Jewellery Styles

Since pre-historical times, people have used jewellery for many reasons, such as revealing identity and status and decorating themselves. Over time, the purpose of wearing jewellery evolved. Thus jewellery itself evolved, resulting in many different styles. As a result, there are many jewellery styles available today, such as classical, neo-classical, traditional, and contemporary, among many others.

However, many people may confuse these different jewellery styles, especially classical and traditional jewellery. Some may use them exchangeable, believing they both refer to the same type of necklaces, rings, bracelets, sets, etc. In fact, these two terms describe two different jewellery styles.

So, to understand better, let us have a quick look at each jewellery style.

Classical jewellery might be the first style of jewellery men had known. It goes back to the Greek & Roman times, and it reflects the Etruscan style.

This style of jewellery focuses more on the materials used, and the jewellery piece value depends mainly on the material used. That is why most classical jewellery, such as rings, earrings, etc., are of gold. 

This jewellery must show beauty yet in almost the same design. Or, if we can say it in a simplified way, classical jewellery items are of pure gold or precious metal, and they all share a somehow unified design. 

We can say that classical jewellery design was the main dominant style in jewellery till the late 18th century when this style started to fade out as the new style, Art Nouveau, appeared. This new style focused more on creativity and the design itself rather than the metal. This paved the way to individualism and personalization in jewellery.

Here, the term contemporary jewellery style started to appear. Jewellery started to have functional purposes as well. The main theme of contemporary jewellery is to use creativity to generate symbolic values through aesthetic designs.

However, this does not mean that the classical jewellery style no longer exists or is out of fashion. On the contrary, it is still one of the most preferred styles in jewellery among jewellery lovers. In today’s jewellery world, classical jewellery is a piece that may have prevailed in some concept of ancient jewellery designs, or simply it shows a simple design in fine & precious metals.

On the other hand, traditional jewellery refers to any type of jewellery that belongs to a region and that has passed from one generation to another. This type of jewellery style is affected by the nature, geography, and society to which it belongs. For example, Saudi Arabia’s traditional jewellery is very diverse and the materials used are also diverse. You will find the use of gemstone remarkable in traditional Saudi Jewellery. In other regions, such as Yemen, Silver is the major metal in their traditional jewellery.

Another style of jewellery that may cause confusion is ethnic jewellery. Ethnic jewellery belongs to a group of people who have their own style that differs from their homeland.

What is unique about traditional jewellery is that it will never be out of fashion, and they evolve easily with the changes in styles, lifestyles, etc. For example, a per-oil era in UAE witnessed pearls as the main theme of traditional jewellery, whereas in the seventies of the twentieth century, gold became more popular, and right now, it is the main metal used in the Emirati traditional necklaces, bracelets, earrings, armlets, etc.

At Al Romaizan Gold & Jewellery, we have reshaped the traditional jewellery to have a modernized look while holding the essence of the traditional designs.