A Brief History of Fashion Jewelry
 

  Historic periods of Jewelry

Victorian                                                  1840-1900
Arts and Crafts and Edwardian                   1890-1920
Art Nouveau                                             1895-1910
Edwardian                                                1901-1910
Art Deco                                                   1920-1935
Art Moderne                                             1935-1945
Modern Jewelry (Retro)                             1950-  
Costume Jewelry  (high fashion era)           1920-1960
Vintage                                                    1900-1970

Costume Jewelry came into being in the 1930s as a cheap disposable jewelry meant to be worn with a specific outfit, but not meant to be handed down through generations. It was intended to be fashionable for a short period of time, out date itself, and then be replaced with a new piece to fit with a new outfit purchase, or with a new fashion style.  

Cheap jewelry also existed prior to the 1930s. Paste or glass jewelry existed as far back as the 1700s.  The rich had their fine jewelry duplicated for a variety of reasons, using paste or glass stones.   By the mid 19th century the growth of the middle class saw several levels of jewelry being manufactured using fine, semi-precious and base materials. 

There were 3 levels of jewelry being made during the mid 19th century.  Fine jewelry made with gold, diamonds and other fine gems such as emeralds and sapphires were worn by the affluent. The upper middle class wore jewelry made with a thin layer of gold attached to a base metal and set with semi-precious gemstones such as amethyst, coral, pearls.  The less affluent could still afford jewelry of glass stones and base metals made to look like gold.

Faux (preferred to "fake") stones were first made from paste and then followed by rhinestones. Paste gems were made from  a compound of glass containing white lead oxide and potash.  Paste gemstones were probably more usual than real gemstones in the mid 1700's and were worn at court.  While the best jewelry, made of real gems were most frequently broken up and reset in the fashion style of the time, many pieces of fake jewelry have survived in their original settings.

Today the 3 levels of jewelry being made continues with the same basic description of quality.  The difference today is that level two is available to more than just the upper middle class.  Quality fashion jewelry is affordable.  The La Belle Harmonie Gallery has many examples of high quality, affordable, fashion jewelry.

After Napoleon's cameo decorated coronation crown was seen, cameos became the rage.  Sometimes cameos were carved from hard stone, but more often from substitutes like conch shells and set pieces of Wedgwood porcelain. 

Victorian

When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837 jewelry was romantic and nationalistic.  In mid century most western jewelry came from Europe, but soon jewelry began to be made in America and Australia.

Although jewelry had been made by multiple methods of production for centuries, mid Victorian mass production meant that standards were lowered.  Victorian women rebelled when they saw the lack of quality in some of the machine made jewelry. Many wore no jewelry at all, or bought from the artist craftsman jewelers who emerged at much the same time. 

Jet jewelry came into fashion after Queen Victoria began to wear it as mourning jewelry after Prince Albert's death.  Mourning jewelry became very fashionable in the sentimental Victorian era.  While no jewelry was worn in the first few months of mourning, mourning jewelry dressed up the black and grays of the clothing worn by women in mourning.

Victorian style jewelry, often called vintage jewelry, is extremely popular today. La Belle Harmonie specializes in vintage jewelry rehabilitation, repair, and repurposing.

Cocktail Jewelry

By the 1920's good mass produced jewelry was in production.  Sometimes called cocktail jewelry, fake or costume jewelry was greatly influenced by the female fashion designers of the time.  Coco Chanel disliked the term fake jewelry and encouraged calling it "fashion jewelry" as she encouraged her clients to use fashion jewelry and to mix it with the real pieces they owned.

It was Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli who made quality fashion jewelry popular.

In the 1950s, Vogue reported that the costume jewelry industry preferred its output to be called “fashion jewelry” and the magazine’s 1951 profile on costume jewelry gave the American industry high fashion’s seal of approval. 

Hollywood Influence

By the 40s and 50s American the influence of movies and the prominence of film stars set the fashion. People wanted cookie cutter copies of the clothing and jewelry worn by screen idols.  Through the mid 20th century costume jewelry remained a vital part of fashion. This was the height of costume jewelry in America. 

In the 80s there was a huge revival of costume jewelry sparked by the night-time soap operas Dynasty and Dallas.  The reaction to the oversized earrings came in the 90's and tiny real diamond or pearl studs became the preferred fashion.

By 2000 fashion swung again to fabulous fakes.

You can find many vintage and retro pieces in The La Belle Harmonie Line.

Go To Top Of Page

Updated 07.10.2010