Oversize costume jewellery was everywhere during the autumn-winter collections shows, with labels such as Prada, Balenciaga, Marni, Marc Jacobs and Christian Dior adorning their clothing with bright and shiny baubles. Off the runway, Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Daphne Guinness, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna and Rachel Zoe are among the celebrities with a penchant for accessorising with high-fashion neckpieces, cuffs and rings.
In fashion magazines costume jewellery is now enticingly photographed with the same glamour and attention to detail as real jewellery and even clothes.
The trend to eyecatching costume pieces can be partly explained by the present wave of minimalist, palate-cleansing collections. Pared-back garments are the perfect canvas for for blockbuster bijoux.
"Jewellery is coming to the fore because people are questioning 'where do I go now?' in terms of fashion," says Christine Barro, whose Melbourne boutique Christine is a treasure trove of designer costume jewels from the likes of Lanvin, Tom Binns and Lady Gaga favourite Erickson Beamon.
"Your wardrobe is the base canvas and the accessories are the three-dimensional embellishment of you . . . that's the fun you can have." Barro's views are shared by Anna Della Russo, fashion director at large and creative consultant at Vogue Nippon magazine. Della Russo is one of the fashion world's most photographed women, mostly due to her obsession with flamboyant jewellery and over-the-top accessories.
"Accessories lift spirits. Accessories lift tastes. Accessories lift fashion," she says. "I love to wear catwalk [clothing] pieces from fashion designers, but I was looking for some personal touch. I have found it in the jewels impact. They express my passion for colours and symbolic signs." Della Russo follows in the tradition of women such as Coco Chanel and Paloma Picasso, known for expressing their personal style through costume jewellery.
It was two years ago that rock-sized statement pieces first made a catwalk comeback, just as global stock markets were hitting rock bottom. "It's almost a cheaper way of managing your wardrobe at the moment . . . introducing change with jewellery, rather than a bag," Barro says.
In this respect, fashion brands see non-apparel categories such as jewellery and accessories as key to expanding their appeal and attracting new customers.
But while "It" bags are notoriously counterfeited, designer costume jewellery still holds a sense of uniqueness due to its connection to artisan craftsmanship. Many pieces are made of unusual materials such as Austrian crystal and pate-de-verre (poured glass), and identifiable by a brand's signature plate placed at their base.
"The designs, workmanship, and originality elevate vintage jewellery into a league of its own," Barro says. "I just get totally blown out with what Lanvin does from one season to the next because it's stretching the boundaries of the producers' imagination on how to make it function as much as with the materials they use." Lanvin even draped its male models in costume baubles during its spring-summer menswear show in Paris in June, which featured tribal-style jewellery including industrial chunky chains and neckpieces made of horn and snake.
"We had a lot of debate about the jewellery: Is it too feminine, is it butch, is it macho? But in the end, I think that when women can wear pants, men can wear jewellery," Lanvin menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver said backstage after the show.
Lanvin's coveted jewels are created by the label's highly respected jewellery designer Elie Top, who is now facing increasing competition from other luxury houses.
Last year costume jewellery designer Camille Miceli was poached from Louis Vuitton and appointed artistic director of Christian Dior's costume jewellery lines. She followed a similar path to Victoire de Castellane, who was the former head designer of Chanel costume jewellery before jumping ship to steer Dior's jewellery collections. Accessories designer Pierre Hardy is now creative director of Hermes jewellery, while fast-rising star Husam el Odeh creates costume jewellery for Swedish brand Acne and French jeweller Maison Gripoix recently produced items for Marc Jacobs.
Their pieces have investment as well as aesthetic appeal. Leading vintage costume jewellery dealer Bruna Harrison, owner of Sydney's Harlequin Market, says the demand for costume pieces by Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel in particular has been recession proof. "Costume jewellery has the ability to reinvent and rebirth itself," Harrison says.
"The name has a lot to do with it [but] you're not just buying a name, you are buying part of the creative bent which only that label has. There is only one Chanel. There is only one Dior, Lanvin, or Yves Saint Laurent."
Shapiro Auctioneers managing director Andrew Shapiro is expecting a strong bidder turnout when the auction house holds its second vintage couture jewellery and accessories auction in Sydney on Monday night. There are more than 50 lots of of costume jewellery in the auction including 30 Chanel pieces (all in their original boxes and all from a single owner's collection) as well as pieces from the likes of Christian Dior, Moschino, Valentino, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Marni and Christian Lacroix.
"Vintage costume jewellery like Chanel is widely known to hold its value almost to the point that it can cost as much as the real jewellery because it's exquisitely made and lasts," says Shapiro spokeswoman Olivia Humphry.
Coco Chanel was not the first to produce costume jewellery, but she wore it with such flair and daring that her confidence imbued it with a new value. Chanel popularised many costume looks that have since become collectible classics, such as the Maltese Cross, the chain necklace and ropes of pearls.
"I think the reason that Chanel costume jewellery holds its own and keeps its status and its value is that it has been created initially with impact," says Chanel communications manager Susie Stenmark. She says the "strength and impact" of the pieces means women can see the value in adding them to their wardrobes "to change a look, or to finish a look".
None of this comes as any surprise to Dello Russo: "One of my favourite rules is: Flashy jewels personalise your style," she says.
From:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
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