The Dior Famosa bracelet is made from a combination of silver-coloured metal, translucent lacquer, aventurine, blue agate and natural turquoise beads

It’s the latest for jewellery junkies. Chanel’s Camelia Brooch is shaped like a bouquet of flowers and its design is inspired by Les Annees Folles (the crazy years), a classic documentary about France in the wild hedonistic years after World War I.

The elegant brooch comes in shades of red and ecru but it isn’t crafted out of sterling silver, precious gold and scintillating solitaires as you might expect. In fact, to set the record straight, it’s made from an unexciting combination of resin, metal and glass stone.

Every lady who likes rings on her fingers and bells on her toes occasionally gets the urge to shuck off her gold and silver and put on costume jewellery made from inexpensive materials. But the game changes when the colourful trinkets come from international signature labels like Chanel, Bvlgari, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton. “Coco Chanel (the high priestess of couture) herself would wear costume jewellery with fine jewellery together,” says Marielou Phillips of Chanel.

A sleek Dior brooch shaped like a safety pin

It goes without saying that even trinkets don’t come cheap from high-octane purveyors of style like Chanel and Louis Vuitton. While pendants from Bvlgari start at Rs 53,200 and go up to a whopping Rs 1.13 lakh, funky Chanel items are available for anywhere between approximately Rs 75,000 and Rs 1.36 lakh. And Swarovski is offering even more expensive concept jewellery pieces that are mostly made to order — prices are available only on request.

Obviously, this isn’t run-of-the-mill costume jewellery. Costume jewellery is usually made from base and intrinsically less valuable metals like iron, copper, and nickel or even strass (a flint glass with high lead content and unusual brilliance). But today you can get costume jewellery in New Age materials like chemical resins, aventurine or a form of quartz and cabochons (polished instead of facetted gemstones).

Take a look at the Dior Famosa, which is a bracelet made from a combination of silver-coloured metal, translucent lacquer, aventurine, blue agate and natural turquoise beads. Some pieces in Dior’s collection also come in a tarnished metal finish. For instance, a ring in the collection comes in a tarnished gold colour with intricate patterns etched on it.

Swarovski’s concept jewellery pieces are mostly made to order

But the luxury houses aren’t stopping at that. They are turning out jewellery in unconventional materials in minimalist modern designs. For instance, Bvlgari would like the young lady about town to be wearing jewellery fashioned from leather cords to be worn on the neck with steel clasps.

Also, companies like Dior, Bvlgari, Chanel and Louis Vuitton aren’t just offering conventional pieces of costume jewellery like earrings and neckpieces. They are also turning out a range of charms and trinkets for young ladies on the move.

Louis Vuitton, for instance, has its range of charms and cell phone accessories that emphasise vintage motifs like old medallions, which are favoured by collectors.

One of the coolest items at the LV showroom is a telephone charm from The Trunks & Bags Collection that pays homage to traditional Louis Vuitton trunks. Each of the charms comes with old copper, brass and ceramic medallions. “Mademoiselle Chanel was also attached to her charms. She filled her apartment on 31 Rue Cambon with these magical symbols and believed that they brought her good luck. She not only wore them on bracelets and necklaces but on her clothes as well as slung from her buttons,” says Phillips.

Some Bvlgari items allow the interplay of textures by using steel and 18-carat gold. Pix by Rupinder Sharma

Flamboyance is also the watchword for international labels. In fact, Swarovski, a brand known for its chic crystal jewellery, recently launched a couture collection called Runway Rocks at a fashion show in Mumbai.

The line has catwalk jewellery commissioned by Swarovski from both international and Indian designers. The concept of crystal fashion jewellery is given a fillip by designs that are both stylish and quirky.

Designers like Manish Arora, Rohit Bal, Tarun Tahiliani, JJ Valaya, Malini Ramani, Suneet Varma, Surily Goel and Farah Khan featured in this collection along with international labels like Collado Garcia, Christopher Kane and Pippa Small.

Stunners of this collection include concept pieces that effortlessly straddle the domains of both jewellery and clothing. An aquamarine gown studded with crystals in the manner of a peacock plumage with the heads of the bird forming a bustier in this collection is a prime example.

Chanel’s Camelia Brooch is shaped like a bouquet of flowers and is made of resin, metal and glass stone

It is a fact that costume jewellery allows designers to be more adventurous than they would be with just gold or silver. They can play around with varied textures, unusual materials and quirky colours in ways fine jewellery doesn’t allow.

If you are a fan of interesting materials, Bvlgari’s Tondo bracelet with a heart motif made with steel, 18-carat gold and cotton lace should be a prize pick. Another sleek creation from Bvlgari that allows the interplay of textures is a slim bracelet made of steel and 18carat gold.

The pricing may not be all that low for costume jewellery, but with more and more women zipping across the globe, it’s a trend that is likely to find favour with the fashionable set. And as Kalyani Chawla, vice president, marketing and communications, Christian Dior, India, puts it: “You can match your outfits with it and carry more than you would the real stuff.”