Walk any catwalk from Paris to New York this season and one thing is immediately clear. Pearls are everywhere. But not as anyone would have recognised them a generation ago.
Baroque shapes. Asymmetric drops. Layered with gold, scaled up for impact, worn against leather and gauze and chain. The pearl of 2026 is not the pearl of the 1950s.
From pretty to powerful
"Every catwalk has been sending down models with pearls in shapes and sizes and colours that would have been unrecognisable in the 1950s," says Chrissie Douglas of Coleman Douglas Pearls. "It's gone from pretty pearls on girls in the 1950s to the bolder, much more confident pearls of our time."
The shift isn't just aesthetic. It reflects something deeper about who pearls are for now, and who is choosing them.
"When I started, pearls were available almost exclusively in jewellery shops aimed at the market of the time. Men buying for their women. So they were white and they were round, mainly. Nowadays it is women very much being bought for, but also having more of a say in what they would like – and also buying for themselves. They're discovering the many colours and overtone nuances and the shapes that are available in pearls."
A philosophy born in Asia
Prior to her London atelier, Chrissie’s own design philosophy was developed from years of travel.
"Before I started Coleman Douglas Pearls, I lived in Hong Kong and travelled extensively in China, Burma, Thailand, the Philippines. My eyes were opened to this extraordinary plethora of treasure in pearls: the colours, the sizes, the shapes."
The variety and sheer unexpectedness she found there fed directly into how Chrissie began to design. Pearls mixed with tourmalines, black diamonds, cognac diamonds and rough stones. Set into woven leather, felt and transparent gauze. Chosen for confidence and personality rather than convention.
The 2026 runways are, in many ways, catching up with where Chrissie has always been.
Related: Chanel’s Supersized Pearls Shine at Paris Fashion Week
Pearls as armour
Among Chrissie's most distinctive designs are pieces that take pearls across the body. They’re worn not as a necklace or earring but almost as a second skin. The intention is as much psychological as aesthetic.
"Many of my wonderful clients have commented on the fact that when they go into special meetings or special parties, they put on those pearls that they have specifically chosen to go into a room, to feel confident, to be seen not blaringly and blingingly, but to be seen as elegant, trustworthy and beautiful.”
It's a particular kind of dressing. Not decorative, but intentional. The pearl chosen not to complete an outfit but to change how you carry yourself in a room.
"If you put pearls in unusual colours, combinations and with different things, it will stand out and you will be not only elegant and trustworthy, but you will be unique."
See also: Pearls Dominate the Met Gala 2026
What this season actually means
The runway moment of 2026 matters because it gives permission. Or rather, it confirms that permission was never needed. Baroque pearls, freshwater pearls in unexpected colours, pearls layered against unconventional materials: none of this is new to Coleman Douglas Pearls. It is, as Chrissie puts it, exactly the philosophy the brand has always worked from.
What has changed is that the wider world has finally arrived at the same conclusion.
If you'd like to explore what that means for you with the colour, shape and combination that feels genuinely yours, book a personal consultation with Chrissie at Coleman Douglas Pearls.
