Enlarge Golden glow: Filigree necklace is from Shimmer & Stone.

Shunned during the minimalist '90s as symbols of Dallas-era excess, gold baubles — stacked bangles, layered chains and silver-dollar-size hoops — are dominating runways and red carpets again as the yellow metal burnishes its image.

"For so long, we were so white-metal intensive," says Amanda Gizzi of the Jewelry Information Center. "Women in their 20s and early 30s were raised on silver." Though platinum and white gold remain the choice for bridal bands, women are "flocking to this yellow gold" to adorn their ears, necks and wrists.

Retail sales for gold jewelry reached a record $17.7 billion in 2005, according to the World Gold Council, "following the fashion world's embrace of yellow gold." It also helps that gold costs about half as much as platinum.

Designers have been giving wardrobes, particularly bags and shoes, the Midas touch for the past couple of years. But it was Sarah Jessica Parker's cheeky "Carrie" nameplate necklace in "ghetto gold" on Sex and the City back in 1999 that offered a glimmer of the metal's imminent return to the jewelry chest. Now, Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Simpson are outfitting themselves entirely in gold. Uma Thurman graces the cover of July's Glamour in earrings, necklace and bracelets all in yellow gold.

When Amy Steinberg started her jewelry company, Charming Sam, two years ago in San Jose, Calif., a dozen of her 40 pieces or so were gold. Now, nearly all of her 128 designs are gold, and she's about to discontinue the remaining eight silver pieces. Five years ago, gold was "like what your grandmother bought you. It was just so gaudy."

Credit the trend not only to the cycle of fashion but also to the influence of the East, says Kay Wicks, the designer behind Manhattan-based Shimmer & Stone. Though she launched her line in 2001, she started feeling the warmth two years ago when Indian-inspired tunic tops crossed into the mainstream, accompanied by gold bangles. Today, half of her line is gold, and by the year's end, "we will definitely have sold more gold than silver."

Jennifer Spencer, for one, says she has been on a "gold frenzy" lately, scooping up gold hoops and a gold necklace, not to mention a gold Chanel purse and gold Michael Kors shoes. "I'm just turning into Goldmember, I guess," says Spencer, 37, an aspiring novelist who lives in Anchorage.

Except for one key piece: her white gold watch. Because "it kind of doesn't go" with her yellow yearnings, she hasn't been wearing it much. So "now I'm late for everything."