Jewelry Lovers

The interest of the couturiers in costume jewelry had been initiated by Paul Poiret before the war, when he produced theatrical jewelry for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe. The bold, vivid Eastern silhouettes associated with this influential ballet were in stark contrast to the Art Nouveau styles of the time. Poiret later developed his range of costume jewelry further. He commissioned the fine jewelers Rene Boivin and Gripoix, and the artist, Paul Iribe, to accessorize his collections for European department stores. They produced the silk tassel-style jewelry, studded with semi-precious stones that typify Poiret’s style. Other couturiers such as Chanel, Schiaparelli, Premet and Drescoll followed Poiret’s lead.

Fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue were at first cautious about the idea, as they relied heavily on advertising revenue from fine jewelry houses such as Cartier. However, they overcame this trepidation and began to feature the new costume jewelry in the mid-1920s. Since there were no copyright laws at this time to prevent the Paris fashions being copied, other magazines throughout Europe and particularly America took up the theme and costume jewelry spread rapidly internationally.

The couturiers revelled in intricate detail and elaboration, particularly embroidered beadwork and garnitures which reflected current fashions, and the use of sequins and crystals that adorned evening wear. One of the most flamboyant and innovative of fashion designers was Coco Chanel, who coined the term ‘junk’ jewelry. She was the true advocate of fine ‘fakery’ and the ‘deluxe poor look’. She believed that ‘when you wear jewels, they should be visible, striking . . . (and you should) wear your real ones at home or amongst friends, not on the street. You should not wear your fortune around your neck as if you were a savage.’ Chanel worked in collaboration with many people including Count Etienne de Beaumount and the Sicilian painter Fulco Santostefatto della Cerda in producing costume jewelry in the 1920s.

By 1925, the fashion was well-established, and the imitation of costly materials was no longer seen as a disgrace. In 1927 Vogue reported that ‘Fashion has decided that all we need ask of an ornament is to adorn us, and that neither our complexions [suntans were newly fashionable] nor our gems are to be natural’.

In Germany, Pforzheim remained a major centre of jewelry production. At the beginning of the twentieth century German manufacturers had begun making fashion and hair accessories. The companies of Florein Grosse and Heinrich Henkel branched out into costume jewelry in the early twenties.

Likewise in the States, Coro (Cohn Rosenberger), later Corocraft, Richilieu, Miriam Haskell, Napier Incorporated (the oldest fashion jewelry house), Gustav Trifari and Carl Fishel began producing costume accessories such as handbag clasps, shoe buckles and hair ornaments. Fishel and Trifari were among the first jewelers to realize that the short bob (popularized in France) would spell death to their enormous range of hair ornaments. In response to this, they set up as costume jewelers under the name Trifari, Krauss- man and Fishel.

Twenties fashions dictated a new range of ornaments. As well as the bob haircut, there were the dropped waistlines, rising and falling hemlines, and décolleté necklines or backless dresses, requiring a new range of jewelry styles. Costume jewelry expanded accordingly to include clips, liberty pins (to hold up corsetless lingerie), and free-flowing sautoirs associated with the dropped waistline.

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