The Boomers Blog – Fashion Blog

The term “fashion watches” seems a little odd at first sight: one immediately wonders whether fashionable watches was meant. Those with philosophic tendencies would be inclined to further speculate if perhaps fashion watches refer to timeless fashionable watches, while fashionable watches are merely currently fashionable. A third possible level of complication arises if so-called designer watches are allowed for consideration!

And you thought a watch simply told the time. But fashion watches do more than tell time – they tell of the wearer’s sense of style, reflecting his or her personality. And that’s the truest function of a fashion watch, not so much to tell the wearer the time of day but to tell the rest of us about his or her tastes. Fashion watches and fashionable watches both declare their owners’ attitudes, but fashion watches are probably meant to be always in fashion, always in style, while fashionable watches will probably prove to have been of only passing interest. Such a distinction is not mere idle sophistry if it is remembered that watch collecting can be a serious business, with tens of thousands of dollars routinely spent on a single timepiece by dedicated horologists.

Fashion watches may not, however, be a term taken seriously by most horologists, for whom something either is a watch or isn’t. Indeed, the label may simply be a marketing invention by retailers. After all, how else to distinguish one’s products? The general public believes watches to be simply watches. Digital or analog, electronic or mechanical, it’s enough for most people that something which is worn on the wrist can tell the time and date. The devices may play music, or surf the web, or make telephone calls, or broadcast television programming – it’s still a watch. Just a watch.

No so to the serious watch collector, whose enjoyment comes from contemplating all the particular ways that the watch keeps time. While the connoisseur can enjoy fashion watches, these things are meant to function more as an article of clothing that only happens to tell time. Thus when talking about fashion watches the only subject available for discussion is aesthetic design. And there isn’t much to talk about then, is there? After all, “there’s no accounting for taste,” or so an old proverb advises. Yet opinions complement fact and make life fun, like shadows working with light to give the impression of depth. Thus fashion watches will draw attention and, for the best of them, popular acclaim.

Heels: The height of fashion: What is a perfectly put together outfit without a mind blowing pair of high heels? Nothing less than mediocre you might say? Marilyn Monroe famously said “I don’t know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot.” If you’ve ever asked yourself any/all of these questions then this article is for you:”Do you really like them? I couldn’t really afford them, but I had to have them” Or “If I bought these shoes, my collection would be complete” Or “Did someone say ‘shoe sale’ Then this lens is for you you and you!!The architecture, design and consideration that goes into a pair of high heels is a pretty tall order (pun intended) For instance if you look at Block Pump Hi by United Nude – WOW available at Kindred Sole. The fact that the designer of this style is a professionally trained architect shines through in the bold silhouette of the design. And if colour is your thing than you are bound to impress with the ‘Flo Red’ patent leather of this little beauty! The biggie for me with this particular pair of shoes is that they are based on a traditional silhouette, strip them down to its fundamentals and it is your much loved classic court shoe. What makes it shine out in todays shoe world? The fact that it has been modified, extended, adapted with the architecturally inspired heel and BANG you have something that really does pop. Whatever angle you view it at – just like a building (its muse) you see something different and very angular.You may be thinking ‘Well yeh, it looks good but is it going to be wearable, functional and importantly will I be able to walk in it?!’ The chunky, solid heel makes it practical sturdy and dare I say it very wearable. Its not age discriminative (my 50 year old mum owns a pair) great with jeans, skinnies, flares, any type of denim you’ve got it works and with a LBD it truly is Very Happy!So you may have got the impression that I am kinda sweet on this shoe?! Yes indeed I am but my love of high heels/ shoes/ boots/ shuboots/ flat shoes/ platforms/ kitten heels/ wedges/ sandals (need I go on?) is never exclusive to one pair! That would just be very narrow minded wouldn’t it!? I want to explore every shoe possibility and not judge any particular shoe until I’ve walked a few steps in each of them!

Have a look on just posted cultured pearls collection. Different colors like white, black, pink, golden, grey and more. Many shapes and sizes. Read more to find out what are cultured Pearls!Cultured pearl

A pearl is formed when some sort of small object, typically a parasite or piece of organic matter, becomes embedded in the tissue of an oyster or mollusk.

In response, the mantle tissue of the mollusk secretes nacre, a combination of crystalline and organic substances. As the nacre builds up in layers, it surrounds the irritant and eventually forms a pearl.

Natural pearls are those pearls which are formed in nature, more or less by chance.

Cultured pearls, by contrast, are those in which humans take a helping hand. By actually inserting a foreign object into the tissue of an oyster or mollusk, pearl farmers can induce the creation of a pearl.

The same natural process of pearl creation takes place.The pearl industry

Modern-day cultured pearls are primarily the result of discoveries made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the Japanese researchers Mise and Nishikawa.

Although some cultures had long been able to artificially stimulate mollusks into producing a type of pearl, the pearls produced in this way were only blister and mabe, rather than actual round pearls.

What Mise and Nishikawa discovered was a specific technique for inducing the creation of a round pearl within the gonad of an oyster. This technique was patented by Kokichi Mikimoto shortly thereafter, and the first harvest of rounds was produced in 1916.

This discovery revolutionized the pearl industry, because it allowed pearl farmers to reliably cultivate large numbers of high-quality pearls.

In contrast to natural pearls — which have widely varying shapes, sizes, and qualities, and which are difficult to find — cultured pearls could be “designed” from the start to be round and primarily flawless. The oysters could be monitored for up to two years until each pearl is fully formed, thus better insuring their health and survival. And the pearls could be grown by the tens of thousands, thereby bringing their cost down to a point where pearls became accessible to large numbers of people around the world.

In short, the development of cultured pearls took much of the chance, risk, and guesswork out of the pearl industry, allowing it to become stable and predictable, and fostering its rapid growth over the past 100 years. Led by pearl pioneer John Latendresse, the United States began culturing freshwater pearls in the mid 1960′s.

In Palm Island, Queensland, Australia in 2004, in a now closed pearl farm, pearl oysters commenced life as spats from hatchery farms, and were then grown for two years on a pearl farm. They were then seeded as pearls and cultivated for another two years, suspended on long lines, some on the surface, others below the surface. Each line had vertical lines dropping from it at one metre intervals with about six to eight shells on each vertical line. When the pearl had grown, two to three years after seeding, it was removed and the shell was reseeded to produce a second, bigger, pearl. Shells had a commercial production life of 10 to 12 years, producing roughly every two years.[1]

Prior to the 1930s, exporting pearls was the main economic activity of Kuwait. When the Japanese invented cultured pearls, the Kuwaiti pearl market declined. It would not be until World War II that oil became the major export for Kuwait.

Cultured pearls can often be distinguished from natural pearls through the use of x-rays, which reveals the inner nucleus of the pearl.

Today more than 99% of all pearls sold worldwide are cultured pearls.