Kaleidoscope effect

Amazing yellow flower brooch. One of the famous series of plastic brooches made in the 1950s. Vendome costume Jewellery

Vendome costume Jewellery
The company founded as a subsidiary of Coro in 1944, Vendome produced unique style and high quality jewellery. The name origins in Parisian jewelry trade center Place de Vendome, specialized in the production of luxury jewellery for the rich clientele. Indeed, the jewellery designers used high quality materials, such as rock crystal from Austria and Czechoslovakia, sparkling artificial pearls and enamels, metal with gold or silver plated, clear and colored perspex. In 1953, the company separated from Coro, and existed until 1979.
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Kenyan passion for beaded jewelry. Photographer Eric Lafforgue

North Kenyan tribes of Samburu and Rendille may differ in the languages they speak, but have the same passion for beaded jewelry. Beaded bracelets, necklaces, head adornments worn mainly for their beauty, can also tell much about relationships, special events and customs. Beaded jewellery is not only tradition, but a sophisticated and evolving fashion. From their young age, the girls are offered strings of beads by their fathers. The first layers of necklaces are usually red, as it means the girl is engaged (which can be at a very early age).
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Ultra Craft costume jewellery. Vintage shoulder brooch with cowboy hats, marked Ultra Craft, 1980s

Ultra craft costume jewellery is collectible and rare, some pieces are even unique. Ultra craft was the creation of Italian born jeweler Luigi B. Guadagno. Luigi was born May 13th, 1936 in Alife, Caseta, Italy. A son of Carlo and Giovanna (Scirocco) Guadagno, Luigi had lived in Glocester for five years, formerly living in Warwick. When he was 22, he had served as mayor in the town of Alife in Italy, and was the recipient of the Outstanding Citizen Award for his philanthropy in the town. He graduated from Naples University with a degree in agronomy. But the fate prepared for him a different way – a natural talent and desire for art led him to jewellery business. As most jewelers of the time, he emigrated to the US. In 1970, in Rhode Island, 34 year-old Luigi founded his own jewelry company Ultra craft Co. Inc.
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Horrified Joan Castle Joseff looks at Shirley Jones, who is trying to touch the stunning Christmas tree made of costume jewelry. American jeweler Joseff of Hollywood

American jeweler Joseff of Hollywood
Born in Chicago in 1905, Austrian by birth, Eugene Joseph was a talented American jewelry designer known as Joseff of Hollywood. He moved to California in the 1920s, hoping to get orders for making costume jewelry for characters of Hollywood movies. Through artistic creativity and business acumen, he was the best jewellery designer and main supplier of jewellery for leading studios. The success accompanied him until the tragic death in 1948. Since 1950 the company “Joseff of Hollywood” ran his widow Joan Castle.
According to his biography, Eugene began working as an artist at an advertising agency in Chicago at the age of 18. Meanwhile, in his spare time he was designing jewelry. And four years later, in 1927, he moved to Los Angeles, where he studied jewellery craftsmanship. From 1931 to 1935, the work of the young jeweler was in high demand in the Hollywood films. Noteworthy, in 1935, Eugene Joseph founded “Joseff of Hollywood,” and two years later became a major supplier of jewelry for Hollywood studios. In addition, he developed a line of jewelry for public. The life of a talented jeweler and businessman was tragically cut short in 1948. Eugene Joseff died in a plane crash at the age of 43.
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Dragonfly jewellery symbolism. Marion Cotillard For the December issue of the British edition of the magazine Harper’s Bazaar. Photo September 2012. Photographer Ben Hassett

The symbolism of a dragonfly is quite contradictory. In the East, it is a symbol of the coming summer. The Japanese consider dragonflies a symbol of military valor, they were sacrificed to the gods, asking for victory. According to legend, the island of Honshu was called the Island of dragonfly. A dragonfly Tunb, which symbolizes Japan’s courage, brings happiness and good fortune. For the American Indians dragonfly embodies whirlwind speed and activity. In the West, dragonfly is often associated with witches (in the English language, the word sounds like a dragonfly, literally – “the Dragon Fly”). Also, sometimes it can share the symbolism of the butterfly, which embodies immortality and regeneration.
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Dance inspired jewellery. Banana Bob vintage brooch Ballerina

This post features Dance inspired jewellery including the history of dance. Social dance, a dance-form with roots in traditional and community dances which became increasingly differentiated from court dances during the later medieval and early Renaissance period. In the early 20th century ballroom dances proliferated, with jazz influences from North America and imports from Latin America, such as the tango, samba, cue-ca, and rumba. In the 1920s ‘animal dances’, such as the turkey trot, the bunny hug, and the foxtrot were popular: the latter remains as a classic ballroom dance alongside the quickstep and, from earlier times, the waltz. The Lindy hop, jitterbug, and jive were all highly athletic couple dances from the big band era of the 1930s and 1940s. The 1950s and 1960s rock and roll impact on teenage culture and the growth of discos and clubs generated an alternative social scene. The 1970s influences were Afro-Caribbean music and heavy rock. Distinct dance styles, ‘body popping’, ‘robotics’, and ‘break dancing’ emerged. In turn these reappear as source material in modern and postmodern dances.
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1960s iconic face Veruschka. Photo by Franco Rubartelli. Vogue May 1968

German model, actress, and artist with a Russian name Veruschka, Vera, was an iconic face of the 1960s. Veruschka is the diminutive of “Faith” (Vera) in Russian. At the time when at the shooting there weren’t even make-up artists and hairdressers (models did it all themselves), she showed a real talent of an image maker, inventing a name and a story to bring interest to her. Veruschka – a sort of Russian-emigre spy superhuman from the closed world of the winners. Her brilliant image became so popular that the famous photographers stood in line to work with Veruschka. Irving Penn, one of the most famous photographers, was waiting for 3 weeks for his turn to shoot Veruschka. This image has always been the only instrument for achieving the goals, the only part of Vera von Lendorf herself.
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