Gioielli non preziosi dal 1750 ai nostri giorni
This book takes as its subject the costume jewellery that was such a feature of fashion from the mid-eighteenth century right through to the last decade of the twentieth, exerting a considerable influence far beyond the obvious, though narrow, confines of feminine taste. The common factor of all these adornments is principally their use of non-precious materials and therefore their affordability. Deanna Farneti Cera provides a lavishly illustrated narrative of the evolution of the various forms costume jewellery has taken, breaking them down into periods (Victorian jewellery, Edwardian jewellery, the Arts & Crafts movement, Jugenstil, Art Nouveau, the styles of the 1910s and 1920s, and designs right up to the 1980s). For each period she highlights the close link between the evolution of fashion in clothing itself and of the various accessories devised to embellish and adorn it. The sentimental, romantic flavour typical of Victorian creations gave way to the rhinestone and silver decorations found in Edwardian items. Abstract and geometric ornaments became fashionable in Austria and Germany at the time and the surge in industrialization that followed the end of World War I introduced a whole array of plastic, often brightly coloured, objects designed to stand out against the customary black dresses of the Charleston period. Clean lines, colour contrasts, and abstract designs were the distinctive features of Art Deco. The Roaring Twenties in France saw Coco Chanel make a splash with the concept of bijoux specifically paired with fashion. At this point, Farneti’s analysis relies even more closely on illustrations, and the authorpoints out how the jewellery surprisingly mirrors the style of the woman who wears it. In the 1940s, the “fantasy jewellery” of the 1930s turned into objects that were often garish and deliberately false. In the 1950s, it was Dior’s turn to usher in a sort of revival, with jewellery taking on the appearance of textiles modelled to match the body. The cultural revolutions of the 1960s did not spare the fashion industry, as reflected in the innovative materials and fluorescent colours that took centre stage in that period. The 1970s are notable for their nostalgic reworking of styles of the past, while the 1980s, with which the book closes, witness a burst of creative energy and a wealth of successful experiments, such as Ugo Correani’s designs for Versace and Karl Lagerfeld’s creations for Chanel.
Deanna Farneti Cera is an expert in European and American fashion jewellery. She lives and works in Milan, where, from 1987 to 2014, she ran the Galleria Ornamenti d’Autore, specializing in historical bijoux. In 1991, she devised and curated the exhibition titled I gioielli della Fantasia(sponsored by the Daniel Swarovski Corporation) and edited the catalogue. The exhibition was first held at the Museo della Scala, before travelling to various museums throughout the world, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Los Angeles County Museum. In 2014, she organized the Fashion Jewellery Made in Italy exhibition at the Milan Triennale, and between 2014 and 2016 she was in charge of the Fashion section of the Museo del Gioiello in Vicenza, contributing the relating catalogue entries. She is the author of numerous internationally acclaimed publications on the topic of jewellery, perhaps the best-known being Bijoux (Arnoldo Mondadori, 1995), I gioielli di Miriam Haskell (Idea Books, 1997), and Coppola e Toppo, Fashion Jewels (ACC Art Books, 2009). She also contributed the “Bijoux” entry to the 2003 Enciclopedia Treccani and in the same year edited “Luxe et Fantaisie” for a book published to coincide with the Trop-la Collezione di Barbara Berger exhibition held at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris. Lastly, over the past fifteen years she has held an occasional workshop on jewellery for the Master’s in Fashion and Accessories at the Domus Academy, the IED, and the Politecnico di Milano. During the current 2018–19 academic year, she teaches a Jewellery Culture course at the Istituto Marangoni in Milan.
