New post for the FT: Art Deco

My latest blog for the FT's How To Spend It is on Art Deco jewellery. Researching this particular topic was an absolute delight and as I was writing, thousands of images sprang to mind. The following pictures act as a kind of illustrated appendix to my original blog for the FT. 

Oil paintings by Polish artist Tamara de Lempicka, whose 'soft cubism' style of painting became strongly associated with Art Deco:

The Sleeper, 1932

Portrait of Madame M, 1930

The dramatic shadows and contours of her paintings continue to inspire fashion today: 

Cutler & Gross look book

The artist at work. Note the outfit!

The silk gowns of Madeleine Vionnet and Madame Grès were very popular at the time. Their bias-cut designs created a new, liquid silhouette. Their dresses were worn by Greta Garbo, Katherine Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich. 

Two Vionnet gowns, 1930

Madame Grès gown, Vogue 1933

Maggy Rouff gown with smoked crystal cuff, 1934

Lelong gowns, c.1930s

Accordion-pleated gown, c.1930s

Marlene Dietrich

Joan Crawford

Tallulah Bankhead

Jean Harlow

Claire Trevor

Carole Lombard

Clark Gable & Constance Bennett 

Rita Johnson

Betty Grable

Everett Marshall & Dolores del Rio 

Dolores in a sequin gown

I visited the Bentley & Skinner shop on Piccadilly to look at their selection of Art Deco jewellery. My wire-haired dachshund came along for the ride, although she went to sleep as soon as the sparklers came out for a closer inspection. Obviously not as much as a magpie as her owner! 

In-house jewellery experts Rachel Warner and Amanda Frost had kindly pulled out a beautiful edit of their most striking pieces, including this brooch by Cartier: 

Art Deco brooch by Cartier 

You can view this brooch in their online boutique by clicking on this link. I also spotted some beautiful Art Deco engagement rings at Bentley & Skinner, including this very unusual diamond plaque and black enamel ring. 

The Great Gatsby has inspired an entire collection at Tiffany & Co, with models draped in sublime 1930s-inspired gowns:

Liu Wen for Tiffany & Co

An exhibition of Art Deco make-up boxes and miniature clutch purses - mini-audières or nécessaires - opens at Goldsmiths Hall at the end of this month. A book accompanies the display, 'Ultra-vanities: Bejewelled make-up boxes from the age of glamour' by Meredith Etherington-Smith. 

We have an exquisite Art Deco-inspired dress currently in stock at Juno Says Hello. Floor-length black tulle embellished with thousands of crystals. To view this gown in our online boutique, please click here. To browse our range of Art Deco dresses, follow this link. 

Dress from Juno Says Hello 

Dietrich was famous for her beautiful hands


Loretta Young


Miriam Hopkins


Crawford as Letty Lynton, 1932


Kitty Carlisle


Dorothy Lamour


Lilyan Tashman with her pals

The heroine of the age: Greta Garbo


Garbo nursing a Chambord martini


Jean Harlow in fur, satin and diamonds


Irene Dunne


A young Lucille Ball, c.1930s

To read my FT blog on Art Deco gems, please click on this link. 

The adventuresses of the 1930s were every bit as glamorous as the movie stars. I've just finished reading Beryl Markham's autobiography, West With The Night. One of the most fascinating women of the era, Beryl was the first woman to fly solo from across the Atlantic from east to west. 

As well as a pioneering aviatrix, Beryl was the first female racehorse trainer in Africa.  She married three times and had an affair with the son of George V.  Hemingway was so envious of her writing in West With The Night that he said 'I am completely ashamed of myself as a writer'. Her description of flying through the African skies at night made me wish I was a pilot. If you're looking for a holiday read - or simply escapism - this is the book. 

My next post will be on something much noisier than jewellery - vintage motors. Mercury Cougars, Mercedes SL 280s, Thunderbird Convertibles and the incredible women who drove them. Buckle up... 

Sequins & Style: British Couturier Nicholas Oakwell and the Influence of 1970s Nightlife

A few days before Paris haute couture fashion week started, British designer Nicholas Oakwell presented his own collection in the ballroom at Claridges Hotel. 'We're flying the flag for British couture. It's all made in Britain and a lot of the models were British, too'.

I am completely in love with his designs -  inspired by the jewellery house Grima, established in the 1960s. Andrew Grima created the beautiful jewellery for 1967 movie Casino Royale, starring Ursula Andress...

Other points of reference include the New York nightlife of the 1970s, the work of artist Franz Klein and 1978 movie Eyes of Laura Mars starring Faye Dunaway. Have a look at this amazing promo clip for its original release. The costumes are unbelievable... 

This particular sense of glamour comes through in Oakwell's collection. The designer is noted for his heavily-beaded evening gowns. 

Here is the back of the same gown. Love the disco-luxe hairstyle... 

Photo: Reem Kanj

Here is the video of the entire AW12 couture collection, styled by Gianluca Longo. The beaded evening dresses begin around 4.20...




If you love this look but can't quite justify the couture price tag, we have something very similar in the boutique at the moment: an original 1960s silvery-blue sequin gown by Harrods Atelier. 

Click here to view this dress in our online store.

We have another vintage sequin gown in stock, Dark Side of the Moon. 

 Click here to view this dress in our online store.

I'm going to post about Studio 54-inspired eveningwear later this month - in the meantime enjoy the stunning finale from Oakwell's SS2012 show: 

Vintage Jewellery Special

Vintage jewellery is a passion of mine and I have blogged about it before here and here.

I recently became Godmother (second time this year... maybe it's time I started behaving responsibly) and decided that if the little girl turns out out to be anything as stylish as her mother, she needs some serious costume jewellery. I have had my eye on this beautiful 1960s Czech glass necklace for a while... and now I have the perfect excuse to buy it. It arrived last week and is even more beautiful than it looks in the photo. Hopefully both mother and daughter will get some wear out of it!

Since the last time I blogged about baubles, I have come across a few more jewellers who sell vintage or vintage-inspired creations.

Edwina Ings-Chambers wrote a piece for the Sunday Times Style magazine last year about the trend for reworking old designs into new, more modern creations.

The article featured jewellery by London-based duo Diane Mette and Chantal Laren, who set up Dicha in 2009. Their Decades collection is absolutely breathtaking and I particularly love these Art Deco-style earrings:

Since 1978, Harry Fane has bought and sold some of the greatest creations from Cartier's golden years of the 1920s and 1930s, including this pair of platinum and diamond link bracelets:

Charlize Theron wore vintage Cartier jewellery to the Golden Globes ceremony earlier this year.

Harry Fane's gallery, Obsidian, also sells Verdura jewellery. Fulco di Verdura (1898-1989), a Sicilian Duke, began working with Coco Chanel early in his career as a jewellery designer. Their collaboration lasted for decades and established Verdura as the favourite accessories brand of European Royalty and Hollywood.

Coco Chanel wearing Verdura's 'Maltese Cross' bangles

If you're looking for a similar design (but without the eye-watering £20,000 price tags some Verdura bangles sell for) then check out Katherine Alexander's chunky bracelets, which combine special vintage jewellery set into acrylic for a high-gloss finish:

Obsidian also sells beautiful jewellery by contemporary designers, including William Welstead. He works with diamonds in their natural form and his pieces are known for almost invisible settings:

Another contemporary jewellery brand whose work I really love is Erickson Beamon. The designers behind the label, Karen Erickson and Vicki Beamon, created a collection of 1920s Berlin-influenced dresses with integrated gems for their presentation in New York last month:

Their collection includes brooches, necklaces, earrings, and more unusual pieces such as this jewel-encrusted mask inspired by the 1974 film The Night Porter, starring Charlotte Rampling:

Anita Quansah creates unique costume jewellery that has appeared in Christian Lacroix's haute couture shows. Her unique pieces fuse vintage jewellery with semi-precious stones, rare African beads and textiles.

'Sudan' body chain

Anita is a genius and her necklaces are real investment pieces.

Maggie Owen's boutique is in the middle of Bloomsbury (just around the corner from Juno Says Hello's studio) and has a fabulous selection of Anton Heunis costume jewellery.

Anton's designs are inspired by the glamourous jewellery he found on his Grandmother's dressing table as a child. I love the colour combination of these earrings:

If you're looking to rent for a special event, rather than buy, I recommend Norwich-based Rent Your Rocks, who have an amazing collection of earrings, including these 18ct white gold and diamond wheel drop earrings:

The rental cost of this particular pair is £245 per week (the retail value is £5,475).

Dramatic Jewels has a a great collection of jewellery that is available to hire for 30% of the retail price.

Gold and jet Art Deco-style necklace with matching cuff

Susan Caplan wrote a guide on how to collect vintage jewellery for Stella magazine last year:

We have quite a collection of books on vintage jewellery in the studio - the best one is probably Carole Tanenbaum's lavishly illustrated Vintage Costume Jewellery

Customers are welcome to borrow books from our library at any time. To make an appointment in our Bloomsbury studio please get in touch via this link. If you have any suggestions for other vintage-inspired jewellers, please add in the comments below.