Signed Elle vintage costume jewelry

27.02.2021

281 1 minute read

Signed Elle vintage costume jewelry
Using fashion as a benchmark for creative inspiration, ELLE’s designs, like the pages of ELLE magazine, changed from season to season as colors and fashion trends changed. A series of figural clown brooches in colorful enamel clothing on gold-tone metal, marked on the back with capital letters “Elle”, appeared in the mid-1980s. Circus-inspired style, bright clothes, and statement jewelry was in the 1980s fashion trend, partly embodied in the casual style.
Magazine Elle was first published on October 1, 1945 in Paris, but the history of costume jewelry labeled Elle began in the 1960s. The English translation of the French word “Elle” is “She”, it was SHE who became the inspiration for the first jewelry pieces. A tall and slender model from the runway or from the pages of a fashion magazine formed the basis of the design of the 1960s.
The value of vintage jewelry made in the 1960-80s is that the jewelers made them by hand. Hand painted in bright colors, each brooch, each bracelet, or a pair of clips is a work of art. Traditionally, jewelers used high-quality alloys of metals, zinc, rhodium, and sometimes 10 K gold and silver. Jewelry made before the 1990s is quite heavy, in contrast to jewelry made from lightweight aluminum after the 1990s.
Elle markings include: “ELLE” (1960-80s), “Elle Woman Paris” (1980s), and since 1990s – “925 Elle China”.

Fashion model woman in a long coral red dress brooch. 1980s

Noteworthy, the Elle jewelry trademark, like the magazine itself, belonged to the oldest French company Hachette Filipacchi Medias. Initially, Elle costume jewelry was produced in the USA, since the 1980s in France, and since the 1990s in China. Accordingly, the labeling of these products, style and materials vary. Thus, items marked “925 Elle China” with small ruby insert are traditionally made of sterling silver. Elle’s modern costume jewelry is no longer hand-made, and is not at all like the vintage pieces from the 1960s.