Jewelry by Chanel [Paperback]

Patrick Mauries (Author), Tom Eckerle (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1999 | Series: Jewelry by Chanel (Book 1)

An examination of the jewellery created by Coco Chanel. Using illustrations, documents, archival research and interviews with her colleagues and contemporaries, this book reveals Coco Chanel's passion for fabulous jewels.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This latest attempt to interpret Chanel's revolutionary fashion aesthetic focuses on her jewelry designs, which often owed much to Byzantine, Renaissance, and Baroque forms. Mauries's spare essay omits much of the conjecture that plagues other books about the designer (Claude Baillen's Chanel Solitaire , LJ 1/15/75; Edmonde Charles-Roux's Chanel: Her Life, Her World , LJ 10/15/75) but offers facts and quotations that will be familiar to Chanel fans. Charming contemporary sketches and striking photographs are the core of the book. They allow readers to compare Chanel's jewelry adaptations with their historic originals and to observe how the colorful fantasy pieces decorated otherwise drab Chanel fashions. Inclusive costume history collections might wish to add this volume, but Jean Leymarie's massive Chanel ( LJ 3/1/88) is the better buy.
- Therese Duzinkiewicz Baker, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

"When you make imitation jewelry, you always make it bigger." So confided Chanel, the doyenne of costume baubles who brought forth the concept of designer jewelry. Sifting through past creations, she cleverly incorporated just the right touch of "Chanelisme" to call them her own. As early as 1911, awed by the unrestrained jewelry designs of the fashion illustrator and designer Paul Iribe, Chanel absorbed his talent to juxtapose combinations of stones, textures, and settings only to unveil her "variations" in the 1930s--a full 20 years later. At a time when a surrealist contemporary mode followed eighteenth-century fantasy-world ideas, Chanel found inspiration in the dreamlike, theatrical trend of fantasy imagery, especially through the art of close friends Cocteau, Dali, and Picasso, who all offered unbounded creative twists to her trinkets. However, Chanel's greatest jewelry heist was the bulky settings common to ancient Byzantine jewelry; such pieces not only echoed her stand that imitation jewelry should be "bigger" but were also regarded with personal affection by her throughout her life. From Chanel's first jewelry show, which focused on astral diamond cascades, to the Byzantine reflections, this book reveals how Chanel's jewelry took relatively excessive and indiscreet proportions with deliberately irregular settings and soldered them into a sophisticated freedom and flexibility that is the epitome of Chanel style. Janet Lawrence --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch Press; 1st paperback ed edition (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821225502
• ISBN-13: 978-0821225509
• Product Dimensions: 12.5 x 9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,987,134 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lavish and Visually Stunning, February 21, 2006

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D. Baird "DGB" (Europe- The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jewelry by Chanel (Paperback)

I acquired this book as a reference for jewelry design, it was highly recommended by a friend who trained in Paris for Fine Jewelry design. The book contains just over 140 pages, the first 54 dedicated to text accompanied with quick sketches depicting Coco Chanel and her fashions; the remainder is filled with glossy photos of Chanel's jewelry creations, most in full color, a few other period stills in black and white. The photos are large, very sharp and show much of the fine detail of her jewelry, often dedicating one page to a single piece.

The book includes images of objects from antiquity, which clearly inspired Chanel, some even appear to be direct copies. Chanel's Byzantium crosses are especially intriguing for capturing a look of great antiquity. I found the strong Renaissance and Baroque forms to be equally inspiring.

I would have welcomed an even more expansive book that included more photos however this book covers pieces from the 1930's to the 1960's, and some space has been dedicated to all the various styles.