Q & A with InStyle’s Contributing Editor of Fine Jewelry and Watches, Marion Fasel

Some girls look up to Taylor Swift.

Other women have Oprah as their role model.

Some even have historical figures like Eleanor Roosevelt or Amelia Earhart to admire.  

Someone I look up to?  

Marion Fasel.  

She is the Contributing Editor of Fine Jewelry and Watches for InStyle magazine.  

We both like love jewelry and we both love to write about jewelry, however she gets to share her love with millions of readers through her monthly contributions to InStyle and through co-authoring five jewelry books!  So you know I was incredibly excited to have Marion answer five questions for Gem Gossip readers!  

>>Here they are:

 [check out photos of her personal jewelry below]

Marion Fasel:  I cover the jewelry and watch markets for InStyle.  The work entails going to lots and lots of press previews.  On average I see at least five new collections a week sometimes more, rarely less.  I dream up stories, assemble stories and write them.  One of the greatest things about the work is that it changes all the time.  Usually I have one jewelry and one watch trend page a month.  Sometimes there is a designer profile.  I put together a special story if a particular theme seems ripe.  I contribute a little bit to InStyle.com and I usually do four engagement ring stories a year for InStyle Weddings.

Marion Fasel:  My mother says I started in jewelry around the fifth grade.  I would make my friend’s bead necklaces for their birthdays.  The truth is I really started in jewelry right out of college when I became an archivist then a curator for a private collection that included Cartier, Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels, Lalique, pieces from all the master jewelers made between the world wars.  The jewels in that collection were the foundation of most of the books I co-authored with Penny Proddow.

Marion Fasel: I am proud of all the books. Bejeweled is my favorite. InStyle has been beyond incredible. And I have won a few nice awards. But, and I know this is not a moment, I am most proud of the fact that I was Penny Proddow’s colleague for twenty years. She was an amazing woman, my sidekick and best friend. The whole body of work we did together makes me proud.

MarionFasel:  It is rather counter intuitive considering the economy but jewels seem to be getting bigger and more imaginative.  Chunky bold pieces are in.  On the opposite end of the spectrum delicate is also looking divine.  Little sweet rings and one of your favorites chain bracelets have a fresh look now too.  During the Depression some of the most imaginative jewelry designs appeared.  Necessity is the mother of invention and all.  I like to think that is what I am seeing now.  Creativity galore!

Marion Fasel:  My favorite pieces change all the time. But true to what I was saying about things being really big or super small, my favorites lately have included both. I have been wearing a little gold wire ring that says “love” almost every day. I bought it after Penny’s memorial to remind me that love is all around me. It works. A new fav is a long necklace of little pearls with a really big gold clasp. It manages to be romantic and edgy at the same time – a sweet and sour mix I eat up. And I have a huge breastplate necklace made of brass and semiprecious stones that is usually around number one or two on my top ten favorite pieces. It is a one-of-a-kind singular sensation.