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This June marks Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, a celebration of the British monarch’s remarkable 70-year reign, and a wonderful opportunity to look back at her contributions to British culture. The world’s longest reigning monarch is also among the 20th Century’s most stylish icons, and certainly one of its most prolific jewelry collectors.

Pearls, the June birthstone, have always been a favorite of Queen Elizabeth’s, and have become a staple of her emblematic style. Over her many decades of service, the Queen has rarely appeared without her famed three strand pearl necklace, a gift from her beloved late father, King George VI, and has favored simple pearl studs and multi-strand pearl bracelets to match.

Queen Elizabeth’s pearl collection is characterized by understated, traditional designs, usually worn unlayered and paired with solid colors and demure hair styling. By contrast, her late daughter in law, Princess Diana of Wales, loved using pearls in more sensational ways.

Princess Di preferred her pearls with gemmy accents and paired with dazzling night time looks. Perhaps the most famous of these pearl-paired evening dresses was her so-called “Revenge Dress,” which Diana styled with a brooch from the Queen that she had retrofitted with twelve rows of South Sea pearls to make a statement ready choker. 

Though she had been gifted a more demure set of pearl earrings from the British maker Collingwood for her wedding, Diana preferred this larger set of earrings, which feature large,  magnificent South Sea pearls and sizable diamond and platinum scroll tops. Diana had the earrings made for the Coronation Banquet of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan, and reportedly had her hair cut shorter for the event in order to show off the earrings.

While Diana’s more daring looks usually featured jewels she had designed herself, the late Princess certainly knew how to add her own flair to inherited and borrowed pieces as well. The “Lover’s Knot” tiara, which originally belonged to the Queen Mother, Mary, has been worn by Queens Mary and Elizabeth, and Princesses Diana and Kate, in turn. While the standing Queen and her mother preferred simple, swept back hairstyles and simple cream or white garments to counter the opulence of the tiara, Diana took another approach when wearing the pearl-studded crown. The late Princess of Wales famously wore the tiara with what is known as her “Elvis” ensemble, a rhinestone and faux-pearl studded ultra-figure hugging cocktail dress accented by a structured jacket with a high statement neck. When wearing the tiara, Diana would have her hair blown out in dramatic, 80’s style feathering, and finished the looks with sparkling highlights and shimmery blue eyeliner.

Whether your June demands a traditional take on pearls or gives you an excuse to take after Lady Di, we’re here to help you style the June birthstone, Platinum Jubilee style! 
Stop in to the shop as we reopen this week to take a peek at some of our summer pieces that prominently feature playful and stately pearls. 

Downtown Rehoboth Beach is buzzing with the promise of summer just around the corner. It's hard to believe another winter has passed, but here we are at Elegant Slumming gearing up for a fabulous 2017 season. Philip has been busy all winter carefully curating gorgeous new lines as well as new pieces from some of his favorite designers. The store is brimming with newness in gold, diamonds, precious stones and enough sparkle to light up those warm summer nights. Of course we are always here to create that custom engagement ring or help you design a one of a kind custom piece.

Summer 2017 promises several trunk shows including perennial favorites such as Shinola, Stacey Singer, and Renee Escobar as well as new designers including Nataly Aponte and Jill Mauer just to name a few. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to receive invites and reminders about trunk show dates and times. Speaking of Facebook, it's also where you will find photos of our new arrivals, so check it out! As always, we thank you our loyal customers for helping us celebrate our 21st season of bringing designer jewelry to Rehoboth Beach.

It is our absolute pleasure to welcome you to the new Elegant Slumming Fine Jewelry website. With the new season here, we decided it was time create a site that would be mobile friendly and responsive for our great clientele. Here you will find a vast array of the fine quality jewelry we carry. Our web designers used clean, simple and classic styling to make the jewelry the main focus.

Our Jewelry section enables you to see some of the wonderful treasures that await you. Whether you are searching for an Engagement or Wedding Ring, a beautiful Bracelet or Necklace or fashionable Earrings and Rings, we have an exquisite collection. We developed a section of the website to introduce you to some of the talented Designers behind our jewelry and items for your home. Our new Events section will announce the latest Trunk Shows scheduled here at our store.

Last but not least, we have added an interactive Google Map to the site so you can find us in your travels. We want you to enjoy visiting our new website as much as we have enjoyed creating it.

We hope to see you here at Elegant Slumming soon.