Antique Jewellery
Autumn 2014
HOW TO WEAR ANTIQUE
JEWELLERY
Vivienne Becker celebrates the resurgence of unique adornments
E
ver since the fashion world discovered “vin- tage”, in the early years of the new Millennium, antique and period jewels have taken on a new
life, or several, as original, desirable, fabulously fash- ionable accessories. Reborn as “vintage jewellery” – anathema to antique dealers, and to me, I admit - antique and 20th century jewellery was suddenly rein- vigorated, removed from its untouchable vitrines and glass cases, made glossy and glamorous by a new gen- eration of style leaders, just as second-hand became pre-loved, and languid fashion models were now posed in French 18th century style settings. Old was the new new, history was hip, and antique jewellery became the most powerful expression of individual style. As a jewellery historian, I can’t help but put this mo- mentous move into some kind of historical context: after the excess of the 80s, the glitz and glam of Dallas, Dynasty and the blaze of costume jewellery, the 90s were years of unprecedented non-adornment, influ- enced by grunge and street style. 90s minimalism of- fered a palette-cleansing, clearing the way for the cel- ebratory sparkle of the Millennium, with its insatiable lust for the diamond, followed in the noughties by a manic quest for individuality, for extreme exclusivity, couture, bespoke, the one-and-only. This sparked the vintage craze, since period clothes and antique jewel- lery are, by their very nature, one-of-a-kind finds. The whole process of searching them out, selecting, styl- ing them in an original way became a status symbol in its own right; the art of choice. Style visionary, Miuc- cia Prada, led the way, instrumental in broadening the appeal of antique jewellery from collectors’ items to fashion objects of desire. A genius at contemporising
20
and translating the past, injecting fashion with intel- lect, and working against the fashion grain, in 2004, Prada went maximal, accessorising the clothes in her autumn/winter ad campaign with a huge antique naturalistic diamond floral corsage ornament, or a fur collar showered with vintage pansy brooches. Those little matt shaded enamelled flower brooches, mostly American, were made around 1900 in the Art Nouveau style, plentiful in the antiques trade in the 80s and 90s. Prada set the seal on a new way of referencing the past, through jewels, as well as fashion, a way of mixing old and new, using jewels to tell a story, to tell the world about yourself. Antique jewellery came out of the col- lectors’ closet and into the wider world of high style. And it hasn’t gone back in again since.
Sandra Cronan, London antique jewellery dealer, wears personal treasures from her own collection with effortless elegance; her Victorian emerald and diamond gypsy ring, all day, every day, or ravishing soft-toned natural pearls, for evening. She says that to understand how to buy and wear antique or 20th cen- tury jewellery to complement your personal style, you have to “think about it in the right way,” looking at it with a contemporary eye, playing with conventions of formal and casual, using modern clothes as a foil or framework, making the jewellery fresh and relevant. She feels that brooches, much misunderstood, are of- ten the easiest to wear and the most versatile, often too the most expressive of a particular era or style; they also have the least restriction of form, size, shape, since they don’t have to fit a particular part of the body. San- dra thinks this is the perfect moment for the double clip brooch, usually in geometric arrangements of dia-
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200