Historically, I believe, there was an issue with mixing metals in pieces of jewellery because of the hallmarking process. Jewellers would stringently stick to one carat of gold for instance. Now if you create a piece primarily in Sterling silver with details in yellow gold you can get part-marks detailing the different metals – the Assay Office has eventually moved with the times. Jewellery has become so much more experimental, fun, not only for the rich and showy.
There are always changing fashions of course – bright shiny gold might not necessarily be so in favour, and some people think that silver is just the cooler, more wearable metal – it might not actually be down to what “suits”. And what about what jewellery means or says about you. We all know that gold is so, so much more expensive than silver – if you like bold statement jewellery like me, there is no way that I could afford to have those pieces in solid gold. I have no issue with the “colour” gold – I love it – but because I’m not a billionaire I choose to wear pieces that are mainly silver with detailing in gold. I love a gold bezel around certain colours of stone – 18ct yellow gold looks so regal around a blood red ruby. The coolness of an aquamarine is set off beautifully by a paler 9ct yellow gold. And the gold doesn’t have to be mirror polished – I prefer it subtly brushed or textured.