STYLE — The More, the Merrier

If you’re going to party with diamonds, be bold

Lawrence Karol El Paseo, Shopping

White, yellow, and rose gold bangles: “These are great stackables,” Raju Mehta says, “and they look very beautiful on a woman’s arm.” After they were cast, the bangles were polished. Each is 19.68 carats and has hundreds of stones. $29,000 each
ETHAN KAMINSKY

Elizabeth Taylor famously said, “Big girls need big diamonds.” And these days, they need lots of them.

“Today’s trend is to stack it up,” says Raju Mehta, vice president of El Paseo Jewelers. “Many people are stacking lots of bracelets or wearing a design that has multiple rows. It’s a single piece, but everyone will think you’re wearing five straight-line bracelets.”

The straight-line, or tennis, bracelet remains the perennial favorite among diamond lovers. “It’s an everyday bracelet,” he says. “Whether you wear one during the day or at night, with jeans or an evening gown, it doesn’t matter. They’ve been around for years, and they’re going to be around forever.”

Women are also adding a new and more colorful shine to things by choosing, for example, to wear three bracelets in three different colors.

“They’ll wear white gold, yellow gold, and rose gold all on the same wrist,” Mehta says.

With so many glittering options from which to choose, it’s easy to find the bracelet(s) that just might bring out the “big girl” movie star in you.

(At Right, From The Top)

White and chocolate brown diamond bracelet:
Unlike black diamonds, all brown diamonds are natural. Brown is the most common color. “They’re another diamond that is very popular,” Mehta says. This bracelet is 26.57-carat total weight, and a necklace and earrings are available in the same style. $19,000

Five-strand white gold diamond bracelet:
Every stone in this bracelet was cast separately, and then a jeweler went through hundreds of diamonds to find the right ones to put the piece together. Each diamond is about 1/3 of a carat, and the bracelet is 40-carat total weight. $69,000

White and black diamond bracelet:
Mehta explains that 99 percent of black diamond bracelets consist of stones that are not natural. “People take the bottom-of-the-barrel, worst diamonds and color them,” he says. “So if you buy black diamonds, you should be aware that most of them are treated. You have to rely on the jeweler to tell you when they’re colored, as they were in this bracelet, or if they’re carbonados, which are natural diamonds that are black in color.” $3,900

White gold straight-line diamond bracelet:
“The beauty of these bracelets is that they’re timeless,” Mehta says. “Here, every stone is 1 carat, and bracelets with 1-carat diamonds are real investment pieces.” While this bracelet is 27.53-carat total weight, the store has it available in many other sizes. $149,000

White gold wide diamond bracelet:
“This is a unique bracelet,” Mehta says. “Every stone is about 1/3 of a carat, and it took 2,000 carats of diamonds to find the perfect 106 carats. Not only do you need the exact size, but you also need the exact color, exact clarity, and exact make so that the bracelet looks uniform. It takes us about 30 days to put something like this together, although occasionally we can find the right parcel,  and it will be ready in a week.” $189,000

Photo by Ethan Kaminsky