History of Costume Jewellery

by Anika Pathak jewelry designer & author

Overview

 

Business transactions involving the sale and purchase of costume jewellery have become a common affair in today’s world. The fashion of Vintage costume jewellery has been revived and pieces of jewellery that were once considered fake, gaudy or cheap are now being sought with several big fashion brands and designers entering the costume jewellery market. This trend has been further accelerated by collectors and fashionistas who want to give their jewellery collection a more eye-catchy twist.

 

Gaining a basic understanding of the history of a certain category of jewellery helps in understanding how the fashion trends evolve overtime and how the foundation of contemporary trends is laid. It is therefore of prime importance to familiarize oneself with the gone-bys of the events of the realm of fashion jewellery.

 

Costume Jewellery : History

The trend of costume jewellery started during the Golden Age from 1930s to mid-1950s. A few extremely talented designers created jewellery pieces that were so exquisite that they often replaced the fine precious jewellery, influenced fine jewellery or was mistaken for it. They were not restricted to working with precious metals and gemstones and consequently, they let their creativity flow free. There were instances when these talented designers incorporated unprecedented and unexpected techniques and material in making these pieces of jewellery.

 

The costume jewellery we know today, did not exist in its current state before the early twentieth century. Prior to the twentieth centuries, that is, during the nineteenth and eighteenth century, jewellery was primarily constructed with the use of precious metals and gemstones and a very little amount of non-precious jewellery was created to imitate the expensive precious jewellery.

 

These jewels were quite expensive, however, they enabled more women to acquire the glamorous look of precious and expensive jewellery. This allowed women the freedom to own beautiful and expensive looking jewellery without paying the price of the same. Even in the modern world, the predominant occupation of costume jewellery designers remains the imitation of fine jewellery. A look at the costume jewellery available in most department stores is sufficient to give an idea as to what impression costume jewellery tries to give.

 

Modern Day Costume Jewellery

The stones used in modern day custom jewellery are usually created in the laboratory and are called scientific names, however, this jewellery is nothing but the modern day reincarnation of the eighteenth century paste jewels and today they serve as the effective backbone of this industry.

 

 

The jewelry that allows a beautiful and exquisite look at a cost effective price has been the norm of this jewellery that needs to be carried on. This jewellery is valued for its mimicking the precious metals and stones yet it is an intimate part of the modern day fashion scenario. The people who have been pioneers in the creation of costume jewellery have been Parisians couturiers, like Elsa Schiaparelli and Gabrielle Coco Chanel, who are credited with creating and commissioning artistic jewellery to complement their fashion visions and ideas.

 

Conclusion

Costume jewellery has existed amongst us as an effective means of wearing exquisite jewellery that is cost effective. Today, costume jewellery is mass produced and a number of designs and styles are made available to women all over the world. With the large scale digitalization and mechanization, the market has expanded like never before. The same design can be produced a hundred times over and supplied across the globe to meet the demands of a women of different cultures and countries. Costume earrings, costume necklaces are sold across the globe in numbers that range in hundreds of thousands. This fact alone should be sufficient in understanding the immense popularity of costume jewellery.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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