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Designers Who Changed The Face Of Fashion
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What do
Queen Victoria and Coco Chanel have in common? Both have royal status,
one as the head of a nation and the other as a queen of fashion. Both
were trend-setters who broke conventional rules about jewellery. They
dared to wear jewellery which was non-real and non-precious – Queen
Victoria helped to popularise black jet jewellery, a kind of fossil,
while Chanel’s signature ropes of gilt chains, pearls and faux gemstones
– unapologetically bold, fake and fun – were all the rage in the early
part of the 20th century.
Reflecting the changing times, Coco
Chanel designed unconventional clothes and accessorised them with her
own jewellery, both fake as well as a mixture of real jewels with glass
stones, coloured synthetic stones, rhinestones, and faux pearls. She was
famous for creating the comfortable jersey dress, the little black
dress, plain sweaters, casual clothes and even masculine-looking
apparel, all accessorised, of course, with her costume jewellery designs
like gilt chains, gypsy necklaces, heavy chains and huge medallions. |
| Coco Chanel with her faux pearl necklaces |
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| Chanel
was the first fashion designer to design and commission unusual
accessories to complement her clothing collections. Her style was no
doubt influenced by the aristocratic circle she mingled with, which
included lovers such as the Duke of Westminster, and even the Grand Duke
of Russia, except that she flaunted the fact that her costume jewellery
was fabulously fake. That was one gutsy woman, and her designs appealed
to women who were tired of being cocooned in conformity. They could now
rebel, in an attractive, ladylike way. |
| Chanel’s
friend, Miriam Haskell, designed costume jewellery pieces
for Chanel’s haute couture collection. While Chanel’s base of operations
was in France, Haskell opened her shop in New York in 1926, creating
jewels for luminaries like Flo Ziegfeld, the Duchess of Windsor, and
Hollywood actresses Joan Crawford and Lucille Ball. Haskell was famed
for jewellery featuring tiny seed pearls and fine filigree stampings
with brass wire. |
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Miriam Haskell's filigree and seed pearl pin |
| Fashion
designer Elsa Schiaparelli saw clothing as art and created
stunning costume jewellery to complement the outfits she designed. In
fact, her accessories became fashion statements, Her plain black suit
ensemble worn with clips and buttons was famous. In a flash of whimsy,
she was the first to design lapel pins as receptacles for fresh flowers. |
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In the 1930s, Hattie Carnegie, originally
a millinery designer for
American department store Macy’s, started designing clothes,
accessorising her outfits with unusual costume jewellery she created
herself.
These women made such a mark in the world
of jewellery and fashion
that vintage pieces of their jewellery designs are highly-collectible
today. One-of-a-kind pieces, rather than mass-produced ones, are
particularly sought after.
From the late 1930s, technological advancements, mass production,
advertising and war ushered in another era in costume jewellery. |
| Signed Hattie Carnegie pin |
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