The Sparkling Screen

The famous opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany?s, subtly introduced a global audience to one of Truman Capote?s best-known creations, Holly Golightly. Before one word was spoken the pearls and rhinestones revealed an eccentric character. Accessories and the world of cinema have forever been inextricably linked as accessories help filmmakers to conceive the looks and personalities of characters we?ve come to love.

?... one very early New York City morning, a woman dressed in a long black gown, accessorized with dark sunglasses, a weighty multi-strand pearl necklace, sparkling earrings and a rhinestone tiara, steps out of a cab and eats her breakfast, pastry out of a paper bag, in front of a Tiffany window....? The famous opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany?s, subtly introduced a global audience to one of Truman Capote?s best-known creations, Holly Golightly. Before one word was spoken the pearls and rhinestones revealed an eccentric character. Accessories and the world of cinema have forever been inextricably linked as accessories help filmmakers to conceive the looks and personalities of characters we?ve come to love.

 

 

That jewelry used in film should also underline the time a character lives in, was well understood by the ?Joseff of Hollywood? foundry, which pioneered the making of historically accurate jewelry for movies. When its head, costume jewelry designer Joan Castle Joseff died in 2010, she left behind a collection of more than three million pieces of costume jewelry made for the movies, including the amethyst necklace, bracelet and earring set that Vivien Leigh wore in "Gone With the Wind" and pearl pendant earrings worn by Grace Kelly in "High Society?, as well as the jewelry that turned Elizabeth Taylor into ?Cleopatra? and the costume diamonds that dazzled the audience when Marilyn Monroe sang ?Diamonds are a girl?s best friend? in ?Gentlemen prefer blondes?.

 

 

 

For ?Chicago's? distinctive jazz-era style, Carole Tanenbaum?s vintage collection provided vintage jewelry that helped define roaring twenties nightclub diva Velma Kelly and fame-hungry Roxie Hart. When Carole Tanenbaum Vintage Collection provided its vintage costume jewelry for ?The Devil Wears Prada?, the pieces were used not as a reflection of a certain era, but to compliment a modern day ?Cinderella Story?. When the film?s protagonist Andrea Sachs transforms from an ordinary girl, who doesn?t care much about fashion, into a glamorous and outspoken assistant of Runway Magazine?s editor in chief, we also see a transformation in her jewelry. Her simple Elsa Peretti coffee bean necklace is replaced by extravagant vintage charm Chanel necklaces and gold multilayered chains.

 

 

 

On the big screen....A piece of jewelry can say more than a 1000 words.

 

To shop the Carole Tanenbaum Vintage Collection, please click here.