Lion head gold tone brooch pin. 1980s. Ellen Kiam vintage costume jewelry

Ellen Kiam vintage costume jewelry
The history of Ellen Kiam jewelry brand began in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1984. However, the brand’s founder, then 56-year-old Ellen Kiam, already had experience in the family jewelry business as a creative director and designer.
Born in 1928, Ellen Lipscher married businessman Victor Kiam in 1956. The husband-wife team Tory Kiam and Ellen Kiam owned such companies as Benrus Watch Company (1968), Remington Products (1979), a direct sales jewelry company Lady Remington, and later Lia Sophia.
Ellen Kiam lived with Victor Kiam for 45 years until his death in 2001. She created costume jewelry under her own brand for a decade, from 1984 until her retirement in the 1990s.
Today, 95-year-old Ellen Kiam lives in Madisonville, Los Angeles.
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Bird brooch. Gold tone, pink and black enamel, rhinestones. Moo Roo vintage costume jewelry

Moo Roo vintage costume jewelry
Many-awarded fashion and accessory designer Mary Norton founded MOO ROO, LLC in October 2000 in Charleston, South Carolina. She named her company after her two daughters, Micah and Reilly.
The business was very successful and Mary Norton became known for luxury handbags which she sold in branded retail stores in Charleston, Manhattan and Beverly Hills. Noteworthy, among the celebrities who purchased her handbags, were Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, and Charlize Theron.

In addition to jeweled clutches, handbags and shoes, she made exquisite costume jewelry pieces, which today have become collectible vintage. Mary Norton made jewelry for about a decade. However, in 2009 Richemont fashion group and The Atelier Fund invested into Moo Roo LLC and launched the renewed brand – Mary Norton, Inc, an accessories lifestyle brand.

Today, professor Mary Norton teaches fashion and accessory design in Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.
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Dandelion gold tone rhinestone brooch pin. Adele Simpson vintage costume jewelry

Adele Simpson vintage costume jewelry (1945-1960)
Born on 28 December 1904, Adele Smithline graduated from Pratt Institute of Design in New York City in 1922. She married textile manufacturer Wesley William Simpson, and became known in the fashion world as the iconic award-winning American fashion designer Adele Simpson (December 8, 1903 – August 23, 1995).

She founded Adele Simpson Inc in 1945 and launched several trademarks on creation of women’s clothes, fragrance and accessories. From the beginning of her career she designed high quality jewelry pieces to accompany her coats, dresses and suits. Besides, she collaborated with well known jewelry designers of the time. Among them, in particular, was the renowned jewelry designer Henry Schreiner.

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Fish brooch. Gold plated metal, enamel. 1970s. Signed Rivest vintage costume jewelry

Signed Rivest vintage costume jewelry
Gaston Rivest and Maida Diver opened their family business shortly after their wedding in 1962. The Rivest family began creating wonderful enamel jewelry in Châteauguay, a suburb of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada.
Handcrafted from gold or silver plated metal and enamel and marked with the words “Rivest Fait Au Quebec made in Canada” on the back, the jewelry is of high quality.

Made in the 1960s and 1970s, Rivest jewelry is rare on the vintage jewelry market and highly collectible.
It is noteworthy that Maida and Gaston founded another company GASTON & MAIDA RIVEST METIERS D’ART ENR in 1985, not related to the jewelry business.
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Tiger figural brooch of gold tone, enamel, rhinestones. 1950s. Signed Vitoge vintage costume jewelry

Signed Vitoge vintage costume jewelry
The history of the Vitoge pearls and rhinestones costume jewelry brand lasted less than two decades. Incorporated in 1957 and headquartered at 153 E 26th St, Manhattan, New York City, Vitoge Mfg Co went out of business in the late 1960s.
The company, headed by Vincent Vitolo, produced gifts and accessories in addition to costume jewelry. Creating classic costume jewelry by hand, designers used gold-plated metal alloys, faux turquoise, pearls, glass cabochons, rhinestones, and enamel. The manufacturer’s marking includes the word VITOGE in capital letters, without a copyright symbol.
According to 1958-1963 catalogs of copyright entries, the company’s designers, in addition to costume jewelry, made candlesticks, frames, metal and jewelry boxes.
Today, Vitoge jewelry is extremely rare on the vintage jewelry market and is highly prized by collectors.
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Branch entwined with ivy brooch. Gold tone alloy, resin. 10 cm 1980s. Marc Lаbаt vintage costume jewelry

Мarc Lаbаt vintage costume jewelry
Born in the 1950s in the south of France, Marc Labat grew up in the Toulouse region, and graduated from the École Supérieure de Commerce External Trade (ESCE) in Paris. Passionate about travel, he began his career in the jewelry business in South America (Chile and Brazil) in the 1970s.

While traveling around the world, he discovered the use of unconventional materials to create costume jewelry – multi-colored resin, wheat grains and flower petals embedded in the material.

In the early 1980s, Labat returned to Paris to create his own brand of leather goods, accessories, handbags and costume jewelry. A wholesaler of costume jewelry, he opened three boutiques in Paris: 94 rue du Temple, 45 rue Vieille du Temple, and 77 rue de Rennes.

Incorporated in 1986, Мarc Lаbаt Paris company most likely ceased to exist in 2016, and all three boutiques are permanently closed.
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Abstract gold tone cultured pearl brooch pin. 1960s. Hogan Bolas vintage costume jewelry

Hogan Bolas vintage costume jewelry (1951-1991)
The name of the jewelry brand Hogan & Bolas comes from the names of its creators, Robert Hogan (1924-2008) and his first wife Deborah Bolas (1927-1982). A veteran of World War II, Robert came to Providence in 1948 to study jewelry making at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he met his future wife. While still students, Robert and Deborah founded the family business Hogan & Bolas, Inc. in Providence, Rhode Island in the early 1950s.

Designers handcrafted modernist jewelry using silver, bronze, copper, cultured pearl, and enamels. Deborah Bolas Hogan worked for the company for thirty years until her death in 1982. Robert continued to be in the jewelry business for another ten years, but in 1991 he sold the business and retired. Born October 17, 1924 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Robert Hogan passed away September 23, 2008 in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire.

It is noteworthy that the new owner of the company A.R. Desantis continued the jewelry business, but the style of their jewelry changed slightly. Reopened in 1991, Hogan & Bolas is still active.

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