NATURAL COLORED DIAMONDS: FULL-SPECTRUM SALES.

As the trend toward color hits its stride, natural fancy colored diamonds are striking spark among consumers.

The surest sign that natural colored diamonds have attained "in" status is the number of celebrities wearing them to high-profile events. Whoopi Goldberg, for example, wore yellow diamonds to the 1999 Academy Awards ceremony. This year, actress Heather Locklear wore pink diamonds to the Golden Globe awards. At the 2000 Academy Awards ceremony, Best Actress nominee Julianne Moore wore a 7.52-ct. fancy vivid yellow diamond ring and matching earrings. Oscar presenter Salma Hayek wore a 6.17-ct. fancy intense pink oval diamond ring, and pre-show host Tyra Banks wore an 81.62-ct. fancy intense yellow cushion-cut diamond set in a pendant. All these stars' colored diamond jewelry came from Harry Winston.

Sales of natural colored diamonds have been rising, say suppliers and jewelers. Although sales of the stones account for a fraction of total jewelry revenues (5%, by some estimates), many jewelers report double-digit sales increases in recent years. Figures from the Gemological Institute of …