Brandy

Are you OK? We're just fine, thanks- gazing at Brandy in OK! Magazine wearing my favorite Noble Necklace! This is one of our best pieces, pure crystal bling, with three large Swarovski crystals, a handful of slightly smaller ones, and a sparkly crystalized border around the crystals to make it look really elegant. She wore in on 'Dancing with the Stars' how cool is that! She did the theme song from Friends, I liked it. So, to celebrate, we put the necklace on sale so more people can acquire this wonderful necklace. It's a lot of Swarovski Crystals, made in the U.S.A. with pride!



The Chickie Girl Earrings

 My mailbox is filling up with political campaign material, our election is coming up and we've all got to go out and vote. In New York, it's our chance to get some new leaders, the state is running out of money and they want to raise taxes-again. Oh, wait one of the candidates is expecting us to cheer because he's going to 'cap' tax hikes... the other fellow promises a 10% tax cut. It's going to be interesting.

This year we're happy to see the pamphlets designed by our very own 'art director to the stars' Thomas Nguy, so I don't throw them out till I check if any are from his candidates. You know, when you know people in the industry, you know who will win the election cause studies show that the winner of the election will be someone who has the best jewelry!  We're open 24/7 on the web, plenty of Sarahs, Angies and Chickie Girls are available.

There are some more videos from my TV appearance on HSN. The Roberta Chiarella for HSN collection is bigger, there are unbelievable bargains, and they ship really fast, it's all in stock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ-es2hvJGs  It was a nice trip, we went to a family wedding on the way home! Good luck, Alison. Ciao.



Roberta Chiarella on HSN



RC2 is NEW

It seems quiet here in New York City on this Sunday morning, the pups are snoozing and it's a nice fall day. After the last two weeks, it's a welcome relief. Our newest collection for the RC2 Trend Collection (our super trendy line for fall) has been launched and seems to be a hit with our Fashionista customers. 



I am happy to see that the La Strada bracelet is already half-way sold out, and we've already reordered from the factory. This is a great piece, available in 2 colors and is so great for your fall wardrobe. We've also got a great Bib Necklace, and many other great fall pieces on the website. The Crystal Coin Cascade Necklace is also very popular, it was featured on The Today Show as part of the "Emmy Award Look for Less" segment, hosted by our dear friend Jill Martin.

Our jewelry is featured in InStyle this week, the Award winning CZ Stud earrings are right in there for everyone to admire. If you're on the E-mail list, you will have gotten a promo code to get a discount this week, so that'll help you buy lots of our great items. 



Joe Chiarella and Chicklet wait out the Tornado in NYC

I'd hoped to put up some pics from Fashion Week in Lincoln Center, but you may know that New York was hit with a couple of tornados (yes, in NYC!!!) which headed right towards the family home in Queens. That caused a few days of no power, and one of the computers gave up it's life in the power failure.

My brother had to evacuate with Chicklet, who had a great time eating at a sidewalk cafe in Manhattan while they fixed the power lines. Hopefully we'll get the pics out of the hard disk, once my brother puts down the chain saw that he's been cutting down branches with and gets back to the computer. Fortunately nobody was hurt in the storm, so we are all grateful. The house was not damaged, so the shipping boxes, gift wrap and assorted necessities for robertachiarella.com weren't harmed.

So, you can see why I am happy it's a quiet day. We've got a bunch of orders to pack and ship tomorrow, you can't underestimate the power of a super sale, the CHA CHA CHA bracelet (featured in BRIDES) is going to be discontinued soon so we're giving an incredible discount to make sure these great bracelets find nice homes!

Next on the list is getting ready for HSN, we've got a great new collection to show on TV coming up soon.

We've got to get the jewelry ready, then hit the hair stylist, manicure, dress shoppe and shoe store before the trip down to Florida. See you on TV! Ciao.

bye, bye, 2009!

Wow, the year is just about over. Can you imagine we are going into 2010. Do you remember 10 years ago we were staring at out (tube) monitors, wondering if our computers were going to blow up or shut down for "Y2K"?  It didn't happen, and now we have way more stuff to stay connected. This little blog, facebook, our robertachiarella.com website, all a product of the broadband era. I can't say I miss paying all my bills with my checkbook, and mailing letters to my friends, twitter and webcams are more fun.

So, as we get ready for a new year, I just OK'd some new jewelry designs and sent the last signed contract of 2009 to our jewelry factory in Providence, RI. Yes, there are still factories in the US, and ours is really special, where third-generation jewelry-makers fashion our products with care. I also just made the last changes to our website for 2009, as the christmas gift-box special is history and we got some great end-of-the-year press. Take a look at InStyle Weddings, they have an annual feature "the best of the web" and picked me to be in it. It's nice to be recognized, and we get a lot of referrals from loyal customers, as well as beauty editors and fashion designers across the country.

It's been a great TV year, too- Wendy Williams wears my jewelry a lot, and it was so much fun to go on her show and introduce her a few weeks ago. To all the folks in the audience who received a free pair of earrings I made just for the show, I got your comments and really appreciate your kind remarks. (I did have a problem posting the comments, somehow the computer erased a bunch of them, sorry) We have been so honored to be featured so frequently on the today show, they are always asking for high-quality, affordable jewelry to use in their fashion segments, and it is great fun working with them. Jill Martin (fashion for dummies) is an emmy-award winner, and is so fantastic to be able to supply her with lots of jewelry for her today show segments.

There have been so many milestones in 2009- we had a contest on the website that had thousands (and thousands and thousands) of entries, the winners all loved their prizes and we had fun working with our partners to offer the prizes. I showed a new collection made for HSN, and it was an amazing success, selling out and getting great reviews. Being on HDTV at the HSN studio was a first for me, and I still remember the makeup they used! I hope to continue the relationship, and expand the jewelry line to offer people the more affordable things that we all love, along with our wedding line, which is more intricate, beautifully crafted with swarovski crystallized elements and is just much prettier than the photos can show. When we have bridal parties come to our studio, the first thing they say is how much shinier, how brilliant the stones are, so until we get 3-D computer monitors, just take my word for it, the stuff sparkles!

I wish you all the best for a happy new year, we'll celebrate it in New York City by watching the ball drop from our living room TV- times square is for the truly brave, or people from very cold climates! To all our dear readers, Happy New Year!  Ciao.

honeymoon in, Tampa?

I'm on my way to Tampa, getting ready for two great shows on HSN. The first is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 1:00 am EST, which is actually geared towards west coast audiences, where it'll be Monday night at 10:00 pm. Then, there is another show at 1:00 PM est, or 10 AM on the west coast.

It's been a whirlwind weekend, having started with a wedding! My husband, Brian and I have renewed our wedding vows, and went before the preacher, family and friends and say "I do" once again. It was not picked up on the evening news or anything, so you'll only read it here. We had a wonderful ceremony by the pastor of "the church on the hill" in Douglaston, Queens, and then off to a great cocktail party followed by a dinner at our favorite italian restaurant, La Grotta di Marcello.

We were so happy, it is a really nice thing to take that step, make that committment, renew our wedding vows to be faithful partners, in sickness and health, through good times and bad, and wherever our life takes us. In this case, it's taking us to Tampa, the headquarters of HSN and our honeymoon II. And it's not a bad time to go to Florida, as it is absolutely dismal in NY with cold drizzle and rain, and florida is in a nice warm spell right now- should be in the 70's, a welcome change from the last few days in New York.

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So, it's a honeymoon in Tampa. We always have a good time at HSN, the folks are nice to us, the studios are high tech (It'll be my first appearance in their HDTV studio) and the hosts are knowledgeable and friendly. I love working with them, we've got a few great new pieces to show, and they've re-ordered some favorites and put them on the HSN website at special prices. I was so happy my jewelry is well received, there are 4 and 5 star ratings on the HSN website, and this can be a choosy crowd, so this is great news to me.

On another topic, our website is selling all of the great jewelry that was featured in Us Magazine's piece on the Emmy Awards, the Senorita Freida and the Little Fig Leaf earrings are selling like hotcakes! It's amazing to see the reaction of the public when magazines like US show how to literally get an emmy award look that is affordable, and I'm honored they chose to work with me for this issue of the magazine.

Life and Style magazine also did a great fashion spread this week that showcases my unbelievable square necklace, a beautiful CZ piece that is fun to wear. Check out the new items on the website, and if you don't get my emails, there is a place to sign up, we have some new jewelry that is introduced first via our e-list, and special sales and contests all available to folks who have signed up. So, my husband and I are going to celebrate in Tampa, then it's off to the TV studios. Ciao!

what i did on my summer vacation

Isn't that what your teacher asked you to write about the minute you got back to school in september? If I was going back to school in a few weeks, I would be able to write a nice book report, it's been an action packed couple of weeks. We have some great new items in the pipeline, we're shipping our fall merchandise and even though we just got finished with a great show for HSN, we have penciled in design time for my next appearance, tentatively scheduled for October.

One of the most exciting things going on in New York this summer is Wendy Williams! You know, as a girl from queens, it made my ears perk up when she describes herself as a girl from New Jersey. We 'outer borough' girls stick together! I first heard her years ago on the radio, there was a time when everyone listened to KISS-FM, and she was on WBLS most recently. Well, she is back, with a great TV show, she's literally exploded onto daytime television with a great talk show. And, she's a great dresser- so many tv personalities these days come on the set in god knows what, so I can tell you that ms. Williams has style. If you check out the "wendy's wardrobe" section of her website, she puts up a pic of what she was wearing on each show.

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And that's right folks, more than a couple of those lines pointing to her jewelry have my name on the other end, as Wendy is fond of some of my designs. She had on a wonderful print dress by Adrianna Papell the other day, which made my crystal earrings look great! Last week, she wore a beautiful Ralph Lauren polka dot dress, and my secret garden mosaic crystal earrings. Check it out !! I've put a link here so you can go directly to the site, the show's staff were so helpful they supplied the info and her promo photo, but don't take my word for it, watch her show!"

Even though we've not had much of a summer, with rain and cool weather most of the time, it was a beautiful day today to visit the beach. Jones Beach, on Long Island is the place I love to go to hit the waves. The best time to go is mid-afternoon, after the most-burning rays of the sun have dissipated, and armed with a SPF 50 sun blocking umbrella (only $29.95, what will they think of next) I had a great time with no sunburn whatsoever. We took in the sun and surf at Field 5, directly across from the Jones Beach Theater, where we saw Jason Mraz last week. I love this guy, the show was great, and Donna, Denise, Brian and I all had a great time.

Today we will stop by Henri Bendel to check out the retail jewelry counter, with New York City filled with tourists, I like to spend time there, making sure we have lots of jewels and to meet a customer or two. New York City has made some roads car-free, and people are really taking to them during this whole summer- it is nice to walk a whole block without having to jump to escape a flying taxicab, and you don't have to stick to a crowded sidewalk, but can walk from one side of the street to the other, or even walk right down the middle, just for fun. Thanks, Mayor Bloomberg, being able to walk or bike on these streets is a great way to see the city, and I am liking it. Ciao.

a beautiful day in new york, time to leave !

Well, we've finally had some decent weather here in the big apple. I can't say it is actually summer, as the evening temperatures are cool enough to require a jacket, and we have not used the air-conditioning much, but it is sunny and bright, after a month of cold, dreary rain. The 4th of July was perfect; a family barbecue, strolling along the water with the dogs at sunset, and having time to relax.

Of course, we spent some time looking at some new jewelry design samples that have come in from the factory, and I think we are going to have some hot new items on sale soon.

Generally, I design the pieces by drawing the basic look on paper, and we can make some mock-ups in the studio to get a feel for the pieces. Then, the factory will make prototypes and we will make modifications, pick the perfect color stones and fine-tune the pieces. Sometimes, we'll show the designs with beauty editors or some friends in the fashion industry, to get some feedback.

I had some great prototypes to show off at the barbecue, if our family's positive feedback means anything, there will be some knock-outs available in the upcoming season.

One hot trend this summer is the earring and necklace set, we featured this on the website and the sales are brisk. Women love light and simple pieces for summertime, and when the colors are bright and the price is really affordable, you might buy two or three at a time. Another hot seller is the grand super nova, it shows off beautifully when you are wearing just the right top.

And, if you want to see our newest collection for HSN, be sure to tune in July 14th at 2:00 eastern time. It's my "first anniversary on HSN" appearance, we've got a whole hour and I am really proud of the collection I am going to show on the network.

Bill Green will be the host, and he knows a thing or two about jewelry. I've never worked with him before, so it should be a fun experience.

To get ready, I went shopping for some clothes and accessories, and took a walk around the city to enjoy the weather. I love walking around manhattan, there is so much going on every minute of the day.

While walking down 42nd street, we felt a bit warm in the sun, so we ducked into the lobby of the Daily News building. Superman fans know this is really the Daily Planet, and as you can see, the place is still in it's 1930's glory. Across the street is the Ford Foundation, which has the largest indoor garden you'll ever see. It is truly amazing this place is in midtown manhattan, and it is both free and open to the public. When you are in the city, it is a must-see.

So, I'm off to Florida to get ready for HSN, they are the nicest people to work with and the trip is always fun, although TV appearances are not nearly as easy as they look. But try to see for yourself, we have some jewelry on this show that I made exclusively for HSN, and you will love it. The show is Tuesday July 14th at 2:00 PM. Ciao!

a memorable memorial day

Today is Memorial Day, and I hope you took a moment out of your day to remember those brave men and women who gave their lives so that we may live in freedom. We should never forget the sacrifices that our soldiers made for us and our country.
We were lucky that what is said to be the largest Memorial Day parade in the country is just down the road from my brothers home in Douglaston, Queens.

The weather was perfect and the parade route was packed. The mayor was there, along with all the local politicians, marching bands, and veterans from all branches of the military.
The local cub scouts marched, and chicklet, who never met a kid she doesn't want to run towards, had to be kept under close supervision! After most of the marchers passed our observation post on Northern Boulevard, we headed over to the house for "the first barbecue of summer". It was a beautiful day, with great food and good company.

I was happy to have some time to relax, it has been such a busy week (in a really good way). Our trip to Florida to show my HSN collection was a success, and I have to say it is always a pleasure to work with the HSN staff. Rachel Huber is a great host, we had super models on the set. I was worried about the time slot, it was pretty late for the east coast, but the orders came in like crazy.

You'll never know how exciting it is to be sitting there when the last item of the batch has been sold. There is a bell that rings, the lights flash, the people taking orders have to stop in mid-stream and start saying "I'm sorry, the item has sold out" and my heart just skips a beat. I love what I do, and like most artists and designers, there is no greater validation of your work than to have people want to buy it. The feeling that came over me when I saw so many of my pieces sell out on the HSN show was one of pure joy. I hope every person who bought some of my jewelry is as happy as I felt during that show when their order is delivered!

Designing this collection was a challenge for me, as we don't usually have to make a design for a specific price. The whole idea of working with HSN is to offer people a high fashion item that is affordably priced. Sometimes, when you have an idea in your head about what a bracelet should look like, you are not always worried about how many stones to use, how thick the metal should be, what type of clasp will you use, because the idea is to design from the heart. Of course, this means that the design might end up to be more costly, and I'll sell less of them, but when we work with HSN the concept is a bit different- we want to give the best design money can buy, but carefully choose the stones, settings, and manufacturing process so that the jewelry will be reasonably priced. In this case, I think everyone connected with the collection agreed it was a hit.

I love a challenge, and making this collection with specific prices in mind was a biggie, but it worked out well in the end. I was thrilled to see the "Best Dressed" earrings sold out even before they got a chance to air and they were made a customer pick. That was so exciting and I am still smiling, I really liked designing that one, and to see that so many people liked it is amazing. The show went so well that we've booked a few more later in the year, and I've got to go back to the studio to get the designs firmed up so they will be ready in time.

But, that is for tomorrow. Today was a day for relaxation and family, enjoying each others company, taking the pups for a walk down by the water, and seeing the flag draped on houses and cars, and carried by little kids or tied to their bicycle handlebars. And, as they say- a good time was had by all. Ciao!

it's a whopper

It's been a busy few weeks at Roberta Chiarella jewelry. Mother's day is always one of our busiest times, this year we were not disappointed. I am so happy to see so many sons and daughters buying some jewelry for their mom. I even saw a few sons-in-laws and daughters-in-law purchase things, that must mean there are families where the in-laws have a good relationship! We sold a lot of rings, and have found that rings are more popular accessories this season than they have been in a while.

For a small company, rings are tough to sell, you have to make all the sizes but who knows what sizes the customers will order. Hopefully people with both smaller and larger fingers will order our new rings. People asked me for a "whopper", so we created the Iceberg ring, a real looker (it's a CZ, the equivalent of 44 carats) that is selling like hotcakes. And, once the factory can get the prototypes into production, more varieties are on the way.

In our studio, we also do a lot of work with a lot of fashion magazines, and one of our favs is InStyle Weddings. This issue, they featured one of our necklaces "the unbelievable necklace". We always jump for joy when womens fashion magazines use our designs and pieces for their articles. I am still amazed that Angelina Jolie's Academy Awards photos made our Angie earrings so popular. We can tell that the magazines use the photos in foreign editions when an order comes in from Manila or Milan. The internet is an amazing thing, my friends.

Back in town, the stores have put all the newest spring and summer fashion items in their windows and on the shelves. With the economy the way it is, they want us to see as many great things as they can fit in the windows, so maybe we'll come in and buy them. Our 5th Avenue home, Henri Bendel, has announced that they will actually drop apparel so they can focus only on accessories and beauty products. The top floor will close, and it will be a smaller store soon. They said, in a Times article, that "there is no sign of a turnaround in the sale of high-ticket apparel".

Well, it's a good thing they are keeping third-party vendors like myself, it is always fun to go to the store (I go at least once or twice a week) and work behind my counter. The looks you get from the customers who realize they are being shown jewelry by the designer herself is so rewarding. I've made lots of friends here, and hope this move by Bendel's can keep it a viable concern on 5th avenue.

Sometimes, you meet famous people, sometimes they send their stylists and wardrobe personnel to shop for them, this is how more than a couple of fashion icons have come upon my jewelry. Of course, we reach out to them too, and I'm thrilled to see that Rachel Ray will be featuring my jewelry on her show, it's already on her website rachelrayshow.com and look for "what's Rach wearing?"

And, to wrap it up, it's off to Florida this weekend for an appearance on HSN, where we are featuring a new collection I designed just for them. Working with HSN is a great experience, it lets people who may not have access to stores where my jewelry is sold buy the pieces. And, being HSN, the prices are unbelievable. Check your local listings or set the DVR, we are on pretty late at night, but their website will have all of the new designs. I'll be back next week, no rest this weekend! Ciao.

omg, what a day to be on tv

It's scary to watch all these crazy things going on, wall street rescues, credit crunches, and my own bank is now owned by some other bank. The stock market was up, but now it's down, everybody seems confused. But, today was HSN day for me, with two shows featuring some new designs. Of all days, so much news made it hard to concentrate. It is hard not to love the incredible earrings, customers were so positive it made me feel great My journey to HSN studios in Florida featured an uneventful flight compared to my last one. The studios are upgrading to HDTV, and for the first time I wore the special makeup that is used for the high definition cameras. There are some talented makeup artists there, and lots of airbrushing! I was amazed that they apply colors and textures that we would never use to go out on the street, but with these lights and cameras the makeup comes out just right. The people who work with the on-air talent and us vendors are all a pleasure to work with, and lots of viewers and callers liked the products I brought to show. I am thrilled to be able to have my designs available in the HSN marketplace.

We had the baroque ruffle earring featured, this is a creation that I worked on for Swarovski. The people at Swarovski commisioned a select few designers from around the world to create something special to kick off the Crystallized Swarovski Elements brand. My Baroque Ruffle was chosen, and will be part of this promotion that will be unveiled in New York soon. It was just unbelievable to be able to offer this on HSN, and the viewers loved the piece.

You can see this one and the whole jewelry collection on the hsn.com website. With all that has been going on, I am so glad that I decided to work with HSN, doing so makes my stuff available to more people at a better price than at some retail stores. Take a look at a couple of the clips that HSN posted on Youtube, hope you like them.

Roberta Chiarella shows her stuff on HSN

Here's a little clip from my first segment, shot live early monday morning. Do I look like it's 2:00 AM ?? We had fun doing the show, it was a real treat to be showing my collection on this channel. I am so thrilled, the jewelry was so well received. After my plane ride down to Florida, it was a relief to actually sit in the chair and get the chance to show people what I made for HSN. The clip comes from YouTube, take a look:


The Honeycomb earring is one of my favorites, a nice filigree style that is going to be the hottest thing this fall.