Chanel Necklaces: Style Through the Ages

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 this style of necklaces and bracelets "illusion jewelry."

The surprising thing about Chanel's jewelry was the reasonable price. The wealthy as well as the common flapper could bedazzle themselves in the popular long necklaces of the day.

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 1920's.

The Story of Grandma's Missing Necklace Like most people's grandma's, 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 own 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 "afriend", and that she had long since lost the necklace. I remember her describing the necklace in full detail to me, and her description was beautiful--her "friend" had given her what she thought was a Chanel necklace. The perfect gleam in my grandma's eye when she described how gorgeous that necklace was and how sad she was to lose it, made me vow to find her necklace for her. Well I found it! About 5 years late however. . . my grandma died before I found her necklace. . . and it wasn't a Chanel necklace. . . but it was HER necklace 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. . .

Finding quality jewelry on the Internet for a reasonable price is difficult, and there are very few websites I truly endorse for the quality of the jewelry and the great customer service I receive when ordering or if I have questions.

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 1920's.

The Lowdown of Art Deco Jewelry in 5 Seconds

Art 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.

Return to Fashion Design Page

Read much more about the 1920's on our Homepage