Spring Bling

Silicon Valley is known for its quiet luxury, but Los Altos Hills’ Rosalina Tran Lydster has a thing for bling, she and isn’t the only one. The Vietnam native, who worked in finance at Franklin Templeton and designed jewelry on the side, quit her day job in 2002 to launch Jewelry by Rosalina. Its diamonds and colored gems were a hit at Neiman Marcus in Las Vegas, and after a chance meeting with Paris Hilton in 2004, the starlet became a fan. Lydster soon was outfitting other red-carpet celebs and socialites, and even designed the crown for Miss Universe in 2008. With more of her clients globe-trotting than ever, Lydster was asked by friends with 20-carat wedding rings to “make me something that looks real” so they could travel without fear of hotel room theft of their gems. Her new line, Vakanza, a play on the Italian word for vacation, uses cheaper—but convincing-looking—man-made gems. “A real emerald bracelet with stones from a mine could cost $500,000 or more, but mine is $4,000,” she says. “A jeweler would be able to tell, but when you wear it on the red carpet, you can’t. It looks like a Fred Leighton, a Harry Winston piece.”

Originally published in the March issue of Silicon Valley

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