A Los Gatos jewelry store rolls out the designer’s red carpet to the stars.

Jessica Alba, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, Vanessa Williams, and Sofia Vergara all appeared on the red carpet looking gorgeous, right down to earrings and necklaces from jewelry designer Erica Courtney’s signature collection.

Courtney will be bringing the Drop Dead Gorgeous collection to Blacy’s Jewelry in Los Gatos on April 26-27.

Janet Bracey started a 30-year relationship with Courtney by carrying her silver cross design.

“Erika first popularized the concept of stacking silver rings,” says Bracey. “I used to have her diamond necklaces, but now she sources beautiful high-end colored stones to create very spectacular, one-of-a-kind and highly detailed earrings, pendants and rings. We are so excited that she will be doing her first trunk show with us!”

Courtney’s career began in 1984 by pure chance. She was out with her mother for a walk in her hometown of Texas, wearing cheap sunglasses embellished with rhinestones from a broken necklace. said her witty mom. She can pair you up.

“It was far from my mind,” Courtney says. “I never thought of myself as a designer. That was Paloma’s Picasso territory. But I needed a job.”

At her mother’s urging, she bought a large number of sunglasses wholesale and called Swarovski to buy crystals in bulk. Soon she was making elaborate pieces for herself, and people wanted copies all the time.

“My jewelry grew with me,” Courtney explains. “My work started with a fun, handmade look. I just designed it for myself and other people loved it. But as I grew up, my designs became more sophisticated. I did.”

Eventually, she moved to Los Angeles and found herself designing celebrity jewelry. She credits the jeweler she met there with upping her game. “That jeweler shook my world. It changed my life and there was no going back. I’m living for this stone!”

Courtney’s name is now synonymous with red carpet glitz, but we’ve taken her with her field gemmologist friend Vincent Pardieu around the world to go deep into mines, meet miners and learn about their lives. is her love for stones.

Her love of travel and her quest for rare and gorgeous stones has taken her to places as diverse as Brazil, Tanzania, Thailand, Germany, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. Each of her expeditions reveals something new, and the more she learns, the more she realizes how little she knows.

“Literally Sri Lanka is a big sapphire mine,” she says. “If the place was blown up, it would rain sapphires for years.”

She says sapphire and ruby, especially Ceylon sapphire, are very popular right now. She recently purchased a 2 carat Kashmir sapphire for her $2 million. Burmese rubies are also in demand.

Her more unusual favorite is Paraiba, a copper-based stone that comes primarily from Brazil and Mozambique. “It shimmers and its color is one of a kind, like the color of the most beautiful blue sea. Like most of my jewels, you can see it across the room.” .

At gem shows, she discovered peridot, especially Pakistani peridot that cost 20 times more. Known for her orange-to-red glow, she bought her garnets of Spessartite worth $20,000 and knew she’d be exhausted all day long.

“There was a lot of it, but you have to have it all to make rings and earrings,” Courtney says.

“I always choose the most wonderful and beautiful stone. It’s about love. I don’t care how much it costs.”

Visit Blacy’s Fine Jewelers at 51 University Ave. Los Gatos. For more information on Erica Courtney, visit her website at: https://www.ericacourtney.com.