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Kenneth Jay Lane Jewelry







Kenneth Jay Lane Jewelry













Kenneth Jay Lane Jewelry


The bright, bold, often extravagant designs of Kenneth Jay Lane embody his love of glamor and the spirit of the 1960s and 1970s.








Kenneth Jay Lane Jewelry


 He was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1930, and started working in the fashion world in the mid-1950s, first in the art department at Vogue, then designing shoes for Christian Dior and shoes and jewelry for Arnold Scaasi, before establishing his own business in 1963.

Kenneth Jay Lane Jewelry






Lane's design career blossomed under the patronage of Diana Vreeland, the legendary fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar who became editor in chief of Vogue magazine in 1963.


Kenneth Jay Lane Jewelry




 His high-impact designs spoke to Vreeland and she featured them in Vogue, where they had similar appeal to the fashionable women of the time. Lane's bold and brilliant work attracted an elite clientele, including Elizabeth Taylor, the Duchess of Windsor, and Jackie Kennedy.





Kenneth Jay Lane Jewelry
Wealth was not necessarily an issue, however, as Lane's prices have always been accessible to most.




Taking inspiration from the Renaissance and Egypt as well as Roman, Oriental, Asian, and Medieval styles, Lane favored the bright, the bold, and the colorful.




Kenneth Jay Lane Jewelry
 His work played on many of the trends of the time, especially the interest in Asian and Oriental mysticism and religion. Preferred figural motifs include gods and goddesses, snakes, dancers, and religious figures such as the Buddhiu.









Kenneth Jay Lane Jewelry
Pieces were innovatively designed and well made using good quality materials. Gilt base-metal pieces with intricate ethnic designs were encrusted with faux cabochons emulating semi-precious stones. Maharajah-style earrings, pins, and pendants were huge and pendulous and all his designs spoke of Lane's interest in Asian imagery.






 However, Lane did not draw solely on ethnic sources for his designs: the "Big Cats" pins from the 1960s were inspired by the "Panther" pieces Carder's Jeanne Toussaint had designed for the Duchess of Windsor a decade earlier.

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