David Yurman Releases New S/S '13 Men's Catalog

You have the right (and privilege) to be awed by DY's latest men's collection catalog, which is presently on its way to stores, boutiques, and customers' homes nationwide and also available for online viewing. In this booklet the viewer is treated to another a showcase of dazzling product, more poignant in-line-with-the-DY-lifestyle quotations, and another series of shots featuring Ben Hill, the face of David Yurman Men for two campaigns now. (He was preceded by Jon Kortajarena). See below for screen captures of the digital catalog and profiles of fresh-from-the-studio DY men's product with, of course, my own original commentary (because, yes, I just can't help myself).

The shot on the left is, in my opinion, the most outstanding and memorable from the forty-page booklet. (I'm indifferent to the array of tags and necklaces on the adjacent page.)

Yes, of course the Griffin Collection is featured, and no, it has yet really to grow on me. I do, however, love the Armory cross ring displayed in the shot on the left. Retailing for $395, it is one of the most affordable pieces of Yurman out there.

I had to include this spread. These are the offerings from the catalog I love most of all. Just my luck, though: They are Signature Collection high-jewelry offerings, which means their high style is paired with an equally high price tag. Ah well. The signet piece on the left page with the lines of green color--the stone is opalized wood--will be mine in my dreams, if nowhere else.

Maritime rope design? Check.
1.29 carats of diamonds? Check.
The price? A fair $3900.

This new arrival to DY.com practically
demands to be rocked as a men's
pinky ring. It retails for $295.

Briefs: New Arrivals, New Catalog, and DY Goes into Mom Mode

What's new and now in the world of Yurman? Much, actually. Here's a rundown of recent developments.

A slew of new product offerings for men are now available at DavidYurman.com, including leather wrap bracelets, a Maritime star amulet, Waves Collection skull pinky rings, and several Swiss Army knives (see below). Check out all the latest additions here.

Second, those on David Yurman's mailing list received late last week a new S/S '13 catalog from the company whose theme is Design Is in the Details. Pieces and quotations from the catalog can be viewed here.

Lastly, let it be known that DY is in full Mother's Day mode (see below) and that the line with which Yurman is leading this April-May is that of the Starburst with pieces ranging from $750 to $24000.

Does anything say love like the glint of a $1600 diamond pendant? ;)

And with that, what do you know? You are officially caught up on your DY news. Now go forth, and be vibrant. 

Dream in Color: Attend a David Yurman In-Store Shopping Event

David Yurman's latest collection has to be seen to be believed!

If you've been following this blog, you know already that David Yurman has officially launched its S/S '13 collection, which is titled Dreaming in Color. (If this is your first visit to the site, welcome and, hey, now you know.) To celebrate, Yurman boutiques and authorized retailers are hosting Dreaming in Color in-store shopping events at which guests feast their eyes on DY's latest tantalizing creations while treating (at select venues) their tastebuds to cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. Although some events in this Dreaming in Color series have already come and gone (I know; I should have alerted you to their happening), several more are just around the corner. Here's the unofficial lineup:

Friday, April 12, 2013
David Yurman Trunk Show | RSVP
Neiman Marcus, 737 North Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL

Saturday, April 13, 2013
David Yurman Special Presentation
Neiman Marcus, 6 Oakbrook Center, Oak Brook, IL

David Yurman Trunk Show
Alson Jewelers, 28149 Chagrin Blvd, Cleveland, OH

David Yurman Trunk Show
Neiman Marcus, 2223 N. Westshore Blvd, Tampa, FL

David Yurman Trunk Show
Neiman Marcus, 2600 Post Oak Blvd, Houston, TX

Tuesday, April 16, 2013
David Yurman Dreaming in Color Event | FOR INVITE
David Yurman, 40 E Oak St, Chicago, IL

Thursday, April 18, 2013
David Yurman Dreaming in Color Event | RSVP
David Yurman, Lenox Square Mall, Atlanta, GA

David Yurman Event (4-7 PM)
Bloomingdales, Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, Sherman Oaks, CA

Thursday, April 25, 2013
David Yurman Trunk Show
Lee Michaels Jewelry, 6605 Youree Dr, Shreveport, LA

Did I miss an event or any specifics? Shoot me an E-mail or tweet me (@DavidYurmania), and I'll make haste to get the show listed. This page will be updated as correspondences come in and time elapses.

Did you attend a David Yurman Dreaming in Color event? E-mail me with your impressions or photos, and I'll post your contributions to the blog for all the world and the greater DY community to see. Happy spring to all! Now go get seduced by vibrance. ;)

Trouble for Yurman? John Hardy's S/S '13 Collection Astonishes

On the heels of the release of David Yurman's Spring/Summer '13 campaign comes that of John Hardy, a designer jewelry company headquartered in Hong Kong. Founded in 1975 in Bali, Indonesia, Hardy strives to be, according to its vision statement, "the recognized leader in luxury handmade designer jewelry." And that strife is not in vain or for naught. Hardy has established a global market presence, boasting boutiques or distributors in over thirty countries (compared to Yurman's twenty). Still, Hardy tends not to be my preferred designer. (Obviously. I author a David Yurman blog.) The company's creations tend to be too bold, too brash and brazen for my taste. Note how I say "tend to."

Hardy's new arrivals, only a couple of which I showcase here, seem to signal a change in style and approach to design for JH. Gone is the tackiness, the gaudiness I've come to expect from many of the company's collections (especially those that comprise the men's line). Instead, present is a sense of refinement, of cleanliness. The designs remain intricate--a hallmark of JH--but somehow seem more neat and tidy, as if the company is, in a way, going back to basics. And that's no critique.

What I love about Hardy's new collection and catalog 
1. The Dot and Bedeg new arrivals for women (see above, below)

The pieces in both Dot and Bedeg boast
extraordinary exoticism and mystique.

2. The campaign's focus on the jewelry itself
There is no face of John Hardy's Spring/Summer '13 Collection. There is no model featured in the campaign's 38-page catalog. The star of the collection is, well, the collection.

3. The inclusion of men's pieces in the catalog
Although John Hardy's male customer base is evidently much smaller than its female, it was still given due consideration when the company designed its S/S '13 catalog. Four glossy card-stock pages are dedicated to men's jewelry. Compare that to the zero pages containing product for men in Yurman's booklet.

So does this mean I've gone rogue on Yurman? No, it doesn't. At the end of the day DY will always get my patronage. It just so happens that right now JH has my eye... and maybe yours too? What are your thoughts on John Hardy's S/S '13 Collection? Does it hold a proverbial candle to David Yurman's? Sound off; post a comment or send me an E-mail.

On Doorsteps Everywhere: The David Yurman 2013 Spring/Summer Catalog Is Here

The catalog's cover.
DY leads with cable and crossover bracelets
(and, of course, Catrinel Marlon).

Received last week by all those on David Yurman's mailing list was the company's latest catalog, a 36-page card-stock document featured product and promotional images from all three of DY's "Dreaming in Color" sub-campaigns, which are, in no particular order, Seduced by Vibrance, Darkness and Light, and Beauty Radiates.

The sole individual on whom DY layers its latest collections in the booklet is brunette bombshell Catrinel Menghia (Marlon), who's evidently all DY wants and/or needs in models this season (not that I am in any way complaining). While the contents of the catalog are, for those who read this blog or subscribe to DY's E-mail updates, anything but "fresh" (practically all images have been featured here or there before), the effect of the aggregate whole remains profound. I've said it before, and I'll say it again--this is going to be the season of Yurman.

Yurman seems to have saved the best for last.
I'm loving these striking-in-their-strangeness
signet rings on the catalog's back cover.

Which of the featured designs tickled my fancy the most, you ask? Why, the ones far outside my price range, but of course. (Then again, I am a man so the point is rather moot.) I am taken by the beauty of the catalog's back-cover curiosities, one-of-a-kind signet rings whose jewel-encrusted surfaces recall reptile scale. The creations, which, I have to say, don't have me thinking David Yurman, come in at (from left to right) $17000, $20000, and $15500.

Did you receive DY's latest catalog? If so, which pieces made an impression on you? Sound off by posting a comment below or by sending me an E-mail.

Positive Identification: It's Catrinel Menghia for David Yurman

Seduced by Vibrance... or by Feminine Beauty?

I have been, for days now, posting about the brunette bombshell featured in David Yurman's Spring-Summer 2013 campaign, knowing not who she is. Well, yesterday that all changed with the posting of a tagged Instagram. It turns out the face of DY's latest campaign is none other than Catrinel Menghia, the twenty-seven-year-old Romanian fashion model known best for her work for Giorgio Armani and Fiat. On Wednesday Menghia made this posting to Instagram in which she acknowledges that the beauty is the campaign is, indeed, herself. (Note the unassuming caption.)

Menghia posted this to Instagram Wednesday.

Can you blame a guy, though, for not recognizing the famous face, given the work she's previously done? Heck, Menghia is normally done up to the nines with a focus on her body as opposed to her equally-gorgeous face. Yurman has done with her what the company did with Bundchen and has stripped away the Photoshopped veneer through which the the world typically sees the woman. What is present in the shots is not a plasticky fembot but, rather, a ravishing natural beauty who exudes an aura of vulnerability seldom seen in modern advertising. Cheers to Yurman's creative team for viewing and treating Menghia as it does the company's product--as not an object but, instead, a fantastic work of art.

Menghia: Beauty Incarnate.
Also, check out that utterly enchanting (and becharmed!)
tear-drop pendant!

For the "Darkness and Light" Sub-Campaign

Menghia adorned in many a variety of bracelet and a pinky ring.

A New Yurmanagram

Posted to Instagram yesterday by @DavidYurman was this low-resolution ad-art, which comes from the spring 2013 "Dreaming in Color" campaign shoot. Why the published image is so terribly pixellated is, I suppose, anyone's guess. As a rule, DY tends to be a very detail-oriented company, and so it is very much surprising to encounter a released image of such low quality. Note, dear reader, that featured again in this Instagram is the same brunette bombshell who is now plastered all over the newly-refreshed DavidYurman.com. You know I love her, but what is your take on this new face of DY?

Who's Afraid of Roy G. Biv? Yurman Embraces the Luminous This Spring

Bye, bye, Bundchen.

In DY's latest E-mail blast and website feature, the company is encouraging the public to cast off the mantle of winter and go bright and bold. The fresh-from-Photoshop marketing materials are, in color as well as feel, sumptuous but ethereal, light and yet impossibly bright. For two seasons now, DY.com has been awash in black-and-white Bundchen. Now, not only is the company embracing the technicolor, it is doing so with a fresh face--a brunette beauty who never before  has been featured (I think) in a DY campaign.

Fresh and festive is the DY Spring-Summer 2013 collection.

I could be wrong, but I believe this marketing departure a likely harbinger of the start of the David Yurman Spring-Summer 2013 season, something to which I have, for some weeks now, looked forward. (I understand, too, that a new exotic stone for men in the color of burnt orange has quietly dropped at the Townhouse. It seems we gents will also get the chance to go brash and bold for summer.)