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"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous!" --Coco Chanel |
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Chanel Necklaces: Timeless Elegance
Chanel jewelry stands the test of time. It's remained in style through countless changes in fashion tastes. It's a beacon in the ever changing times of jewelry and fashion industry. What is ironic about Chanel's jewelry is that despite her adherence to a simple aesthetic in her dresses and other clothing, she used large synthetic stones and glass beads in her jewelry that can best be described as "gaudy". Yet there is a simplicity and elegance to Chanel jewelry that remains fresh and cutting edge despite the synthetic flashy stones. In the 1920's it was very common to see a well-to-do woman decked out in a long Chanel Necklace of large synthetic stones and multi-faceted glass beads. Chanel called her style of necklaces and bracelets "illusion jewelry." The surprising thing about Chanel's jewelry was the price. The wealthy as well as the common flapper could bedazzle themselves in the popular long necklaces of the day (the price has gone up).
The beads of Chanel necklaces were multi-faceted many various shapes and sizes. As a kid I always referred to these types of beads as "old-fashioned", but in the day they were new and exciting. Necklaces were long and draping, with some over 60 inches in length! Though Chanel and other jewelry makers made shorter ones too. Extremely popular versions of the long Chanel necklaces ended with a sautoir, which was a pendant that was often handmade by the flapper who wore them. Usually woven on a bead loom and using small "seed" beads called "flapper beads" in the 1920s.
The Story of Grandma's Missing Necklace
Like most grandmas, mine was an amazing women-and to my mother's dismay, she spoiled me rotten. She hiked through Yosemite several times as a young woman in the 1930's. Her mother, my great grandma, was a famous suffragist, and passed on her strength and resilience to my grandma. As a kid I remember a photograph of my grandmother in sitting on a large granite boulder next to a rushing stream with the most beautiful necklace on. I asked her about the necklace and she said it was a gift from "a friend", and that she had long since lost the necklace. She described the necklace in full detail to me. Her description was beautiful: her "friend" had given her what she thought was Chanel. I'll never forget the gleam in my grandma's eye when she described how beautiful that necklace made her feel. I felt her pain when she said that she had lost it. I vowed to find her necklace. 25 years later I found it! 5 years late. . . my grandma died before I found her necklace. . . and it was Chanel (one of only 100 made in the world). It was just like HER necklace in the photo, and it is beautiful!!! My love of the Twenties came largely from my grandparents: my grandfather's love of jazz and my grandma's love of jewelry and fashion. Building this website is a labor of love. . . In my search for my grandma's necklace I came across hundreds of websites claiming to sell vintage necklaces, but many of these I did not trust and so my recommendation if you are going to buy Chanel over the Internet is to do your homework first! And, if you can afford it, go directly to the boutiques for the latest styles. Real Chanel necklaces should be simple in form, obviously influenced by the Art Deco style that was so popular in the 1920s.
The Lowdown of Art Deco Jewelry in 5 SecondsArt Deco jewelry should give the impression of a fusion of simplicity of line, form, color, and geometry. There is an obvious juxtaposition between the materials and the form. Chanel is famous for using plastic in $2,000 pieces. So there it is, my rundown of my grandmother's lost necklace that I found on the Internet, and my take on the beautiful styles of Chanel necklaces.
Read More About Mme. Coco Chanel
Read much more about the 1920's on our Homepage
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