As we gear up to celebrate Halloween with family and friends, there is a wealth of devilishly dark jewellery out there that is perfect for partying in. More Morticia Addams than the girl from 'The Exorcist', there is nothing remotely fancy dress about these jewels. In fact, they could be worn year-round by anyone with a witty sense of style.
Spiders, skulls and snakes - those perennially creepy motifs - feature heavily, writhing downwards in a pair of Nikos Koulis earrings, clasping their jaws around a huge amethyst in a Crow's Nest ring or spinning webs of blackened gold in Borgioni's delicate earrings.
With not a Halloween reference in sight but just as haunting are Stephen Webster's Fly By Night ring and earrings, which trail up the finger and down from the lobes in a tangle of poisonous leaves. Featuring black diamond-set moths and teardrop emeralds for leaves, they are darkly, devastatingly beautiful. Wendy Yue's Scorpion ring and cuff dip a toe into scary territory, but so exquisite are these jewels, set with mesmerising opals, that it would be a travesty to wear them just once a year.
Jane Berg's elegant statement ring keeps its dark side hidden. Pavé-set with black diamonds, it is only when you twist it to one side that the skull is revealed. Theo Fennell's black cat pendant is also covered with pavé black diamonds, the feline's realistic eyes enamelled by hand. Of all the jewels, MadStone's spider ring looks like it would be the most fun to wear this Halloween. Faithfully reproduced in yellow gold, with colourful tsavorites for eyes and a body composed of amethyst and blue topaz, you could almost forget this bejewelled arachnid - which is worn across two fingers - is one of the world's most feared critters.
