When it comes to channels, the most classic is the rebellious fashion of letting women wear pants and "fake pearls". So most of channel's jewelry is "fake" jewelry made of artificial materials.
But in fact, in the history of channels, there are also high-light moments belonging to high-end jewelry. Among them, the most famous is a series of Byzantine-style jewelry created together with the talented urchin Vodura in the "Chanel era". Among them, the eternal classic, the Maltese Cross, dominated Chanel's jewelry design style in the 1930s and became an eternal classic in the history of jewelry and fashion.
This old urchin who often says "fun" always comes up with some novel ideas and subverts the concept of jewelry design in an extremely interesting way. His high-grade jewelry is unique and sought after by countless Hollywood stars. The charm of his works spans centuries and lasts for a long time.
There are many interesting and legendary things in Verdura's life. Today, I will take you into the artistic life of Verdura, the only aristocrat in the jewelry industry in the 20th century.
1899, Verdura was born in an aristocratic family in Sicily, Italy. It should be noted that this situation is not common. At least throughout the 20th century, he was probably the only person with a real aristocratic background in jewelry or fashion. Whether Cartier, Chanel or anyone else, their origins are very humble. A man of such noble birth devoted himself to the design and production of jewelry, which used to be considered as a craftsman. You can imagine how eccentric he is and how different his jewelry will be.
His hometown, Palermo, the capital of Sicily, Italy, has a warm and pleasant climate, beautiful natural scenery and exquisite and contemporary Norman, Byzantine and Islamic architecture. Italian writer Dante praised Palermo as "the most beautiful Muslim city in the world".
The comfortable and free environment, beautiful natural scenery and the free and romantic amorous feelings of Sicily since childhood have cultivated Vodura's innate aesthetic taste, unrestrained imagination and free and easy humorous personality, which have injected extraordinary artistic genes into his future jewelry design.
1923 When his father died in August, Verdura inherited the title of family and became the last duke of Sicily. Although he has aristocratic blood envied by the world, for Verdura, artistic pursuit is more important than any aristocratic title.
1925 was an extraordinary year for Verdura. Through the introduction of friends, he met a very important person-Chanel, which also opened his legend in the European and American jewelry industry. The same advanced aesthetics, eclectic humor and imaginative creativity made channel and Verdura hit it off and immediately appointed Verdura as a textile designer.
1927, Verdura left his hometown for Paris, France.
They often visit galleries and art exhibitions together. For Vodura, Chanel is the muse in his mind and "the first person to take me seriously".
1930 is the highlight of his career. After the trip to Italy, Vodura and Chanel visited Lavan Church. The mosaic portrait of the Byzantine queen Tiodola deeply attracted Vodura and gave him new inspiration. His bold use of gold and colored gems completely changed the status quo of jewelry fashion in society at that time.
Among them, the classic Chanel Maltese cross cuff-white enamel, with several bright and unique round gems embedded in the cross pattern, was loved by Chanel and almost accompanied her all her life. This bracelet will become the basic element of Vedura's design style in the future, thus defining a jewelry era.
The famous fashion editor Diana Vreeland was a loyal customer of Chanel at that time. She bought two of Verdura's earliest and most famous jewels-"Tiodola" and "ravenna" brooches.
For more than six years, Verdura has continuously inspired Chanel's jewelry creation, and these jewelry design styles have finally become eternal classics in Chanel jewelry industry.
1934, Verdura ended his cooperation with Chanel and immigrated to the United States with friends, which made him really successful.
1939 On the day of the outbreak of World War II, Verdura and his two friends opened a jewelry salon named after themselves in a 650-foot skyscraper on Fifth Avenue, a world-famous jewelry shrine in New York.
It was the golden age of the United States, and new york brought together the most famous artists, stars and celebrities in the world.
During this period, he was inspired by his hometown Sicily, and combined with his love of Renaissance art, he created a large number of natural-themed jewelry works, such as leaf brooches made of colored zircon, pomegranate with ruby seeds, black pearl corn and jade artichokes.
Jewelry works with perfect conception, exquisite structure, boldness and low-key have been recognized by new york fashion circle. At that time, many celebrities and Hollywood stars became loyal fans of Verdura, such as greta garbo, joan crawford, marlene dietrich and katharine hepburn. They all liked to wear jewelry designed by Verdura.
"Verdura for Flato" quickly became a popular trademark on the east coast and on the screen.
The artistic value of Verdura jewelry is realized through his acquaintance with the surrealist master Dali. Verdura has great interest in Dali's personality and ideas, and for Dali, Verdura is the perfect partner he has found, and he understands the style he longs for. They hit it off and decided to cooperate in some activities about jewelry and painting.
194 1 year, Verdura and Dali jointly developed their first surreal jewelry series. This series reinterprets the themes of love, loss, faith and war, and embodies the concept of surrealism.
This completely broke the tradition and brought a colorful new atmosphere to the jewelry industry. This historic cooperation made Dali begin his lifelong fascination with jewelry.
After more than 30 years, Verdura sold his shares and settled in Britain after retirement. After retirement, he also painted and designed until 1978 died.
Let's review the classic design works in his life:
1. wrapped heart ("wrapped heart")
1940, Hollywood movie star tyrone power customized a brooch as a Christmas present for his wife annabella. This unique brooch became popular in the jewelry industry and became a classic handed down from generation to generation. It was named "the heart of the package".
5.Verdura emerald scarf necklace, designed for Dorothy Paley Hirshon, 194 1.
Verdura is a real artist. He refused to mass-produce and commercialize, and every work was perfect in conception, exquisite in structure and emitting unique light.
He is a man who does not conform to the traditional norms. The use of gems, imitation gems, shells and other creatures in the works, and even the decoration of cheap chess with gems and diamonds, broke the boundaries of jewelry design in an unprecedented way.
Perhaps it is because, as an old-school aristocrat, he is not interested in worldly things such as money, and sometimes even despises it. This is also the reason why he never became rich, but lived the life he really wanted. The jewelry he created is just like his personality: noble and elegant, and always exudes a charming aristocratic atmosphere.