Fashion jewelry has been part of culture for almost 300 years. During the 1700s cheap jewelry made with glass started getting made. After almost a century, in the 1800s, fashion jewelry made of semi precious material came into the market. The use of semi precious material made the jewelry available in the hands of the common people.

 

But the real golden era for the fashion jewelry began in the middle of the twentieth century. The new middle class desired to own beautiful but affordable jewelry, and this desire was realized by its perfect timing: it came during the machine-age and the industrial revolution. All this made possible the production of carefully executed replicas of beautiful and admired heirloom pieces

 

As the class structure in America changed, so did measures of real wealth. Women in all social stations, even the working-class woman, could own a small piece of fashion jewelry. The average town and country woman could acquire and wear a considerable amount of this mass-produced jewelry that was both affordable and stylish.

 

Many feel that the machine has spoilt the beauty of the hand-made fashion jewelry; the truth is that the machine has made fashion jewelry more affordable and has enabled people to produce enough of this jewelry to fuel the interest of millions of ladies from all around the world

 

Fashion jewelry was further made popular by various designers in the mid twentieth century. Some of the most remembered names in fashion jewelry include both the high and low priced brands: Crown Trifari, Dior, Chanel, Monet, Napier, Corocraft and Coventry.

 

A significant factor in the popularity of fashion jewelry was the Hollywood movie. The leading female stars of the ’40s and ’50s often wore and then endorsed the pieces produced by a range of designers. If you admired a necklace worn by Bette Davis in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, you could buy a copy from Josef of Hollywood, who made the original. Stars such as Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Russell appeared in adverts for the pieces and the availability of the collections in shops such as Woolworths made it possible for ordinary women to own and wear such jewelry.

 

Coco Chanel greatly popularized the use of faux jewelry in her years as a fashion designer, bringing fashion jewelry to life with gold and faux pearls. Kenneth Jay Lane has since the 1960s been known for creating unique pieces for Jackie Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Vreeland, and Audrey Hepburn. He is probably best-known for his three-strand faux pearl necklace worn by Barbara Bush to her husband’s inaugural ball.

 

In many instances, high-end fashion jewelry has achieved a “collectible” status, and increases in value over time. Today, there is a substantial secondary market for vintage fashion jewelry. The main collecting market is for ’signed pieces’, that is pieces which have the maker’s mark, usually stamped on the reverse. Amongst the most sought after are Miriam Haskell, Coro, Crown Trifari and Sphinx. However, there is also demand for good quality ‘unsigned’ pieces, especially if they are of an unusual design