Cheryl Shops

Website of the week
I saw this necklace in a magazine recently (I think it was Lucky) and immediately checked out the designer's website. Her name, Lisa Levine, sounded familiar, and after browing the site, I realized parts of her line are carried at Girlshop, one of my favorite sites. Lisa's jewelry is very architectural and modern, but very delicate and feminine at the same time. And as one would expect from a designer with gorgeous jewelry, the site is well designed too. The shopping aspect of it is rather simple (you can shop by collection, which includes the classic collection, "the future is wide open" collection and the new 2005 collection), but once you click on a collection, there's a nice Flash-enabled rollover feature that gives you a preview of each item before you click on it. I also like the fact that each item has multiple photos--flat shots from several angles as well as photos with a model wearing each piece of jewelry. Browsing through the collections, it's also interesting to see Lisa's evolution as a designer. The classic collection features very clean, simple, yet geometric designs like the innies and outies, the future , and the loose ends, all earrings. Then in the future collection, she goes a bit more postmodern with the parabola and the outies with a chain line earrings and the awesome big bad bracelet. I also like the more organic, nature-inspired shapes in the new 2005 collection, like the waterfall earrings, the three rivers necklace, and the rapunzel necklace. On my wish list are the delicate chains necklace, the dragonfly necklace, the cactus by the watering hole earrings, and the very cool heavy change bracelet. Now, note that I said "wish list." No, I'm not all of a sudden being frugal; it's just that everything's a bit on the pricey side (most items are in the $200-$400 range). But, hey, either way, it's a small price to pay for such originality.