High times in the Big Apple

New York’s jewelry scene excels at uniting uptown panache with downtown style

Given the state of the American economy and the sinking U.S. dollar, New York’s role on the global jewelry scene is in flux. However, don’t count it out yet. Moscow may have more money, Paris may have more brands and London may have more power, but the Big Apple retains its influence because it attracts consumers from all over the world, and what they buy here makes a difference in what’s sold everywhere else.

Photo by Carlton Davis

Fifth Avenue, with its famous flagship boutiques — among them Tiffany & Co., Harry Winston and Cartier — is the traditional home for high jewelry, but these days, a parallel stretch of Madison Avenue attracts the real high-rollers. Gazing into the windows of its highfalutin boutiques, you’ll come across everything from a 30-carat D-flawless diamond ring in the Graff salon to exuberant animal-inspired cuffs at old-school favorite David Webb. Lev Leviev recently opened his Madison Avenue flagship, bringing blue diamonds within fetching distance of New York’s most upscale shoppers. A few blocks south lie Barneys and Bergdorf Goodman, both offering the ultimate in power baubles. Saks Fifth Avenue, down the street, fills in their gaps. Still, no tour of Manhattan’s jewelry scene is complete without mention of 47th Street, a single bursting-at-the-seams block at the heart of New York’s wholesale district. Downtown, that imprecise description of the blocks located south of, say, 14th Street, is home to Fragments, the jewelry collective in Soho, but super-fine jewelry remains an uptown affair. Just ask James Taffin de Givenchy, the distinguished designer behind New York’s Taffin. His Fifth Avenue showroom is a repository of found treasures and idiosyncratic jewels that expertly mix high and low. To wit: French-born de Givenchy, a nephew of the famed couturier, combines superb gems such as Russian demantoid garnets and Burmese spinels with 10,000-year-old mammoth ivory, Turkish meerschaum and other organic materials, slyly affirming the melting pot tradition of his adopted city, whose own high-low mix has always been the secret to its everlasting appeal.

Luxe and the city The Leviev boutique on Madison Avenue sells fine diamond jewels, such as these rose-cut earrings anchored by two pear-shaped stones and accented by pink and white pavé, price upon request. On parallel Fifth Avenue sit traditional New York jewelers like Tiffany & Co., whose 57th Street salon excels at Deco-esque design, such as these diamond and platinum bracelets, $80,000 and $91,500, respectively.