They don’t have to…

Many celebrities could afford to buy the jewellery and fashions they wear to the Oscars and other awards ceremonies, but they don’t have to. Jewellery designers and dealers loan the pieces in order to gain visibility for their companies, and so do fashion designers. They allow celebrities to choose what they’d like to wear from the inventory the designer wants to promote. Many of the designers work with multiple celebrities, so they must be careful not to duplicate an item. The best score for a company is having their designs on an award winner. Think about it, if Rene Zellweger wins an Oscar she’s front and center in a new gown. The hand that holds up Oscar might have a gorgeous ring on it. Close ups would show off a necklace or earrings. Any jewellery she’s wearing will get attention.

Photos taken at the ceremonies and at parties afterwards will circulate for years—and not just photos of the winners, but of all of the popular celebrities who attend. Wouldn’t you want your designs in that position?

Some companies have occasionally had problems getting their jewellery back, so now most of them require a signature that verifies the borrower knows the item is on loan—not a gift.

One person who loans jewels for awards shows is Michael Katz, a Beverly Hills jewellery designer and dealer. He has the reputation of being able to intuitively match people with jewels.

Harry Winston is a company that’s been associated with celebrities since its beginnings, so you’ll always see their pieces on those who are Oscar-bound. Another is New Yorker Fred Leighton, whose rings you see on the right hands of the Sex In the City ladies. Other famous and less well known designers are represented, too.

If a celebrity trend looks hot enough, costume jewellery companies will produce look-alike versions of many pieces. Remember the pink Ben and Jen diamond ring—how many spam emails did you get from companies trying to sell knock-offs of that?

It’s always interesting to see which designs are the most popular at the Oscars—will everyone wear similar pieces or will there be a huge variation in style? I’ll definitely tune in to find out.

Courtesy of About.com guide

During one of the classes, Make Your Own Silver Jewellery at Holts Academy in Hatton Garden, Mirpuri had a light bulb moment while making silver cufflinks. After realising his passion for creating jewellery, Mirpuri decided his job as a City banker would be too demanding to concentrate on both, so in 2009 he resigned and went into jewellery design.

Mirpuri enrolled in bench and design programmes at Holts Academy and Central Saint Martins. Although he knew very little about the jewellery industry, he had a clear vision of what he wanted to do. “Right from the start, I’ve had a pretty clear idea about the type of jewellery that I want to create and for whom. I tailored my own training, selecting only the courses that I felt would equip me with the skills necessary to realise my designs.”

During the two years he spent taking classes, Mirpuri was a sponge. He learned how to design using both computer-aided and hand-crafted techniques, as well as taking various courses, ranging from settings and stringing to adding colour and texture.

Today, Mirpuri uses a combination of CAD and traditional hand-crafting to create his collections. Though hand-crafting techniques are necessary to assemble and finish the pieces, CAD allows him the freedom to experiment during the initial stages of design.

“I’m able to explore and almost instantly visualise the numerous possibilities that a design idea presents, from the impact of a minor tweak in dimensions to its workability in terms of a full range of pieces,” says Mirpuri.

A self-proclaimed perfectionist, Mirpuri believes that CAD is an ideal tool because it precisely and accurately delivers the clean lines and symmetry that his designs demand. Unlike most new designers, Mirpuri launched his line in 2011 with three separate 16-piece collections.