Costume or fashion jewelry includes a range of decorative items worn for personal adornment that are manufactured as less expensive ornamentation to complement a particular fashionable outfit or garment as opposed to "real" (fine) jewelry, which is more costly and which may be regarded primarily as collectibles, keepsakes, or investments. From the outset, costume jewelry — also known as fashion jewelry — paralleled the styles of its more precious fine counterparts
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
The little black dress (LBD) is a black evening or cocktail dress, cut simply and often quite short. Fashion historians ascribe the origins of the little black dress to the 1920s designs of Coco Chanel. It is intended to be long-lasting, versatile, affordable, and widely accessible. Its ubiquity is such that it is often simply referred to as the "LBD".
Chanel is a French luxury fashion house that was founded by couturière Coco Chanel in 1910. It focuses on women's ready-to-wear clothes, luxury goods and accessories. The company is currently owned by Alain Wertheimer and Gérard Wertheimer, grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, who was an early business partner of Coco Chanel.
Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian fashion designer. Along with Coco Chanel, her greatest rival, she is regarded as one of the most prominent European figures in fashion between the two World Wars. Starting with knitwear, Schiaparelli's designs were heavily influenced by Surrealists like her collaborators Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau. Her clients included the heiress Daisy Fellowes and actress Mae West. Schiaparelli did not adapt to the changes in fashion following World War II and her couture house, Maison Schiaparelli closed in 1954. The house was subsequently revived in 2014.
Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann, who chose to be known as Horst P. Horst, was a German-American fashion photographer.
Cufflinks are items of jewelry that are used to secure the cuffs of dress shirts. Cufflinks can be manufactured from a variety of different materials, such as glass, stone, leather, metal, precious metal or combinations of these. Securing of the cufflinks is usually achieved via toggles or reverses based on the design of the front section, which can be folded into position. There are also variants with chains or a rigid, bent rear section. The front sections of the cufflinks can be decorated with gemstones, inlays, inset material or enamel and designed in two or three-dimensional forms.
Jacob Arabo is an Uzbekistan born-American jewelry and watch designer who founded Jacob & Company in 1986 and grew it to become an international luxury brand. He is best-known for creating watches that are unlike any in the Swiss watch industry, with movements and complications that have never existed before. He began strictly as a jeweler with bold designs that appealed to celebrities who became regular clients.
Kenneth Jay Lane was an American costume jewelry designer.
Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with popularizing a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of style, replacing the "corseted silhouette" that was dominant beforehand. She is the only fashion designer listed on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel extended her influence beyond couture clothing, realizing her aesthetic design in jewellery, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product, and Chanel herself designed her famed interlocked-CC monogram, which has been in use since the 1920s.
Robert Goossens was a French jeweller who became known as Monsieur Bijou. The son of a metal foundry worker, he was born in Paris, France. In his younger years, he served an apprenticeship in jewelry making, perfecting the techniques of casting, engraving, and embossing semi-precious and simulated stones into gold and silver metals. In his decades of creating fine jewelry, Goossens mixed the genuine stones with the fakes, a blend of the artificial gems with the semi-precious for clients including Coco Chanel, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Madame Grès, Christian Dior and others.
David Yurman Enterprises LLC is a privately held American jewelry company founded by David Yurman and Sybil Yurman and headquartered in New York City. There are currently 33 David Yurman boutiques in the United States and 11 international boutiques.
Fulco di Verdura, or Fulco Santostefano della Cerda, Duke of Verdura and Marquis of Murata la Cerda, was an influential Italian jeweller. His career began with an introduction to designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel by composer Cole Porter. He opened his own jewelry salon, which he called Verdura, in 1939.
Miriam Haskell was an American designer of costume jewelry. With creative partner Frank Hess, she designed affordable pieces from 1920 through the 1960s. Her vintage items are eagerly collected and the namesake company, which first displayed her jewelry in New York City's McAlpin Hotel, continues. It is currently listed as Haskell Jewels, LLC.
Guy Bedarida is an Italian-born French jewelry designer, former Head Designer for the American branch of Van Cleef & Arpels and former Creative Director and Head Designer for the John Hardy brand. His work is colorful and references European and Asian design traditions.
James Claude Taffin de Givenchy is a French-born, New York-based jewelry designer and the owner of the jewelry company Taffin.
Paul Edmund Flato, was an American jeweler, based in New York City from the 1920s to the early 1940s. Considered the first celebrity jeweler, he was well known for important jewelry, and as an early proponent of whimsical pieces. His long list of movie star clients included Greta Garbo, Mae West, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Doris Duke, Ginger Rogers, Carmen Miranda, Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, and Gloria Vanderbilt—many of whom wore his pieces on screen.
Bill Smith is an American fashion and jewelry designer who was the first black recipient of a Coty Award for his designs. He has designed for a number of companies, including costume jewelry for Coro and Richelieu, leather goods for Mark Cross, and furs for Ben Kahn, along with designing jewelry for Cartier.
George W. Headley was a noted twentieth-century jewelry designer, collector, socialite and founder of the Headley-Whitney Museum in Lexington, Kentucky. As a designer, he was known for collaborations with Salvador Dalí, Paul Flato, David Webb and Cartier, between the 1920s and 1960s, with clients including Douglas Fairbanks, Gary Cooper, the Marx Brothers, Judy Garland and Joan Crawford, as well as for his extravagant bibelots - small, intricate and precious decorative objects.
Ana Khouri is a New York based jewelry designer known for her styled ear cuffs and jewelry created with ethically sourced gemstones.
