CategoriesJewelry and Fashion Object Types
Costume Accessory
Small luxury objects carried or worn with dress, such as vanity cases, compacts, cigarette cases, scarves, bags and buckles.
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About
As women's fashions slimmed down in the 1920s, jewellers turned their skills to things carried rather than worn. Paris houses including Cartier, Lacloche Frères, Janesich and Ostertag made vanity cases and cigarette boxes in gold, enamel, lacquer, jade and diamonds, with compartments for powder, lipstick and cards. Van Cleef & Arpels's Minaudière, introduced in the 1930s, packed an evening's necessities into one jewelled case. René Boivin and Chaumet produced matching jewels and objects, and London's Asprey supplied fitted leather and silver goods.
Hermès, founded as a Paris harness maker in 1837, carried saddlery skills into handbags and launched silk scarves in 1937. Look at the hinges and clasps, the fitting of interior compartments and signatures, which on the finest pieces are neat and discreet.
