society in India and she uses the cabochon type of rubies to magnificent effect in her necklaces and earrings. Hanging beads of emeralds and rubies enhance the feminine look of her designs.

Farha also uses uncut diamonds to embellish huge bracelet-bangles for those who want to buy big diamonds at a relatively smaller cost. Her jewellery has been exhibited in metro cities this Diwali.

Aparna Suneja’s two colour sarees with floral gold embroidery have been a major draw in metro Mumbai this festive season. All over glitter embroidery on pale pastels is one more look that spells elegance in Aparna’s festive collection.

Two designers – Aparna Suneja and Gauri Babber – are entering the festive market with their elegant clothes to please women of all ages. Aparna’s two colour sarees as well as detailed embroidery has been a hit with discerning women.

Gauri Babbar’s animal prints on Western wear! In this ensemble, zebra stripes are used to create a look of sensuality and enigma! Glittering sequins and large silver discs add a glamorous touch.

Gauri, who was trained in fashion designing in the UK, has favoured animal prints in her western wear and party wear. Her zebra stripes and tiger skin prints have hit the market with a great impact. Indeed the styles Indian women are choosing for the festive season cover a wide spectrum from the ultimate western panache to the eternal elegance of the Indian saree with all its traditional glamour and glitter!