Great Gatsby Jewelry Collection

At the end of the second decade of the 20th century, jewelry styles became more works of art than a repetition of historic revival styles that had dominated Victorian tastes. Simpler lines foreshadowed the oncoming geometry of the deco era. The expression of speed in graduated linear forms is a metaphor for the machines, vehicles and buildings of the new industrial age

The extravagance of jewelry of the Roaring '20s was seen in diamonds and costume pieces alike and diamond jewelry was widely translated into fashion jewels. It was the 1920s designs of Cartier that firmly established Art Deco stylism in jewelry. Abbreviated lines, symmetry, the combination of circular and linear elements - these are the hallmarks of that style. Sleeveless dresses were a shocking new style of the 'flappers,' stylish young women of the 1920s. Bared arms called for bracelets that sparkled in the low light of speakeasies and nightclubs. Their Art Deco earrings swung seductively beneath the brim of a cloche hat.

Movie theaters of the 1930s were palaces of ornate architecture with fabulous ornamental facades and dazzling neon marquees. By the late 1930s, women were so enthralled with the new fashion of rhinestone jewelry, they often bought dresses to accessorize their "stones." Costume jewelry mfgs understood that passion and created designs in rhinestones that were price prohibitive in diamonds. Recovery after the Depression included the purchase of spirit-lifting "imitation" jewels to snazzy up "last year's" wardrobe. Rhinestone production boomed in pre-WWII Bohemian, with stones cut in every shape gemstones were made.

Sweet Romance Jewelry's Art Deco pieces are historically correct and provide 'movement' and definition. Each design is pure deco, reminiscent of the fanciful possessions of 1920s Berlin or New York flappers. A collection of treasures like this is a rarity to find, even at good antique shows.