Art Deco

October 14th, 2009 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Art Deco

Art Deco Jewellery 1910 to 1939

The term Art Deco, was not originally used to describe the new wave of modernism. It did not come into use until 1925, after the Great Paris Exhibition, and was originally coined by Henry Wilson who catalogued the exhibition, and wished to distinguish between Art Nouveau and what he termed Modernism.

Jewellery produced in the 1920's and 30's represented a real break with previous, rather restricting fashions. Women's lives had been transformed by the First World War they had often worked as volunteers and had been the head of their household whilst the men were away. Their whole dress and style of life was freer and the style of jewellery worn reflected this new freedom. It becomes straighter, more angular and streamlined, mirroring the new flatter silhouette.

Women who were considered beauties of the day modelled their figures on greyhounds, tall angular and fabulously sleek. In fact there is much documental evidence the Art Deco movement itself was entranced by the greyhounds, seeing it as the epitome of aesthetic beauty. This style of course was adopted by the Duchess of Windsor who became an icon of the fashion world and famously said, 'One can neither be too thin or too rich!'.

The Great Paris Exhibition 1925 demanded that all exhibits were of Modernist design; this gave free reign to the artists and craftsman of the decade. In Jewellery, cubism, with its strong geometrical patterns and angular shapes revolutionised the use of diamonds and platinum. Stones were cut into a variety of shapes, and set in platinum, or silver, and often decorated with a plethora of boldly coloured precious and semi precious stones, with no regard to cost. This formed the style which was considered to be modern, daring, and innovative and more than anything celebrated the concept of freedom and well-being. It symbolised the New Woman.

Nowadays, new women everywhere can choose from a huge range of Art Deco jewellery from Gemondo.

Designers such as Cartier, Busheron and Van Cleef embraced the new ideas using every fabric of their imaginations to produce pieces with geometric lines and bold colours, they incorporated the new modern fabrics and materials, such as plastic, polished wood, ivory, and tortoise shell and so on often sending to the Colonies for their materials. They also used more traditional materials like silver and marcasites.

Coco Chanel, who claimed that the 'Art of fashion is that it is made to become unfashionable' saw the new style as disposable; she designed or commissioned a range of outrageous jewellery to be worn by her models when displaying her latest creations. Head dresses, brooches in the shape of a lobster, or face, dog or insect, and the famous set of 'fruit salad' style pins and rings, bracelets and necklaces, were each individually selected to be a beautiful object in its own right.

Although many of these lovely pieces still exist, modern copies, particularly pendants, necklets, rings, brooches and earrings are readily available on the Gemondo website and still take centre stage enhancing an outfit and putting the finishing touches to elegance. Perhaps we should follow the example set to us by these women of the 20's and 30's and celebrate our style with a range of eye catching pieces to lift our spirits on a rainy day!

About the Author

This article on Art Deco Jewellery was written by freelance author Victor Gemondo. Read more interesting facts on Art Deco Jewellery here.