Le Vian Embraces Role as Sector Trendsetter

RAPAPORT... Eddie Levian has an air of confidence as he navigates LeVian's large and loud booth at the JCK Luxury show in Las Vegas. With musicblaring in the background, he stops mid-sentence during our interview about thejewelry brand's latest collection to focus on his retail partners. "If everyone could send a happy birthday message to mybrother, who couldn't be with us at the show this year," he announces with anawkward ease and his famously assuring smile. The room full of mainlyindependent retailers responds warmly, eager to fuel the sense of family theLevians consciously champion. The independents, after all, are generally family-ownedbusinesses and therefore have the same mentality as Le Vian, the company CEOsays. "They embrace us because we treat them as part of the family. It's adifferent way of looking at business." That message provided reassurance over the years as Le Viangrew and started distributing to the multi-store chains. For a time, theindependents were concerned they couldn't compete with the larger companies ifthey carried the same brand, Levian recalls. Creating exclusive collections andmarketing for the independents helped alleviate those fears - and it was nosmall task, given that Le Vian is available today at some 3,800 stores acrossthe US. Going by the book Levian understands his job is to innovate. The companypresents approximately 40,000 new designs each year, aiming to supply differentcollections to a wide variety of customers. Much of that product development is organized into thebrand's annual trend book, which is unveiled each year at its glitzy Le VianRed Carpet Revue during the Las Vegas show in early June. The event offers coreretail vendors a first glimpse of the 2019 collection so they can have thepieces in store when Le Vian rolls out its marketing program to the public. Thetrend book is then translated into individual pieces to fit each retailer'sneeds, Levian says. But there's a greater purpose as well: Levian sees theannual forecast as an important tool for positioning the company as atrendsetter in the jewelry market. "It's not just a fashion show," he stresses. "It's a drivingforce for the industry, because other jewelers are motivated by the trends webring." How to sell beauty This is a role Levian is happy to fill; unlike the fashionindustry, he suggests, the jewelry trade lacks a united voice that can push atrend and stimulate demand. Le Vian's predictions are largely informed by the company'sobservations of collectors at the 3,500 or so one-day shows it hosts across theUS each year, as well as its experience dressing celebrities. The company alsokeeps tabs on the mining sector so it knows what new and interesting gemstonesare available. A case in point is Peacock Aquaprase, which the brandintroduced this fall. It was in response to a request by the fashion editors atHarper's Bazaar that Le Vian scoured its contacts in the gem world forsomething in grey, and the new stone, discovered by geologist Yianni Melas, wasthe result. But it's keeping in touch with fashion that Levian believesgives his company an extra edge. Tapping the fashion world enables it to lookat diamonds from a female-centric viewpoint, he explains. It's what motivatedthe company's choice of Nude diamonds as its diamond of the year and the "NudePalette" as its color trend for 2019. Levian observes that women shop forjewelry the same way they do for makeup, lingerie or general fashion. "The collection is a range of skin tones, from nude tochocolate diamonds," he notes. "Matching colors to skin tone is the way beautyis sold today." He emphasizes that jewelry needs to be viewed as part of thefashion world, especially as it shifts its marketing focus toward women ratherthan selling engagement rings to men. The dynamic of the man being the coreconsumer while women are the collectors needs to change, as women are morefinancially independent today, he argues. After all, the genders experience theworld in different ways, and that plays out in the jewelry market. For instance, he explains, men want to be the hero who buys abeautiful piece for the woman, so they'll typically go for a classic solitairediamond that she'll wear for the next 20 or 50 years. Meanwhile, women areimmersed in a world of mass design but still view themselves as unique. Jewelryhelps a woman express her individuality and show that she's up on the latesttrends, but the guy - who in the past has been the target market fordiamond-buying - is looking for a conservative piece. It's a difficult dynamic that doesn't bode well for thesurvival of the industry, Levian cautions. And it's a challenge he believes hisbrand can overcome, as it can target both sets of consumers through the trendforecast. "The stores need their jewelry to be in fashion so that thewoman can get something new every season and so that the guy can feel safe tobe the hero when he buys something for her," he explains. "The acceptance bythe consumer that this is the trend of the year is the key to our success." This article was first published in the January 2019 issue of Rapaport Magazine.Image: Eddie Levian, alongside two of his company's designs. (Le Vian)