Tabitha at
Bourbon and Pearls, who we all know has impeccable taste, and if that isn't enough, is one of the cleverest writers in the blogosphere, has posted a lovely article on pearls today. Very graciously, below the fancy Chopard necklace, she posted three vintage pearl pieces from
Beladora2.com and needless to say I'm thrilled. I can appreciate that she finds a certain charm in the fact that vintage estate jewelry has a certain history.
Which brings me to point out that so many other women with impeccable taste, like Tabitha, had a little thing for pearls.
Such as the young Queen Elizabeth. I love the long pearl sautoir knotted in the middle and pearls in her headdress. But, I'm even more impressed that she's holding a rainbow.
And then we have the full blown Elizabeth, once again with pearls in her hair, her six strand necklace and sewn into her gown. In this portrait she has traded in her rainbow for a globe, clearly clarifying, not only her good taste in clothes and jewels but her world domination.
Then over on the Continent we Maria de Medici
Here, as a young girl, she was wearing a pearl headband, pearl earrings, a pearl choker necklace and of course she had pearls sewn into her gown. Pretty wasn't she? It's hardly surprising that she became the wife of France's Henry IV.
Like other Italian women, Maria de Medici certainly had
sprezzatura. Just check out that jaunty pearl brooch sprouting out of the side of her coiffure.
Much later in France we had another queen who sported pearls in her hair.
The young Marie Antoinette, in her early days at court, mixed pearls with feathers in her headdress.
In the famous Lebrun portrait the hat gets grander but the jewelry simplified with only a double strand at her throat and a triple strand at her wrist. Perhaps in this portrait she was on her way to the
hameau de la reine at Versailles to dabble in the simple life.
We all know how dramatically court life changed in Marie Antoinette's lifetime, but pearls continued to be worn by fashionable women.
Here is a portrait of the Queen of Holland, from the turn of the 18th Century, I assume by the cut of her gown, wearing a gorgeous pearl tiara.
And this lovely lady from the Georgian Period is wearing teardrop shaped pearl earrings and note the giant pearl bauble sticking through her top knot.
Moving ahead we have Babe Paley, one of the most chic women of the 20th Century.
I love the way that her pearls look casually thrown on in this portrait...as is she almost couldn't be bothered. How totally modern is that? And of course we can't forget another 20th Century style icon,
Jackie Kennedy, who opted for the classic triple strand.
Pearls, as we know, are timeless and their elegance will continue to endure.
But I wonder, who will be our pearl wearing style icon of the 21st Century?
And ideas?
