How Chanel, Givenchy and indie designers are embracing the 2026 jewellery trend for silver

The recent explosion in shiny new silver jewellery collections is not simply a shift in fashion trends and a demand for a cool, clean new aesthetic: it may also be a reflection of the current economic times.

This shift in trends could be a silver lining for jewellery designers, many of whom are reeling from the soaring price of gold. In October gold prices peaked at US$4,367 an ounce, up 23 per cent in six months. It has slipped back slightly to US$4,062, but that is still up about 50 per cent on what it was a year ago. This, coupled with US tariffs under which many designers operate, has made buying jewellery a rather more expensive pleasure. Hence the growing interest in silver, which is only US$50 an ounce and therefore can be worn in abundance.

Sterling silver collections are appearing in the repertoire of a number of American brands, the white metal working beautifully in designs that have a clean modern aesthetic. This is also giving designers more opportunity to experiment with it creatively. Rosanna Fiedler of Wyld Box, a young brand based in Miami, believes that it is not so much the volatility of gold prices, “but rather a shift in demand – more designers are leaning into silver because it gives them creative and commercial flexibility”.

“What I love about silver is its attitude. Aesthetically, it carries a modern, bold, almost rebellious energy,” she adds, explaining that she mixes the metal with 18k gold and black diamonds in fluid, minimalist pieces such as bangles and rings in her Doppia Luna collection, and with hard stone for her more accessibly priced pieces. Then “it becomes striking and instantly recognisable”.

Nina Runsdorf’s Archive collection similarly riffs on the bold, sculptural shapes she can create in silver. The New York designer first worked with silver in her teens, and the Archive collection recalls those early years. Using silver gives her designs a graphic architectural allure. “Recently, I found myself wanting to wear bolder, more sculptural shapes, and I kept going back to those original samples,” she says. “It wasn’t so much a reaction to the price of gold as it was a desire to bring those silhouettes back to life in a way that felt authentic, expressive and wearable today.”

She remains deeply connected to her core design language but is just expressing it through a different lens. Using new stones and refined proportions, it was “almost like finishing a conversation I started years ago”.