Gabrielle ‘Coco ’ Chanel: Innovator and style Icon
Gabrielle "
She was shrewd, chic and on the cutting edge.
The little black dress, tweed suits, costume jewellery and red lipstick - we owe them all to Gabrielle '
In the 1930’s Chanel set a trend for wearing large costume jewellery, by designing and developing an array of costume jewellery inspired by the "art deco" movement of the '30s. Chanel introduced her first costume jewellery in 1924 (a pair of pearl earrings, one black, one white.
Her jewellery featured a lot of glittery stones, coloured glass fragments and was bordered with gold. She took the stuffiness out of jewellery by making it fashionable to mix real with fake, and pioneered the wearing of long, multiple strands of paste pearls.
Pieces grew in size and became more Byzantine, with the use of yellow gold, baroque pearls and rough uncut purposely flawed gems. Other pieces were collars of enameled leaves and flowers or pearls tied with real ribbon bows.
Chanel started the fashion for gold and bead chains, charm bracelets and jeweled belts.
The large costume jewellery that Chanel had popularised in the 1930s was back in the 1990s.
Undoubtedly she founded the public taste for costume jewellery as we know it.
For Chanel, fashion jewellery was an object of prestige.
