Costume jewelry, is art that has always been an imitation of fine jewelry. Throughout fashion history, costume jewelry has replaced precious stones such as diamonds, sapphire, emeralds and rubies, with semi-precious stones. The craft of costume jewelry did not originate in the fine jewelry houses but in the fashion ateliers, where craftsmen used strass, paste, semiprecious stones and bugle beads to ornament bodices, berthas, shoe buckles, haircombs and handbag clasps for the couture. Glass was an important component of many of these decorative pieces and became essential to the founding of the craft of bead and jewelry-making.
Ancient Egyptians were the first to produce glass. Ancient Romans acquired many of the Egptian glass-making techniques, which then were passed on to the Venetians. Venetians passed severe laws to prevent glass-making secrets from leaving the country. In 1291, the glass ovens were moved from Venice to the island of Murano and by the fifteenth century the Italians had invented "cristallo," a clear glass.
By the 18th century the Venetians' were no longer the premier fine glass makers, position which was now carried by the Bohemians. Czechoslovakia has the longest tradition of glass bead production in the world. In 1376 the first glass furnace was ignited in Sklenarice in north Bohemia. The mountain water, sand and silicon deposits at this location provided the necessary raw materials, and by the mid-sixteenth century a glasswork industry had been established at Mseno nad Nisou.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the Germans, who had a long history of metal-working skills, settled in Bohemia. Cut-glass stones, settings, claws, pins and chains were being produced in that area by that time. By the 19th Century, the Czechs almost totally monopolized the production of cheap, cut-glass stones. The city became the main supplier of components, such as cut-stones, metal settings and imitation pearls, for the imitation jewelry and dress garniture workshops in Paris, Budapest and London.
Costume jewelry is in fact an entirely 20th century phenomenon. The term "Costume Jewelry" was first used in 1933 in the New Yorker Magazine. Prior to that it had been referred to in Vogue as "dress ornaments" or "craftsmen's jewelry." Only when he leading couturiers ordained that jewelry should become an intrinsic part of their collections, teaming an ensemble with a specific piece of costume jewerly, did a tradition grow, initially stunted by consumer conservatism.
Many well known courtiers such as Chanel, Poiret, and Patou to name a few were among the first to design both clothing and costume jewelry. In 1925, a Marshal Field's department store catalog announced, "the imitation is no longer a disgrace."
There are two methods by which metal components of costume jewelry are made; stamping and casting. Stamping is the older method. Casting is the process by which metal shapes are formed by pouring molten metal into a mould. Originally, hand-carved, stone moulds were used, but these were superseded by clay moulds. The most recent method, however, is the making of wax moulds by centrifugal investment casting.
Casting is used both to mass-produce components and to create limited edition pieces. Another recent development which has changed not only the look but also the components of costume jewelry is the injection moulding of plastics. Many of the factories using this technique were originally involved in glass making, but as glass (and metal) became more expensive, the firms swithched to plastics.
Beginning in the 1920s and continuing throughout the 1930s, fashion and jewelry shared a multitude of influences including Art Deco, The Far East, North Africa, and India. Egyptian motifs were inspired by the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922. Chanel’s signature necklace in 1939 was a massive East Indian inspired bib of faux pearls, uncut emeralds, ruby beads, and dangling metal pieces with a cord tie.
In the mid-1930s, plastic was produced in bright colors for the first time and metal jewelry was hand-enameled to add color. Influenced by Disney's cartoons, jewelry also had movable parts. Brooches and necklaces were adorned with "trembler" flowers, hanging plastic fruit, or charms. Clips could be deconstructed into separate pieces. This witty jewelry lightened up the lapels of the fashionable severe and sober, fitted suits.
By the late 1930s, the American Costume Jewelry market was the most varied and competitively priced; Trifari, Cohn & Rosenberger, Boucher, Pennino and Haskell were market leaders. Trifari's three most popular pieces throughout the thirties were the crown brooch, a collectable Trifari classic, which came in two sizes, brooches and dress clips set with hexagonally shaped stones and oblong, modernistic link bracelets and necklaces.
Romantic rococo, and Victorian styles also flourished, lingering into the 1940s. Rococo jewelry, associated with the Empress Eugenie, was typically frivolous bow-knots, swags and ribbon curves, sparingly ornamented with large, faux-semiprecious cut stones. It was usually plated with real gold (pink, white, yellow) or sterling silver. Victorian styles were copied directly from the originals: lockets, cameos, chokers, even hat pins. Black plastic was the substitute for nineteenth-century jet.
During World War II, imports from Europe were cut off, and many jewelry materials were also restricted. Desperate costume jewelers bought beaded sweaters, evening dresses, and even stage costumes, and stowed away their beads, rhinestones, and pearls. They also fashioned jewelry from humble materials that were readily available during wartime: pumpkin seeds, nuts, shells, olive pits, clay, leather, felt, yarn, and even upholstery fabrics.
The costume and fine jewerly trade was greatly affected by World War II much as it had been during World War I. Many costume jewerly factories were converted for war requirements. Metal castings, bullets, surgical steel equipment and radio components were manufactured in converted factories. Many companies were forced to use sterling silver as a substitute for white metals that had been conscripted by the government. During that time Miriam Haskell used wood, leather or beads as alternatives.
Patriotic motifs flourished during wartime, ranging from red, white, and blue to all-American motifs related to California, Hawaii, Native American Indians, and cowboys. Also miniature model tanks, airplanes, battleships, jeeps, soldiers and even hand grenades were made up in metal or wood and worn as brooches, necklaces and earrings. In the summer of 1940, "V" for victory was a popular design. As Mexico was America’s wartime ally, jewelry imported from that country and its imitations was highly fashionable. When the war ended, patriotic jewelry completely vanished.
After the war, Christian Dior launched his " New Look" collection which was followed by a series of equally severe styles: the chemise, sheathe, trapeze, and sack dress. Clothing concealed most of a woman’s body, and only chokers, earrings, bracelets (notable charm bracelets), and brooches were visible. Dresses and suits in heavy, rough-textured fabrics were weighty enough to support the hunky, oversized circles, ovals, snowflake, or starburst-shaped brooches (associated with the atomic bomb), typically three-dimensional. rhinestones were standard, produced in a rainbow of colors including white, black, pink, blue, yellow, and iridescent, which was an innovation.
Tailored jewelry was the most conservative accessory in the 1950s. Neat and small scale, it was made up in gold or silver metal with little ornamentation. Although clothing concealed their figures, women wore their hair up-swept, in a ponytail, or cropped gamine short, to show off hoop, button, and neat pearl earrings. Later in the decade metal jewelry was thicker, its surface scored, chiseled, or deeply etched, a treatment that lingered into the 1960s.
By mid-1950s, the market for costume jewelry had expanded for several reason: high fashion's acceptance, the mass production of attractive pieces and the new fashion-consciousness of the less wealthy who, while they could ill afford real gems, demanded amusing and decorative accessories to their clothes. The partnership between clothes and jewelry was confirmed by the work of designers such as Eisenberg in America. Beginning before the war, he soon found that the trinkets he designed to accompany his outfits proved more popular than the clothes themselves. He set about specializing in costume jewelry and created the most collectable pieces of the late fifties.
Chanel's signature suits, in 1957 showed pendants (notable the Maltese cross), brooches, and chain sautoirs in heavy gold set with baroque pearls, lumpy glass rubies, and emeralds. This style still continues to be identified with Chanel today.
In the 1960s, bold, pop-art graphic "flower power" motifs were fashion favorites. The omnipresent daisy was produced in every material from plastic to enameled metal, and in a palette of neon bright colors. Daisies were linked into belts, pinned on hats and dresses, and suspended from chains around the neck. Even Chanel and Dior produced flower jewelry, although their brooches, necklaces and earrings were petaled with fragile poured glass.
Hippies favored handmade and ethnic jewelry in materials such as: clay and glass beads, yarn, temple and bells, papier-mache, macramé, and feathers. Technology also contributed to this fantastical mode. In 1965, plastic pearls were produced for the first time in lightweight, gigantic sizes. They were strung together into multi-strand necklaces, bibs, helmets, and even dresses.
At the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s, "space age" style was an alternative to this ornate jewelry. Coolly modern, geometric, it was made up in industrial materials such as transparent plastic and metal hardware. This hard-edged jewelry was a match for clothing ornamented with oversized buckles, zippers, grommets, and nail heads.
Around the same time, punk ruled the streets. The devotees of this style favored leather jackets and jeans that were as aggressive and unisex as their accessories: dog collars and leather armbands bristling with nail heads and spikes, thick chains worn as chokers and around waists. The Punks adorned themselves with creative salvage: safety pins, rubber tire tubing and paper clips. They started a craze for jewelry that was, literally "junk": rubber, nuts and bolts, scraps of leather or cloth, bicycle chains, keys, buttons, bones and lavatory paper.
By the early eighties the costume jewelry market had expanded on both sides of the Atlantic. Accessories, and specifically costume jewelry, gradually assumed greater importance in both women’s and men’s dress. Apart from Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent, few designers had made jewels an intrinsic part of their "look."
The younger market followed the lead of their rock star heroes: Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Michael Jackson and Boy George all popularized glittery past. Some of the pieces, worn by their idols, became classics for the youth market: like Michael Jackson’s crest pins, Richard Serbin’s "The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll" brooch worn by Madonna and Boy George, or Mera Poltan’s cross and chain jewelry for Madonna.
By the late eighties the fashion world had reacted against flashy, glitzy jewelry. Stronger, simpler, more sculptural pieces were promoted, exemplified by the work of Robert Lee Morris, Barry Kieselstein-Cord, Isabel Canovas and M. & J. Savitt.
Real-looking as well as real jewelry came back into fashion, such as green- patina, mock-gold effects; intablios and seals; vermeil (silver plated with gold); and opulent, Bulgari-style pieces that could be worn by day and night as a sort of identity mark. Quality was of foremost importance. Even today the techniques for the production of original, top quality pieces is still time-consuming; casting, molding, gilding and stone-settings are done by hand and has changed very little since the beginning of the century.
As the simplified styles of designers, Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein became popular; jewelry gradually shrank in scale until it disappeared. As minimalism ruled fashion, the jewelry business was abysmal. However, costume jewelry came back to glitzy glory in the early 1990s propelled by the whimsical accessories of Christian Lacroix and Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel. Lagerfeld successfully revived and restyled many of Chanel’s signatures, including multi-strand pearl necklaces, and Renaissance-style jewelry. He used the "CC" logo as decoration on everything from earrings to pocketbooks.
Entertainers and movie stars steered fashion in 2000, and they wore the real thing, not costume jewelry. A long line of movie stars, including Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron, borrowed jewelry, usually fine antique pieces, from established jewelers such as Harry Winston and Fred Leighton.
Costume jewelry is one of the essential accessories that complete a couture or ready-to-wear collection. As with other accessories: hats, bags, belts, gloves, shoe ornaments and umbrellas, the emphasis which leading designers place upon it varies from season to season. It has always given a clear reflection of fashion and its throwaway nature liberates both designers and customers to keep up with the prevailing style in fashion.
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