Tiffany dropped 8.7 percent to $67.22, the biggest drop since Aug. 8, at the close in New York. coach Inc., the largest U.S. luxury handbag maker, slid 3.1 percent to $60.20.

Tiffany, the world’s second-largest luxury jewelry retailer, said sales growth in the fourth quarter will slow because of weakness in the eastern U.S. and Europe, where the region’s sovereign debt crisis is hindering investors’ confidence. The company also said that a key measure of profitability shrank as it sold more of its highest-priced diamond jewelry, which yields a lower gross margin.

“Management is incorporating plenty of conservatism in the outlook to acknowledge where the constraints lie with a shaky Europe,” Matt Arnold, an analyst with St. Louis-based Edward Jones & Co., said in an interview. “All the focus is on the outlook.”

Based on the full-year profit forecast the company gave today, fourth-quarter earnings may rise to as much as $1.58 a share, New York-based Tiffany said in a statement today. Analysts had projected $1.63, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Gross Margin

Sales during the period will grow in the “low-teens” in percentage terms after a 21 percent jump in the previous quarter. Sales will have a “low double digit” gain in the Americas, Chief Financial Officer Patrick McGuiness said on a conference call today.

Gross margin, or the percentage of sales left after the cost of goods sold, shrank to 57.9 percent from 58.5 percent a year earlier. David Schick, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Baltimore, had estimated 59 percent.

“The luxury consumer is slowing down as you might expect given the financial market turmoil,” Schick said in a telephone interview. “There was a lot of momentum in sales in the third quarter and that has clearly slowed down.”

Net income in the three months ended Oct. 31 climbed 63 percent to $89.7 million, or 70 cents a share, from $55.1 million, or 43 cents, a year earlier, Tiffany said. Analysts projected 61 cents, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

‘Good Quarter’

Profit in the year ending January 2012 will be as much as $3.80 a share, up from a previous forecast of a maximum of $3.75, Tiffany said. Analysts had projected $3.74, the average of 19 estimates. It reiterated its forecast for a “high teens” increase in annual sales.

Third-quarter sales advanced to $821.8 million, exceeding the $803.8 million average of 13 analysts’ estimates.

“It doesn’t look like the stock is positioned to get any credit for what was a very good quarter,” Arnold said. “There is plenty to like if you are a longer-term owner of this business,” said Arnold, who has a “buy” rating on the shares.

Cie. Financiere Richemont SA is the world’s largest luxury jewelry maker.

The 59-year-old Michael J. Kowalski’s salary was $958,957, and he got a $1.6 million performance-based bonus.

But figures in a document filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission show the bulk of his award came in the form of stock awards and options worth $4.4 million when they were granted.

Kowalski received other compensation worth $167,124, including $147,072 for life insurance.

Tiffany’s net income rose 39 percent in 2010, and its revenue rose 14 percent to $3.09 billion.

The AP’s calculation counts salary, bonuses, perks, stock and options awarded to the executive during the year.

  Those of us who live in Southern California, however, benefit from a climate that fosters intelligent design. We typically don’t have to deal with seasonal wardrobes; instead we switch things up with accessories. So it’s no wonder a handful of up-and-coming L.A.-based designers are making a splash in the world of jewelry.

They are varied in their aesthetic and understand how some pieces can be layered with everyday wear to subtle effect and how others can completely transform a look.

These artists often work with diamonds and other precious stones, but no matter how high-end the material, the pieces aren’t fussy or intimidating, but versatile and pretty.

Here are four jewelry lines worth a second look:

Irit Designs

After 20 years of designing black-tie gowns and wedding dresses for well-heeled denizens of Southern California, Irit Ehrlich started to produce jewelry that somehow married a weighty Edwardian feel with a California casual vibe. The result was stacks of stretch bracelets strung with turquoise and tourmaline stones. Ehrlich would mix her own bracelets with diamond bangles on her wrists, a combination that garnered plenty of attention from friends who were attracted to the colorful mash-up of high-end and semi-precious stones.

"My vibe was always to combine old and new, not be traditional or conventional," says Ehrlich, who began selling her bracelets to friends nine years ago and quickly expanded her materials to include diamonds.

She keeps that heavy Edwardian look in the line by using recycled silver that is oxidized to give the metal a rough patina that is vaguely reminiscent of knight’s armor. The mix of oxidized silver and diamonds, she says, "took on an almost primitive and vintage feel."

The silver is often combined with rose or full-cut diamonds and occasionally with coins that were salvaged from a Spanish shipwreck — a signature element of Ehrlich’s line that has attracted celebrities such as Amy Adams, Courteney Cox and Halle Berry.

Irit Designs are sold at Madison and Couture at Fred Segal. Prices range from $2,000 for a silver bracelet or stud earrings to $9,000 for pavé diamond bangles or necklace.

Amsterdam-based Royal Asscher plans to have an outlet in Beijing by the end of this year and eventually expand to at least four locations in China with Hong Kong-based partner Sparkle Roll Group Ltd. (970), said Mike Asscher, head of business development in Asia and son of President Edward Asscher.

“Brand image is everything in China, and we have a very strong story,” said Asscher, a member of the founding family’s sixth generation. King Edward VII in 1907 asked his great-great- grandfather, Joseph Asscher, to cut the 3,106-carat “Cullinan Diamond,” the largest rough diamond ever found, to make the centerpieces of the British crown and scepter.

China’s spending on luxury clothes, bags, shoes, watches, jewelry, cosmetics and perfume probably rose 23 percent to 84 billion yuan ($12.8 billion) last year, consultants Bain & Co. estimate. Chinese demand helped boost polished diamond prices 10 percent last year, according to Rapaport Group, a provider of diamond prices. Cie. Financiere Richemont SA’s Cartier has 34 stores in the country and Tiffany & Co. (TIF) has 14.

Tiffany has gained 30 percent in the year through April 19 in New York trading. Geneva-based Richemont, the world’s largest jewelry maker and owner of brands including Chloe, Montblanc, Piaget and Shanghai Tang, climbed 31 percent in the same period.
China Expertise

Underpinning Asscher’s expansion is a jump in expertise and technology in China for cutting and polishing gem-quality stones, typified by Beijing Huapu Diamond Ltd., which turns as much as 35 percent of the Dutch company’s rough diamonds into jewels.

“The quality of workmanship there is now among the best in the world,” said Asscher in an interview at the Peninsula Hotel in Tokyo. He said 55 percent of work is also done in Russia, while stones larger than 2 carats are usually polished by the company’s most experienced craftsmen in Amsterdam.

Polishing quality in China has improved over the past 10 years as much of the work has become automated using computer- guided lasers, said Russell Shor, senior analyst at the Gemological Institute of America. “China has the expertise and equipment now” to produce high-quality cuts, he said.

While 90 percent of diamonds sold globally are cut in India, those stones are typically 1.5 carats or less, he said. A carat is one-fifth of a gram.
Royal Wedding

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, scheduled for April 29, has increased interest in merchandise related to Britain’s royal family. The occasion may boost U.K. retailers’ sales by 527 million pounds ($862 million) as consumers commemorate the occasion, Kelkoo shopping website said March 15.

China has 960,000 people with personal wealth of at least 10 million yuan each, 9.7 percent more than last year, according to the Hurun Report, the researchers who track the richest people in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. The nation’s luxury consumer is now No. 1 in either market share or growth, Hurun Report Chairman Rupert Hoogewerf said April 12.

Closely held Beijing Huapu polishes stones for 15 clients including top-tier European, American and Japanese jewelers, said the company’s owner, Zevi Klausner. He declined to name other customers, citing client confidentiality.

Beijing Huapu’s factory in the Tianzhu Export Processing Zone employs 230 workers handling diamonds, according to the company’s website.
Labor Costs

Workers are paid between $300 a month to $900 a month, depending on experience and skill, said Klausner, who spent 25 years working in the diamond industry in Belgium. Labor costs didn’t drive Royal Asscher’s move to China, Asscher said.

Inside the factory, staff work with computers that guide diamond powder-coated steel polishing wheels revolving 2,500 times a minute. “You can only polish diamonds with diamonds,” Klausner said.

One of the most difficult shapes to master is the Royal Asscher cut, said Zhang Chunhua, the top polisher at the facility responsible for bottom halves of “fancy shape” cuts. Each facet requires as much as two hours of precision work and only workers with at least five years’ experience are allowed to work on the Dutch company’s signature shape, which has 74 facets, compared with 58 in the most popular round cut.
Reduced to Tears

“I’ve known workers who’ve quit because the requirements are so strict,” Zhang said, speaking through an interpreter as his co-workers played table tennis in the break area. With up to 60 days needed for a single stone, about double the time spent on round cuts, others have been reduced to tears, Klausner said.

Before being sent to store displays, finished diamonds are shipped back to Amsterdam for final quality control, Asscher said.

Founded in 1854, Royal Asscher is entering China later than competitors. Tiffany opened its first store in the Asian nation in 2001 and Cartier in 1997. Cartier was the most preferred jewelry brand of Chinese millionaires, according to Hurun Report last year.

Closely held Royal Asscher lacks the brand awareness enjoyed by larger global competitors, GIA’s Shor said. Still, “they have a good differentiated product that is difficult to replicate and a strong history.”

It’s been no secret that Len Goodman seems to be obsessed with Kendra’s sexuality. First he was obsessed with her boobs. In an article with E!Online Kendra talks about it: I don’t understand how he’s commenting on my boobs and not Wendy [Williams]’s boobs or Kirstie [Alley]’s. We all have big boobs! That’s just the way it goes. I think he’s just being funny, and I even saw him on Jimmy Kimmel last night talking about my boobs again. I’m like, “What is it about my boobs?” Just because I’m a Playboy girl they have to use my boobs as their little attack weapon thing.”

Then last week, he made a comment that she didn’t look classy on stage and that she basically looked skanky on stage. Now this week, he “compliments” her by calling her a stripper?

I don’t know about you – but I think Kendra is actually an amazing dancer and maybe she wants to bust out of the “stripper/pornstar/slutty” image she’s portrayed in the past but it seems as though Len Goodman will have none of it! He will remind you of it week after week so that you what.. won’t vote for her?

Or maybe.. he hasn’t bothered to watch her dance because he’s too busy staring at her boobs?

What do you think about the comments? Does she deserve it?

According to MLB.com, the Giants dressed their best for today’s ceremony, decked out in gold-embossed caps and jerseys with gold lettering and numerals. The Chronicle’s "The Splash," has details on the ceremony, reporting that the rings were "escorted to the plate around the warning track, by motorcycle cops, cops on horses and inside vintage cars," as a band played Copeland’s "Fanfare for the Common Man."

The ring is made primarily of white gold and consists of a total of 77 diamonds weighing just under one carat. The classy design pays homage to earlier eras and was inspired by the Giants 1933 World Series ring. More details include

    The ring top features the team’s "SF" logo set with round diamonds encircled by a bezel of yellow gold flanked by two round diamonds.

    One shank has the year 2010 flanking a yellow gold tower of the Golden Gate Bridge — the iconic symbol of San Francisco. The other shank has the recipient’s name in a ribbon over the World Series trophy. Within the top of the trophy is one mandarin orange spessartite representing the San Francisco championship and at the base of the trophy are five diamonds representing the five New York championships.

The designs themselves feature clean lines and texture courtesy of crocodile, snakeskin, calf, and suede leather. Pieces are finished with hallmarks of Tiffany craftsmanship including custom-designed hardware, Tiffany blue leather interiors, Tiffany blue enamel and subtle Tiffany & Co. logos.

The Tiffany Leather Collection for women ranges from a small Tiffany Reversible Tote for $395 to a Tiffany Laurelton handbag in glazed crocodile for $16,500. For men, prices range from $95 for a card case to $1,395 for a crocodile travel wallet.

** All photos by Stephen Lewis

The Manhattan Satchel is a generous-size bag (read: great for schlepping lots of stuff around!) available in glazed crocodile or snakeskin, natural grain calf or a giraffe print in haircalf. Shown, Tiffany Manhattan large satchel in onyx glazed crocodile retails for $17,500.

More Manhattan satchels, from left: small in violet glazed crocodile, retail $12,500; natural snakeskin, $2,495; giraffe print in haircalf natural/onyx, $1,895.

Tiffany Holly clutch in satin, from left (all $595 retail): espresso, camel, violet, Tiffany Blue, onyx, black pearl, and garnet.

Tiffany Galaxy clutch in satin, both $1,295 retail, from top: garnet with crystals and drop-in chain, and black pearl with crystals and drop-in chain.

Tiffany Camille clutch in onyx satin with a crystal bow retails for $1,195.

Tiffany Sofia Minaudiere in onyx satin with a crystal chain—inspired by diamond necklaces in the Tiffany archives—retails for $1,295.

Tiffany Lyn clutches retail as shown for $1,800, clockwise from top: gold ring lizard, Tiffany Blue ring lizard, natural ring lizard, and silver ring lizard.

Tiffany Bracelet bag in satin features a frame pouch with a chunky, beaded wrist chain in the Style of Tiffany jewelry; all shown retail for $795, from left: onyx, violet, and Tiffany Blue

Flowers, especially roses, are first choices of gifts for lovers. Flowers mean that “I would like to put my name into your heart”. Different colors of roses imply different meanings. Red roses imply “I love you”, while white roses mean naivety and purity. Besides, different numbers of roses also show special meanings. For instance, one rose means “Only you are my love!” while eleven roses imply that “I only care about you”. Roses are necessary as a gift for lovers, so I also will choose some roses for my girlfriend. 

Chocolates are also well-accepted gifts for lovers. It is nearly a must in Valentine’s Day. Meanwhile, different kinds of chocolates have different meanings. Which variety of chocolates you receive reflects your value in the eyes of your lover. For example, liqueur chocolates illustrate your love is as beautiful as a bottle of good wine; white chocolates shows you feel the other side step beyond the ordinary; milk chocolates shows you think the other side is pure enough, being a lovely elf. Chocolates embody the elements of romance, youth, health, energy, care, love and joy. Whenever it is, chocolates are wonderful gifts for lovers.

Jewelry is ladies’ favorites from ancient times to the present. So jewelry is nice and fascinating gift for your girl. As a result, I choose a silver bracelet of Tiffany. Tiffany has a good reputation in the market of jewelry, and each product owns its characteristics. I made a choice of a bracelet for its shinning appearance, purity and simplicity, which gave me a deep impression. I am convinced of myself that Susan will undoubtedly prefer such a special gift.

Of course, there remain a lot of choices for gifts, such as a disc, a musical box, or a pair of nice shoes. But I finally chose a piece of Tiffany jewelry, a box of chocolates and a bunch of roses. I am sure my gifts will leave my girlfriend most memorable memories.

The sea really has a magic. I met my prince one year later. Like me, he also loves the blue sea. Because of the sea, we fell in love. Later we married. Every day, we went to the seaside and had a walk together. One year later, our first child came to the world. From then on, we three went to walk along the seaside happily. There were more laughs around us. Walking along the blue sea, he usually said," My love to you is like the deep sea." At that time, there is a gentle smile on our face. Three years later, our second child was born. Then the whole family went to walk along the sea. As time went on, our children grew up. But we also kept the eternal feeling to the sea like the love between us. Walking along the sea has become a tradition for all of them.

Well, time flies. Until today we have married for thirty years. I received a special present. It is a Tiffany diamond ring in a little light blue box with a milky ribbon tie. As he helped me to wear the ring, he said "My love to you is like the sea." My eyes were full of tears at that moment. I leaned to his shoulder gently and we walked along the sea together. I deeply love the blue sea all the time.

My love to him is also like the love to the great blue sea. I love the blue. It is just like my happiness. It is simple but deep. I can smell its fragrance; I can touch its soul; I can feel its heart; I see its light blue color. It is my true love.

In some people’s mind, jewelry should be wear when they take part in some important occasions. There is no need to wear jewelry in normal times. Actually, it is wrong. People can wear jewelry at any time as long as it is suitable. Usually people know more about clothes than jewelry. They know that there are many kinds of clothes like formal dress, slack suit, full dress and sportswear and also know the differences between them. They wear different clothes in different occasions. But speaking of jewelry, they just know little about them.

On different occasion, people should wear different jewelry. Color, material, Style, size and brand are all important factors to think about. In normal times, people can choose jewelry which is beautiful. But on some important occasions, jewelry can show a person’s taste and status easily, so the jewelry for these occasions should not only be beautiful but also be noble. A Tiffany necklace must be better than a common one for an important commercial meeting.

As to some office ladies, the jewelry for them to match with their clothes is limited. But if they can find their own ways to match jewelry with clothes, it will be the key to be confident and successful. Usually some colour jewels can make office ladies look more gentle and beautiful. The color and the luster of colour jewelry should be pure. Brooches and necklaces are the beat choice for office ladies. Earrings are also good, but they should not be so complicated.

When on some occasions like parties, jewelry will be more important. Although some colorful ones may be more fit to the dress at night, do not wear all the peculiar jewelry at one time. It will make people feel disarray but not beautiful. Splendid and noble clothes are very important, and the jewelry which is used to match with the clothes should be simple and clear. Crystal will be the best choice because it can make people shinning and charming.