Apologies in advance - if you're a fine jewellery/jewellery fan like me, this will interest you. If not, feel free to scroll on by!
As a buyer of QVC fine jewellery for decades, I've been dismayed by its dramatic drop in quality, particularly over the last 5 years. The lack of solid gold items is sadly predictable, and has happened over a longer time period, due to the precious metal's market price rocketing. I recognise we can't blame QVC for this.
I own a few very nice QVC solid 9ct gold bracelets in different styles, which I bought around 25 years ago and still enjoy today. They all weigh around 15g - 18g, and were skilfully made (in Italy), to achieve the look of a big, bold gold bracelet, without the weight/gold content of a genuinely chunky, high-end piece. For context, back in the late 1990s/early 2000s, a 15 gram gold bracelet was regarded as pretty lightweight, and at the lower end of quality fine jewellery. How times change in two decades!
I recently looked at the QVC website to see what gold bracelets they offer today. The answer is, it's slim pickings. They have less than ten, solid, ALL 9ct gold bracelets (ie no sterling silver elements in the gold bracelet, as typified by the long-standing and in my view outrageously overpriced Welsh Clogau range, which in recent times has added silver sections to its jewellery presumably to eke-out its dwindling stores of Welsh gold).
To their credit, QVC helpfully states precise gram weights for all solid gold jewellery on its website - as they should, with today's exorbitant gold prices! Here are the facts and figures:
Currently, QVC's advertised solid 9ct gold bracelets weigh from under a gram, at a mere 0.55g (I'd worry that would break if I sneezed), to their heaviest, solid gold bracelet, weighing in at 5.8g. In terms of price, their 9ct gold bracelets - some recently reduced by over Ā£100 - currently cost between Ā£75 and Ā£440. So by a simple process of multiplication, the 9ct gold bracelets I bought from QVC all those years ago which are three times the weight of their modern offerings, would presumably be three times the price today. Mind-boggling, and prohibitive for most of us!
Customer website reviews for their solid, 9ct bracelets are lukewarm, to put it mildly. For example, a 9ct gold, 19cm, 5 gram bracelet described as a 'Diamond Cut Hidden Clasp Belcher Chain Bracelet', was damned by its two reviewers, both of whom returned it for refund, giving it mere 1 and 2 Stars out of 5, and the near identical titles: 'Not Worth the Money/Price!' Both complained it was small/flimsy.
But the gold situation isn't the only jewellery disappointment at QVC. In recent years, even solid sterling silver has become less available, and largely replaced with the 'Steel By Diamonique', stainless steel range. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually quite a fan of their steel pieces. It's surprisingly good quality/nicely finished, looks great combined with Diamonique CZs (which I believe are superior quality cubic zirconia), and appears to be durable. After all, unlike sterling silver, steel has a reputation for not tarnishing.
But there's no escaping the fact stainless steel is not a precious metal. However much Dale Franklin & Co emote over it, stainless steel items are costume, not fine jewellery. Which brings me to the current topic I want to discuss here - QVC's brand new range of jewellery by leggy blonde, BBC 'Strictly' TV host, red carpet celebrity and 'Hello' magazine favourite, TESS DALY.
Before I go further with my thoughts, here's the QVC website's description of her new range:
'Channel Tess Daly Glamour - Discover Tess Daly's My Jewellery List collection and bring her gorgeous celebrity style to any outfit'.
I was curious about the quality and design of this new celebrity range, so researched it via the QVC website, which carries video clips of Tess's recent, QVC Towers, in-person brand launch, in all her glossy, golden-goddess gorgeousness. She and QVC's Kathryn Goldsmith 'Ooh-ed & Aahed' over every piece, while Tess praised her 'fabulous', top notch design team, who apparently only ever work with high-end designer brands.
Tess had certainly picked up the professional lingo from them, throwing the word 'premium' at everything. She even quoted the age-old story of how the diamond tennis bracelet got its name, though sadly she made the common mistake of saying Chris Evert's pricey line bracelet flew off and stopped play during the 1987 US Open (it was actually 9 years earlier, at the 1978 US Open - must try harder on that research Tess!)
But I have to give her 'A' for Effort on her sales pitch. She even produced a recent copy of 'Hello' magazine, on which she's the cover girl, posing in the 'signature' necklace from her collection, a big & bold, gold paperclip chain, with a tiny round Diamonique-studded charm (too small to be accurately called a pendant). She claimed to have worn this piece on her recent Summer family vacation, no doubt to a 5* resort. Apparently her folks thought she'd blown the holiday budget on a new piece of jewellery, because it looks SO expensive. Yeah, right...
My first impression was that oversized paperclip chains are everywhere right now (there are several priced far lower on QVC), so it's hardly original. But to be fair I haven't seen it in the flesh - customer reviews are the best clue. In common with so many items from her new range, that necklace is a Sold Out / Waitlist item. So it seems her range sold very well on its studio debut. The bad news is, the reviews across the board are overall lousy, with many giving her pieces 1 or 2 out of 5 Stars, and saying they had returned them for refund.
The necklace Tess says is such a personal favourite 'doesn't hang right', according to both reviewers, who sent it back. At the best part of Ā£100 with P&P it certainly isn't cheap - and here's where (you'll be glad to hear), I get to the point. This brand new, massively hyped celebrity jewellery range is made of - wait for it - recycled brass. No mention of brass from Tess or QVC's Kathryn, funnily enough, as they urged viewers to part with their brass, and buy her 'glamorous' new, must-have range. Call me old-fashioned, but even on my modest income I wouldn't be seen dead wearing brass jewellery - and I'm damn sure multi-millionairess Tess Daly wouldn't, if she weren't filling her retirement coffers.
Unsurprisingly, pretty much every reviewer mentions the fact they didn't know the jewellery was brass, there was no mention of it on-air, and that they wouldn't have bought it had they known due to its risk of tarnishing. One buyer even asked if Tess Daly's range would tarnish, and QVC replied (yes, QVC have started posting replies to customer reviews), that they couldn't guarantee it wouldn't! In studio, Tess Daly said she was thrilled at the positive response from viewers Tweeting, sending Whatsapp messages etc. I think she'll be rather less pleased at the unenthusiastic feedback once people get her jewellery home!
But I hate to end this on a negative note. There was a heartwarming, on-air moment, when none other than Tess' famous hubby, TV presenter Vernon Kay, sent a surprise message into his wife's live brand-launch, praising her for working so hard on her wonderful new jewellery range. Bless him! Tess looked genuinely moved, probably that Vern took time-out from his busy schedule - sexting Page 3 models!
