What's new at Swarovski?

We recently attended a presentation by Swarovski to see the new colours and products that are being rolled out. These are the 2011 Spring/Summer items. You have to remember that the fashion industry is a year ahead - the colours you will be seeing on the shelves next year are already planned, I'm afraid. So, while these are the new products for next year, we will have them in the store shortly!

There's a few items, so I'll cover them over a couple of weeks.

Like with any good product presentation seminar - there is the loot bag - otherwise known as swag (Stuff We All Get). Swarovski beautifully presents it's new products in an compact little custom box and a stunning magazine. Well - beautiful presentation is sort of their entire story, when you get right down to it! Usually, it's us using their beads to beautifully present our ideas and ourselves, but you get where I'm going with this.

First up - New Colours

Every year, Swarovski rolls out 2 or more new colours. Some are destined to be short-lived, some hang around until they are replaced with something trendier, and some are truly welcome additions to the extensive colour palette.











This year, the two new colours of crystal are Provence Lavender and Fern Green. In addition, there is a new pearl colour, Crystal Lavender Pearl. Soft lavender is obviously going to be the hot, hot colour next year.

The new Provence Lavender is a soft blue lavender that will spark debates as to whether it is a purplish shade of blue, or a bluish shade of purple. I think it is going to be quite tricky to photograph accurately. To my eye - these un-retouched photos are more blue than the stones appear in person.










And here, for comparison, on the left is the Provence Lavender, in the centre is the Light Tanzanite, and on the right, Tanzanite. The Provence Lavender is close to the Light Tanzanite, but a little bluer.




The new Fern Green is just a joy to behold. It fills in a hole in the Swarovski palette of greens, being lighter than Emerald, significantly darker than Peridot, and without the yellowish overtones of Olivine.

In fact - it is more like a fine quality Columbian emerald in colour, than the colour named Emerald, which is a little on the dark side for emeralds. I really like this colour, in short. It is bold and dramatic and I hope it is here to stay.






Here, for comparison, is Peridot and Peridot Satin on the left, Fern Green in the middle, and Emerald on the right.






And, as for the pearls - the new colour Lavender is a very soft, subtle colour.

Here, you can see it next to the existing Mauve Pearl.


Oh, and while not on topic, as I was shooting comparison pearl photos, here is a picture of the shades of grey in the pearls. From the left, Light Grey, Dark Grey, Black, and Mystic Black. Mystic Black is a true black, whereas Black is a dark, dark grey black pearl, like a South Seas pearls.




And finally, in addition, Swarovski is expanding the White Opal colour into more products, mainly in the area of the rhinestones, but do expect to see some of the large beads in White Opal soon.

More next week on new products!