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The malaise of the ‘Millennials’

In the four years I’ve worked here, much has been said about the generation labeled as “Generation Y” or the “Millennials” and its importance to the jewelry industry. As just one example, I penned this article in August 2010 on how the size of the Millennial generation is poised to have a big impact on the bridal market.

When I wrote that article, we were in the midst of an upswing, and the pervading sentiment was that a 100 percent recovery was just around the corner.

More than a year later, we can see that this is not the case. Unemployment remains high and many young adults, some just fresh out of college, are struggling just to find a full-time job and scrape together the necessary funds for a security deposit on their own apartment.

Forget spending $4,000 or more on an engagement ring to pop the question and then putting a down payment on a house.

A recent article in New York magazine titled “The Kids Are Actually Sort Of Alright” and written by a 27-year-old New York staff writer presented some eye-opening statistics in this vein, showing just how deeply members of the Millennial generation have been impacted by the downturn.

To wit: 14 percent of those who were members of the undergraduate classes of 2006 to 2010 can’t find full-time work, and only about half (55 percent) of those aged 16 to 29 have jobs. Many young people (ages 25 to 34) have moved back in with their parents since the start of the recession, and the majority of Americans think this current crop of 20-somethings won’t be better off than their parents.

After reading the New York magazine article, I checked in with industry analyst Ken Gassman, a contributor to my Millennial brides story, to see if he’s revising his outlook on this generation.

What he told me is this: 2009 jewelry sales data by age of shopper shows that Millennials continued to spend their money on jewelry. The acquisition rate for diamond engagement rings held steady at 75 percent of all brides, though the average ticket for said rings fell by about 10 percent.

The 2010 data won’t be available until sometime in late November but Gassman is betting that those current trends won’t hold.

Interestingly enough, he also noted that he recently revised his wedding forecast downward in the past month or so. This is in line with statistics presented in the New York article, which stated that the median age of first marriages increased by a solid year since 2006, and that the overall marriage rate is at an all-time low.

It makes sense. After all, it seems like not being able to find a full-time job and move out of your parents’ place--the normal, and up until now, unconditionally accepted touchstones of transitioning into adulthood--puts a real crimp in your social life.

The New York article also raised, in my mind, the question of how this generation will view material possessions, including jewelry, when, and if, the economy begins to pick up again. One author interviewed for the story said that the recession has brought about a pronounced decrease in materialism in this particular generation. It’s a group that can experience books, movies and music without having to actually own them and that is perfectly alright with them.

Millennials, as the story’s author puts it, are “onboard” with having “less stuff,” perhaps making it less of a gold mine (no pun intended) of jewelry buyers than originally thought.

Celebrity Jewelry Gawk™ - Elegant Earrings

Jewel-drenched earrings are always a stand-out at coveted red carpet awards shows, but the love doesn’t stop there. This edition of CJG looks at the ear candy celebs favor for movie premieres, galas, awards events and other events. The drop and chandelier-style earring, along with styles in various hues of color, prove to be the favorite.

TV actress Shaun Robinson (below) wore Adeler’s 18-karat gold earrings ($3,420) to the 11th Annual Harold Pump Foundation Gala in Century City, California.



CSI: Miami’s Emma Bell (below) wore Brumani’s white and pink gold with crystal earrings ($1,551), from the Looping Shine Collection, to the premiere of Final Destination 5 in Hollywood.



Also accessorizing in Brumani was NCIS actress Cote de Pablo, who wore Brumani’s Baobab Collection earrings in 18-karat yellow gold with brown diamonds, aquamarine, ruby and pink tourmaline (below, $20,227) to the 2011 NCLR ALMA Awards in Santa Monica.


Reality TV-star Kristen Cavallari (below) wore Baccarat’s iridescent ruby earrings ($720), from the Pampilles Collection, to a Dancing with the Stars event in Los Angeles.



The Big Bang Theory’s Melissa Rauch (below) wore Diamond in the Rough’s 18-karat white gold “Champagne Bubbles” earrings with 34 rough diamonds and micro-pavé accents ($58,000) to the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.



Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland (below) wore Arunashi’s fire opal Orchid earrings with sapphires and diamonds ($32,400) to an Emmy Nomination Celebration in West Hollywood.



Twilight star Nikki Reed married American Idol’s Paul McDonald in Tacori’s 18-karat white gold elongated pear-shaped earrings, with strings of diamonds curving into tear-drop shapes (below, $6,610).


Singer Ciara (below) wore Hellmuth drop earrings in blackened silver with 60 full-cut diamonds ($1,256) to a Paris Fashion Week runway show for designer Barbara Bui.



TV actress Stacy Keibler (below) wore Amrapali’s 14-karat gold Victorian diamond earrings ($2,490) to a premiere of The Descendants in Paris with beau George Clooney (below, right) this month.



Actress and comedian Kathy Griffin (below) wore Privé Jewellery’s 1802 18-karat yellow gold earrings with diamonds and malachite ($13,522) to the Emmys.



Californication’s Carla Gugino (below) wore Sutra’s 18-karat white gold chandelier earrings with rough diamonds to a Los Angeles premiere of The Mighty Macs.



Mad Men’s Cara Buono wore Neil Lane’s pink tourmaline and diamond drop earrings set in platinum (below, $30,000) to the Emmys.


Also spotted accessorizing with Neil Lane jewels was actress Rebecca Romijn, who wore the designer’s garnet and diamond chandelier earrings in gold (below) to the Emmys.


From the new “Murder She Wrote” collection, The Rum Diary’s Amber Heard wore Stephen Webster’s Barbed Wire earrings in 18-karat white gold with white diamonds to the Hollywood Film Awards in Beverly Hills.



Footloose star Julianne Hough (below) wore M.C.L. by Matthew Campbell Laurenza pavé hoop earrings ($650) to the set of Extra in Los Angeles this month.



Actress Milla Jovovich wore Jacob & Co. black-plated white gold Deco chandelier earrings, adorned with black and white diamonds, to a premiere of The Three Musketeers in 3D in London.

NYC jeweler appears on E!’s Kendra

Imagine Designs made its television debut this month on Kendra when NFL player Hank Baskett stopped into the store to pick out a gift for his reality TV star wife, Kendra Wilkinson.



Brian Hakimian of Imagine Designs said while the company has had several celebrity clients, “They like keeping jewelry purchases on the down-low. Jewelry is a purchase that is private.”

The opposite proved to be true with Baskett, who took his camera crew on the shopping trip, ultimately deciding on a pair of yellow diamond earrings for Kendra that he thought would complement her blonde tresses.

“Hank was a normal guy,” Hakimian said. “You would never have guessed. He’s very down to earth, he shared his experiences in the NFL playing with different quarterbacks.”

Baskett also seemed pleased by the experience.

“I definitely knew that this jewelry was going to score me some points with Kendra,” he said.

The Housewives get a visit from Erica Courtney

Erica Courtney made an appearance on Bravo’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Oct. 3, showing off her glamorous gems to some Housewives and their friend.

“Oh I know your jewelry, yes,” Housewife Kyle Richards says to Courtney as they shake hands. “I love your style--Drop Dead Gorgeous.”

Courtney, who says she is completely comfortable on camera without an ounce of shyness, is no stranger to TV appearances. She’s participated in numerous on-air interviews, promoted her QVC line on TV and has before appeared on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when Housewife Camille was looking for jewelry to wear to the Tony Awards.

“Showing my designs to women who appreciate and love the drama of diamonds and exotic gems is the perfect scenario,” Courtney said of her most recent Housewives appearance. “The housewives love bling and getting dressed to the nines, and I’m glad I could show them pieces that create excitement and that statement they want. I loved every minute of being on the show.”

Courtney said that since it’s a reality TV show, what you see is what you get in terms of the cast’s personalities.

“Filming the segment with the ladies is just like showing my designs to old friends and clients,” she said, “It’s so much fun! Camille is a long-time client and loves to purchase my jewelry. Lisa, Kyle and Taylor love to sparkle, and since I know their personalities from the show, I can always show them pieces that fit their style and character.”

The designer added she’s over the stage of worrying about what she looks like on camera.

“As long as I get to continue doing what I love--designing and selling my gorgeous jewelry--I’m a happy camper!”

Is all publicity positive?

My colleague and I just had a discussion this week about the tendency of some news websites to use too many clichés in their headlines.

Yet I just can’t get around applying the cliché “any publicity is good publicity” when I think about the recent, supposed marketing “missteps” by J.C. Penney.

As I am sure many of have heard -- as it received roughly as much coverage as the president’s jobs bill -- J.C. Penney made quite a stir this fall with its “I’m too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me” shirt, which I agree does send an abysmal message to young girls but certainly isn’t the only negative message filtering into their lives.

J.C. Penney pulled the shirt from store shelves but not before the chain’s juniors’ T-shirts received widespread press.

The next “gaffe” on J.C. Penney’s part was this commercial for its Van Heusen line of clothing for men, an advertisement I’ll refer to as the Fast Times at Ridgemont High flashback.

The ad was a split screen. The right side featured men modeling clothes from Van Heusen while the left showed the famous scene from that film when actress Phoebe Cates emerges from the swimming pool in her red bikini. (Before you leave this blog to Google the video clip, let me just tell you that the commercial cuts it off at the pivotal moment, the “good” or “bad” part, depending on your point of view.)

Saatchi & Saatchi, the same firm that did the award-winning “Welcome to the Doghouse” campaign for J.C. Penney a couple of years ago, crafted the commercial.

J.C. Penney got slammed for the spot, with many crying sexism. The chain apologized on its Facebook page and said it wouldn’t air the Fast Times flashback commercial again after its scheduled run ended in September. (As an aside, I didn’t find the commercial offensive. It was just a woman in a bikini, not to mention it’s a clip from a movie that’s almost 30 years old. Oh, and here’s a newsflash: men like to look at women, and sex is often used in advertising to sell products. Cates is hardly the first attractive woman injected into an unrelated ad targeting men.)

A number of news articles and blogs criticized J.C. Penney for being “dumb” for airing the Cates ad after the homework-shirt debacle, but I am not so sure the decisions were short-sighted. 

J.C. Penney, after all, is in the middle of a major image overhaul, bringing in executives from Apple and Target to update their shopping experience and attract more consumers.

And when one’s in the midst of a makeover, isn’t any publicity good publicity?