European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 2, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Costume jewelry has become a $1.3 billion a year Industry in the United states. Costume jewelry close to the real thing by Anne Marie Schiro new York times t in t fake any thing it s real costume lows try. And it s being worn without apology by american women of every age and financial bracket. A icon Ager picks up a Vintage rhinestone brooch in a Thrift shop and her grandmother sports a copy of the Duchess of Windsor s Jowood Flamingo pin even Brooke Astor has been known to Wear bogus gems it s All Tri the name of fashion so much so that costume jewelry is More and More referred Loas fashion by any name it has become a $23 billion a year my usury in the United states. Sales have increased As much i 20 percent annually in the last live years. Small hops specializing in fashion jewelry have sprung up on City Streels and in suburban malls All Over the United Stales. Two at the upper end of the scale where prices climb Inlo the hundreds of dollars Are Erma Bombeck Lang Lang and Zoe Cole in new York Bolh snarled in Europe came to new York and have expanded to other cities All in the space of five years. A sure sign of the fashionable status of bogus gems was the auction at rotheby s of Diana Vreeland s collection of costume jewelry mostly from the 1950s and 1960s, the onetime fashion editor end All time arbiter of style do lights in wearing masses of jewelry and often intersperses the real with the fake. Once Diana had on to of my fake animal bracelets and a real David Webb said Kenneth Jay Lane who helped to make costume jewelry fashionable in the 1960s and who designed More than 60 of the nearly 200 Lols in the Roeland auction. Lane originally copied chanels for Vreeland to said and then added them to his wholesale collection. They currently sell for about 1100 at retail. Lane also made costume jewelry Lor the Duchess of Windsor including copies of her own Flamingo pin and jewelled panthers. He recently revived those designs Lor his wholesale me and his 12 retail stores in the United Statas and Europe. The Duchess s Flamingo and Panther a Wols were Amonjr Ihn san Lerir attractions last april at the $50 million Solh phys ii Clion of her jewelry. Thrett Styrl disc Nair rent craze Lor fashion jewelry Hal look Ito Tom real thing a couple of Yiirs ago the dry ind arts Lor frankly fake override pieces one of Iho first Mil ers to realize the Polo Lial of i an slating Hie Windsor treasures into affordable Glisn arid bras1 was of suns a 15 year old company Loril Roal Lon Kinq simulations april introduced Cornice s$7s version no the s pm. Smaller than the original and it sold beyond our wildest dreams Oaid Casolco , the company s designer and president thai pin slurred Tho whole thing said Becky Martin the group buyer Lor costume jewelry Al Bloomingdale s there s no stopping it us still fantastic. In acl we put it in Cir conc to is mining " Tho Duchess has Tacna a major boost to the costume jewelry business she added the Panther jewelry is Alco very Strong coi lain customers Are aware of the designs. Others me Jusi learning to recognise them. I expect inc trend will grow As More people around Ihn country become svarc of it. This is just the Carol run or Nelly Artand i Hori pin with Tho Windsor Crest $85 and a s3s version in rhinestones and baguettes of Iho be inti pin Elizabeth Taylor bought Lor $623,327, Carole s i ices go to Sion Kenneth Jay Lane s go to $700 or a spectacular necklace or a rhinestone Bell like one he originally made Lor Tho Duchess Chanel s prices can teach 12,000 for an evening necklace. Loros re porn no customer resistance to oven the highest prices the higher priced jewelry is being bought by Iho woman who has the real Martin said. She buys it Lor travel when she does t want to Lake her Good things. Or she buys it because Sho worries about i Hill and jewelry insurance is 100 High Caroline Newhouse has bought fake Emerald and Pearl necklaces costing several Hundred dollars each specifically to Wear on trips. I bought them when i was taking a cruise several years ago she said i would t Ravel with real jewelry. Ii would be of course copies of estate jewelry Are nol Tho whole Story. The other big trend is to sculptural Metal designs like those Robert Lee Morris made Tor Donna Karan. 1 Hose pieces come in Silver brushed add lond Metal or brushed Copper. The new generation of costume jewelry wearers goes for these both pieces with a contemporary said Arietta Cohen a part owner of Zoe Coste. This segment has been growing year after said Roger Goring a vice president and the merchandise manager Lor accessories at Saks fifth Avenue. But our customer tends to be More traditional so the somewhat More traditional jewelry the kind that looks like real jewelry is still Oiler rely important to us costume jewelry was highly designed from the 1920s, when it started to the 1950s Days of movie Star Glamour said Jim Northrop the president of Trifari. In the 60s and 70s women s roles and perceptions changed. It was a time of anti artificial in All areas including jewelry. Gold became both a fashion and an investment. But As the Price of Gold increased All people could afford were Ditsy chains and earrings. Costume jewelry was also copies of Dilsy chains and then along Camo the 80a, and fashions changed. Jewelry was Loo seriously real or Loo serious for the fantasy clothes that have come said Kenneth Jay Lane. Nobody s going to say wow about a piece of real jewelry that costs $600 or �700. A wow piece would Cost $50,000 or $ or $ every time Iacre 9 a disaster a bombing or an act of terrorism someone Steps Forward to proudly accept responsibility Lor it. U has been nearly two weeks now and nol on group has volunteered to Lake the heat or Trie sudden demise of the Slock Market. Face it. Someone slammed the door on the Dow Jones Souille causing i of fax. And you All know who you Are la s All of you women who refused to hike up your hemlines who did it Don t act so innocent Wall Street and hemlines Are joined logo her by a strange phenomenon. As hemlines go up. So goes the Market it has always been so last Spring when designers began shipping their All lines. The Stock Market began its ascent to record breaking Heights. But Slang about the it Rel of october when the first of the chill winds Tajan to blow across Iho Counley. A Tol of Page 16 the stars and stripes women decided mini Skirls were not for them they chickened out and went Back to longer skirts the rest is Wall Street history. The reality is you women dragging around in skirts swirling around the Ankles can of longer go on letting Gloria Steinem Jackie Onassis and Tina Turner carry the Burden of Tho Economy for lha rest of us. We re All going to have to pitch in and do our share. Do you think i honestly like knowing that every time 1 Cross my legs men risk losing the sight of a Good Eye just by looking Don t you Ihrk i m tired already of d
