The Fashion Statement: Jewelry is Buggin' Out

What's with fine jewelry's never ending fascination with creepy crawlers?

The trend has been in full swing for years now, but the craze just won't. Just look at Isabelle Adjani (above) who had fish (courtesy of De Grisogono) wrapped around her wrists at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Thousands of dollars worth of gems diamonds, sapphires, blue topaz, rubies and more have gotten turned into frogs, dragonflies, spiders, reptiles, snakes, butterflies, bugs, stingrays, sea urchins...and all manner of little creatures.

I get serpents, particularly for their Ancient Egyptian connotations and mystical meaning. I wouldn't turn down Roberto Cavalli's Swarovski serpent bracelet, tagged $675, or Virgin's Saints and Angels temptation bracelet, $635, adorned with Pacific opals.

But you should see the price tag for bird-like claws and insects! For $1,188, you can get stacked rings that look like talons on designer Pamela Love's site. You can also snap up a very large cuff by Aurélie Bidermann, an 18K rendition of a web for $1,795 at net-a-porter.com. Neiman Marcus has bug stud earrings by Ileana Makri, for $3,750.

Dragonflies do quite well, too. At Ylang 23, Cathy Waterman's dragonfly bracelet is going for $28,800 while Barneys New York is promoting Vernissage's pendant necklaces, $1,650.

Chinese jeweler Wendy Yeu has a ring so opulent and so buggy, it deserves a paragraph all its own. Set in 18K white gold, the ring is all flowers and bugs in the form of brown diamonds, black agate, fluorite, green garnet, yellow and orange sapphires embellished with pink amethyst, kunzite, green amethyst, lemon quartz and blue topaz gemstones. It will spend 11,000 British pounds if you want to own it.

But the king of critters in the jewelry world is the spider. One of the best spiders I've seen recently is Padma's spider earrings, $3,970, at Neimans. I'm sure the 14-karat matte yellow gold and the faceted lemon quartz the size of a lolly pop has something to do with the appeal.

The buggy trend has gone so far as to involve the real the thing. Trendhunter.com documented a Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. ALIVE! Encrusted with Swarovski crystals. Pin the wriggly thing to your clothing, fingers or wrist. If you treat him right and feed him, he'll live about a year. I think I'll pass.

Some people in the fine jewelry business I've talked to recently say the reason bugs are so huge is there is a new generation that can't related to traditional fine jewelry. Instead, they like subversive aspect of insects which ultimately takes the "precious" out of precious gems.

The Duchess of Windsor's Jewels will Auction

As American socialite, when the King Edward VIII proposed to twice-divorced, he caused a royal scandal. The man is give up his kingdom for love,and never stopped lavishing his wife with jewelry.

It's been 23 years since the last auction of the Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor, now Sotheby's will offer twenty pieces for sale in London on November 30. The total sale is expected to up to £3 million ($4.582 million). The above is a diamond bracelet by Cartier, that once belongs to Wallis Simpson,it is appeared in front of a Cecil Beaton portrait of her. The bracelet is expected to raise 350,000-450,000 pounds.

Jeanne Toussaint, Cartier's High Jewelry Director, created this realistic onyx and diamond panther bracelet designed in 1952. It's considered one of the best "three dimensional "great cats jewels of her.

The bracelet is expected to fetch 1,000,000-1,500,000 pounds ($1,520,000- 2,300,00). The completely articulated piece forms a "stalking pose" when clasped.

Jeanne Toussaint also created this flamingo brooch, decorated with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, citrines, and diamonds. It was bought by the Duchess in 1940. During the 1987 sale, this brooch caught the imagination of the world and became the emblem of the sale. It is listed with an estimate of 1,000,000-1,500,000 pounds ($1,520,000- 2,300,00).

The Windsors often incorporated their initials into the designs as shown in this emerald, ruby and diamond brooch by Cartier. This brooch is expected to realize 100,000-150,000 pounds ($152,000- 230,000). This piece was commissioned by the Duke in 1957 to mark their 20th wedding anniversary (note the Roman numerals at the base of the piece).

In addition to the Cartier pieces, the auction will also include a gold, mesh, ruby, turquoise and diamond purse by Van Cleef & Arpels. And a series of silver items and medals that were the property of Edward once, the Prince of Wales.