Hot, As In Sexy, Jewelry Designer Michael Dawkins’ QVC TSV Cuff Sells Out

Designer Michael Dawkins, good looking and charming, had a bit hit with his Today’s Special Value for QVC’s Sterling Designer Gallery Day. He sold out 10,000 of the limited edition piece by 7 a.m. Sunday. It was supposed to last the whole day.

We first spotted his wide petal cuff on host Lisa Robertson on Friday night — you couldn’t miss it — and was wondering who the designer was. It kind of looked like a John Hardy piece, but of course we knew it wasn’t.

The bracelet was online Saturday, and when we watched Designer Day kick off with Dawkins and Robertson at 11 p.m., Lisa spilled the beans, saying that the big cuff was the TSV for Sunday, coming at midnight.

The piece looked weighty, and was $180, on three Easy Pays. We think that Dawkins said it was 50 grams of silver.

By 12:30 a.m., just half an hour after its debut, 7,500 of the supply of 10,000 cuffs had already sold out. It was gone by 7 a.m., as we said.

Two viewers called in and said that they had vowed they wouldn’t be buying any jewelry this year, that they didn’t need it. But they admitted that they succumbed and had ordered the TSV, that they couldn’t resist it.

“I tried to talk myself out of it,” one woman said.

So much for New Year’s resolutions. That’s why we never make any.

We like the fact that the cuff, and most of Dawkins’ bracelets, come in small, medium and large. Our wrist is 5 1/2 inches, and we can never get a bracelet or cuff that fits.

Jewelry Designer Barry Cord To Unveil New Collection During QVC Designer Gallery Event

Jewelry designer Barry Cord has already done work for QVC, but this Sunday he will debut a new collection on the Q, one that was unfortunately described as “Wearable Whimsy.”

The collection will premiere on QVC’s Sterling Designer Gallery Event, which we’ve been waiting for like a junkie looking for a fix.

Barry Cord

Here’s what the crack QVC PR department had to say Friday about Cord’s new “ideas,” as host Lisa Robertson would say.

Barry Cord’s designs can be found everywhere from the collections of world leaders and Hollywood’s elite to the world’s most celebrated art museums. Now, the award-winning designer is scheduled to debut a timeless, whimsical collection on QVC Sunday, Jan. 9 at 6 PM.”

Inspired by his fascinating life experiences, frequent travels and the beauty of nature, this artist and award-winning designer has created a distinctive jewelry collection in sterling silver and sterling with 14K gold accents. Cord remains true to his artistic vision, seeking inspiration from the world around him and utilizing old-world craftsmanship to bring that vision to life with this collection of rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and pendant.

“We are thrilled to add the unique aesthetic of Barry Cord’s newest pieces to our designer portfolio,” Diane Paccione, QVC’s vice president of merchandising, said in a canned statement. “His uniquely detailed, fanciful designs are sure to resonate with our customers.”

QVC’s Sterling Designer Gallery event will kick off at 11 p.m. Saturday.

The 25-hour event will feature “accessible pieces” from designers including Michael Dawkins, Judith Ripka and many more. The highlights, according to QVC, include a signed limited edition Dawkins Sterling Petal Cuff, Sterling Pear Shaped Champagne Quartz Earrings from Ripka and the introduction of black diamond pieces from Dweck Diamonds, a luxurious line of diamond jewelry by acclaimed designer Stephen Dweck.

The Barry Cord Collections will range in price from $65 to $400.

Rubbing Shoulders With Robert Lee Morris, Michael Dawkins And More At QVC’s Sterling Designer Meet-And-Greet

Award-winning jewelry designer, and jewelry maker, Robert Lee Morris was clad head-to-toe in SoHo black. Even the wrist guards he wore — one on the hand where he just had a joint replaced and another on the hand where he still needs the surgery — were black.

Ann King was very petite and pretty, and we had explain that although we own two of her rings and a pair of her earrings, we couldn’t find them to wear down to West Chester for her to see.

We’ve been fans of Echo of the Dreamer jewelry for decades, but never knew the designer behind it. Well, it’s Margaret Thurman, and we got to talk to her. She explained that the name Echo of the Dream came from her reading of Carlos Castaneda. One of her pieces, a white agate locket, is inscribed with a quote from Anais Nin, the best writer of female-oriented erotic literature ever. Thurman said she met Nin once.

Young designer Elizabeth Showers, who overcame an eating disorder, showed us her inspirational jewelry line, which aims to raise women’s self-esteem.

QVC’s Sterling Designer Meet-and-Greet Saturday at the home shopping channel’s headquarters in Pennsylvania was great. For jewelry geeks like The Homeshoppingista, it was like being a kid in a candy store.

We were surrounded by fine designers and were able to ask them, in person, about the inspiration for their pieces. It reminded us of the Television Critics Association press tour in LA, where reporters got to ask TV showrunners like Matthew Weiner of “Mad Men” what “informed” their decisions regarding their shows. That was more fascinating to us than seeing “the talent,” the actors and actresses.

At QVC’s studios, we could see and try on the designer silver goodies, and buy them. And we were surrounded by women like us, women who adore and treasure their baubles.

We weren’t sure how the meet-and-greet would work. We thought maybe it would be like a cocktail party with just a few QVC customers mingling with the designers.

Instead, there were dozens of women there. Each designer had a station, a couple of tables, set up along the hall that’s above the actual studios where QVC tapes its segments. You walk down the hall and stop at whatever station you want, chat with a Michael Dawkins or Morris, try on their rings and necklaces, and move on to the next designer.

You’re given a list of all the items the designers that are displaying, and you can circle the pieces you want to purchase.

BFF Ann kindly drove the three hours it took to get to our hotel Saturday afternoon. We headed over to QVC, and Ann acted as our photographer as we went from designer to designer.

In addition to Morris, King, Dawkins, Showers and Thurman, Naomi Pevsner and Elizabeth Rand were in the house. Judith Ripka had a table, which was manned by one of her good-looking and charming sons, Brian Ripka, who is president of her company.

Morris and Ripka are part of a growing group of high-end jewelry designers who are doing less expensive lines for home shopping networks such as QVC and HSN. QVC is particularly appealing, a formidable distribution outlet, at a time when sales of luxury goods have tanked.

The only designer that we didn’t speak with Saturday was Dawkins, who was a chick magnet. His post was so overrun by women, we decided to bypass him and come back later. But when we did, he was already gone.

We and Ann watched Morris on QVC back at our hotel, and he had changed into a deep blue shirt with a lot of the buttons undone. And he wasn’t wearing his black wrist guards.

But during QVC’s 25-hour Sterling Designer Gallery event, designers like Morris and Dawkins constantly made reference to the comments they had heard from women at the meet-and-greet.

We are such tech dummies that we don’t know how to download Ann’s photos from the event, so we’ll post them when our brother-in-law gets back from vacation.

And over the next couple of weeks we plan to write individual blogs on each designer.

We bumped into QVC PR person Kayce Cashman at the studios, and she gave us an excellent recommendation for dinner that night. We had some potent cranberry margaritas at Mas Mexicali Cantina in West Chester.

Watch Out Lisa Robertson, Hello Robert Lee Morris: The Homeshoppingista Is Coming To West Chester

God willing, The Homeshoppingista will be making a pilgrimage to West Chester, Pa., to meet Robert Lee Morris and Michael Dawkins, among other QVC jewelry designers, later this month.

We got the invite Monday from QVC to its Aug. 21 designer meet-and-greet, which the home shopping channel holds periodically for viewers at its headquarters. That night, and throughout Aug. 22, QVC is doing a 25-hour Sterling Designer Gallery event.

At the meet-and greet, another one of our favorites, Ann King, will be present, as well as Naomi Pevsner, Elizabeth Rand, Elizabeth Showers and Margaret Thurman.

Mom, sister Karen and BFF Ann are supposed to be coming, too.

But then we learned the drive is 2 1/2 hours from Montclair, so we are going to have to stay ovenight rather than make that long drive home at night.

The Homeshoppingista reserved two rooms at a local hotel, but mom and Karen don’t know about that. We hope they still decide to come. Ann is in!

We better leave our AMEX card in Jersey.

QVC Gives Jewelry Lovers A Gift With Day Dedicated To Jewelry Gifts, With Judith Ripka TSV Button Earrings

Loyal QVC viewers — us included — who have been griping about the lack of jewelry shows on the home shopping network should be happy Tuesday.

QVC has dedicated most of the day to “Jewely Gifts of Distinction,” kicking off the event with a Today’s Special Value from Judith Ripka.

The TSV is gem button earrings, for both pierced ears but also in clips, that come in five different gemstones, including our favorite, crystal quartz. The earrings are $100, on three Easy Pays.

Today QVC is also offering jewelry from high-end designers Stephen Dweck, with his new Dweck Diamonds line, Michael Dawkins, Robert Lee Morris, Barbara Bixby, Echo of the Dreamer, Barry Cord and Ann King, who is married to noted jewelry designer Steven Lagos.

So far, we have not seen Judith Ripka on herself. Her son seems to be subbing for her. At midnight, host Jane Teacy introduced the TSV and mistakenly said it was from Joan Rivers, leaving Ripka’s son looking a little uneasy. But Treacy then went on to get the name right — Ripka, not Rivers.

We guess Jane wasn’t used to be up past her bedtime, on the air at midnight.