Vintage Chanel Jewelry
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| Vintage Chanel Jewelry |
Coco Chanel was a pioneering designer: her
concept of the "Total Look" proposed that individual pieces of clothing
were not as important as the way in which they were accessorized and worn.
She was the first fashion designer, along with Elsa Schiaparelli, to make costume jewelry essential to her style ethos, and is sometimes even credited with coining the term "costume jewelry."
She was the first fashion designer, along with Elsa Schiaparelli, to make costume jewelry essential to her style ethos, and is sometimes even credited with coining the term "costume jewelry."
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| Vintage Chanel Jewelry |
Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel wove an intricately romantic
version of her early history, claiming to have been born in France's rural
Auvergne region in 1893 when she was in fact born in the Loire Valley town of
Saumur ten years earlier.
She trained as a seamstress and went to Paris to become a cabaret singer when she was 18, styling herself "Coco."
She trained as a seamstress and went to Paris to become a cabaret singer when she was 18, styling herself "Coco."
Chanel was shrewd and charismatic. She took wealthy lovers
and, as her cabaret carcer faltered, developed her dressmaking skills and found
the capital she needed to open her first Parisian boutique in 1912. Here, she
promoted a chic new look for women that had simplicity and comfort at its core,
doing away with the restrictive corsets of her forebears.
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| Vintage Chanel Jewelry |
Chanel's unfussy designs provided a perfect canvas for
accessories and she began to produce jewelry decorated with inexpensive
imitation stones and pearls so that her clients could afford to accessorize and
personalize many outfits.
These pieces were styled to emphasize their "faux" quality and worn to flout the convention of women using jewelry to define their status. Clients followed Chanel's lead in piling on strings of faux baroque pearls to create a glamorous, excessive look which was revolutionary.
Vintage Chanel Jewelry
These pieces were styled to emphasize their "faux" quality and worn to flout the convention of women using jewelry to define their status. Clients followed Chanel's lead in piling on strings of faux baroque pearls to create a glamorous, excessive look which was revolutionary.
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| Vintage Chanel Jewelry |
Vintage Chanel Jewelry
By the 1920s, the fashion house was expanding and Chanel's
jewelry lines extended to charm bracelets and jeweled belts, ropes, and
gold-and-bead chains.
Drawing on classical influences, her pieces featured clear and colored rhinestones and synthetic stones combined with real gems.
They were designed to enhance her simple outfits, typified by the legendary
"little black dress" of 1926—Chanel said she wanted to rid women of
their frills. "Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance," she
told
Harpers Bazaar magazine in 1923.
Drawing on classical influences, her pieces featured clear and colored rhinestones and synthetic stones combined with real gems.
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| Vintage Chanel Jewelry |
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Chanel was one of the
leading names in Paris and worked with some of the great jewelers of the time.
Notably, she collaborated with Maison Cripoix, whose designs featured
"poured glass" stones. Gripoix specialized in pdte-de-verre, pouring glass into delicate brass frames to create rich
Moghul- or Renaissance-style pieces. Chanel also worked with the Duke of
Verdura, who had previously designed fabrics for her.
Together, they produced some of the company's most desirable, classic pieces, including enameled and jeweled Maltese cross cuffs.
Together, they produced some of the company's most desirable, classic pieces, including enameled and jeweled Maltese cross cuffs.
After her 15-year self-imposed exile in Switzerland during
and after World War II, Chanel was ready to face the world again. Her Parisian
comeback in 1954 saw her reinstated among the stars of haute couture, and she
won back her admirers with the Chanel suit and pea jackets worn with bell
bottoms.
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| Vintage Chanel Jewelry |
In this new era, Chanel worked with gold- and silversmith
Robert Goossens from 1955 onward, creating iconic designs such as
Byzantine-style crosses on long chains of pearls and beads. Goossens was
enchanted by artifacts from Parisian museums, drawing his influences from
Maltese and Renaissance works, Byzantine mosaics, and stained-glass windows. He
combined artificial gems with real stones collected on his travels. Rock
crystal was his favorite material, lending delicacy to inexpensive pieces.
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| Vintage Chanel Jewelry |
Most desirable to collectors are Maltese cross cuffs and
pins by Verdura, floral-inspired necklace and earring sets by Maison Gripoix,
and the rosary-style beaded pearl necklaces made by Goossens, which achieved
iconic status in the 1960s.
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| Vintage Chanel Jewelry |
1983, when Karl Lagcrfeld became chief designer and started
deconstructing the House of Chanel to modernize it. In a 1989 article for the New Yorker, fashion writer Holly Brubach accused
Lagerfeld of desecrating the Chanel ethos—as symbolized by his brash overuse of
the entw ined "CC" logo—but his energetic reconstruction relaunched
the brand.
Under his leadership, the company produced costume jewelry echoing earlier designs, including long, gilt chains with pearls and glass beads, notably red and green, Coco's signature colors. Lagerfeld's first collection for Chanel was launched in 1983 and he maintains creative control of the house today. In 2005, Chanel acquired the company founded by Robert Goossens.
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| Vintage Chanel Jewelry |
Under his leadership, the company produced costume jewelry echoing earlier designs, including long, gilt chains with pearls and glass beads, notably red and green, Coco's signature colors. Lagerfeld's first collection for Chanel was launched in 1983 and he maintains creative control of the house today. In 2005, Chanel acquired the company founded by Robert Goossens.
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| Vintage Chanel Jewelry |
The 1980s saw branded luxury
goods become the ultimate must- haves, and fakes abounded. Chanel's
poured-glass pins from this time make good collecting as they were hard to
fake, due to the difficult manufacturing process. Collectors also seek rare
early Vintage Chanel Jewelry in the original box. The box increases the value by at
least 30 per cent.
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