Media Reviews: Bejeweled: Great Designers, Celebrity Style

Bejeweled: Great Designers, Celebrity Style
by Penny Proddow and Marion Fasel
published by Abrams, New York, NY, 2001.
10-1/2" x 24-1/4", 144 pages, $35

Reviewed by June Culp Zeitner

Celebrity watchers are usually aware of the dazzling jewels worn by stellar women for great occasions. But in the gem and jewelry industry, we wonder who designed this beautiful jewelry. Was it for a specific occasion? Why was this design and these stones chosen for this individual? What’s the name of that greenish stone? Is that white gold or platinum? To put it briefly, we are curious. And for a good reason. What these stars, members of royalty, and society elite wore a few decades or years ago forecasts the best jewelry of today.

Many of the unique, avant-garde jewels have come from firms known for fine jewelry for many years, among them Tiffany, Van Cleef and Arpels, Cartier, Harry Winston, and Bulgari.

The gems used in the spectacular jewelry of such luminaries as Jacqueline Kennedy, the Duchess of Windsor, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Barbara Hutton sparkled with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds — but also with citrine, amethyst, tourmaline, aquamarine, opal, jade, turquoise, labradorite, and other so-called “semi-precious” gemstones. Frankly, it is quite surprising how this passé term lingers. Also, many of the cuts of these fabulous jewels are cabochons — and Merle Oberon’s emerald necklace looks like polished pebbles.

The jewelry metals include brass. The artist Calder is known for his simple but striking use of this old and common material. Most motifs are based on nature. Floral designs are prominent, led by a rhodolite and demantoid iris brooch by Tiffany artist Paulding Farnham. The Duchess of Windsor’s blue chalcedony parure boasts a graceful, carved chalcedony flower embellished with diamonds. Related motifs are starfish, snakes, wings, dragonflies, fish, mammals, a turtle, and whimsical dressed-up bunnies getting married, serving liquor, and sailing a yacht.

Outstanding in the nature category is the elegant Montana sapphire brooch by Rosenthal, the true-blue color people dream of when they hear the word sapphire. Another of my favorites is New Fallen Snow on a Wintery Forest by Lalique.

The book is divided into eleven sections, each featuring artists known for particular styles of work. For example, The Aesthetes highlights Lalique, Fouquet, and Vever, while Signature Stylists presents the work of Paloma Picasso, David Yurman, and Barry Kieselstein-Cord. The Rockhound section is a forecast of contemporary styles, which showcases colored stones. These are from the Marcas family, Theodore Starr, and Louis Comfort Tiffany.

The photos for this book were all taken by professional photographers and are shown courtesy of Sothebys, the Metropolitan Museum, Christies, Vogue, the Museum of Modern Art, and other publications and institutions. The book is so beautiful that it qualifies as a coffee-table book — but it also tells the fascinating story of the jewelry arts of the 20th century. What these great designers of the 20th century have given to the jewelers of the 21st century is unparalleled freedom of materials, motifs, and techniques.