Autocross Blogs - Look Like

When she married her second husband, CBS Airplane charm pendant Bill Paley, Verdura became a fixture at their various homes and on their travels. In New York, the Paleys were often part of the glittering international assemblage at dinners at Verdura's Manhattan apartment, where the menu was invariably a big bowl of spaghetti with clam sauce, whipped up by the host himself.Verdura was hardly to the stove top born. But by the time he reached his 20s, the family fortunes were on a sharp downturn. In 1923, he inherited his father's ducal title and a sum so insignificant that some sort of vocation would be required. Setting off for Paris with the idea of becoming a painter, he found himself diverted when Cole Porter introduced him to Mlle Chanel. She hired him as a fabric designer and later as her boutique jewelry designer after he wrought magic when she Tiffany Nature butterfly pendant him to update pieces given to her by various wealthy lovers.By 1934, he had blown what was left of his inheritance on a grand costume ball and set off for America, settling first in Hollywood and then New York. Seventy years ago, he opened his Fifth Avenue showroom with the backing of Porter and Vincent Astor (soon to become Babe's sister Minnie's first husband). High society clamored for Verdura's creations. (All clamorers were not appreciated equally. When a client he disliked asked to see him, he would hide in his office, instructing the hapless staff to tell her I died. )

Babe had what Italians call sprezzatura the appearance of doing everything effortlessly. A long string of pearls was as likely to be found coiled haphazardly around her wrist as around her neck. And when she added a slew of Verdura bracelets to the mix, in what a 1946 VOGUE article termed a wonderful scramble, the Tiffany Nature Dragonfly pendant was never vulgar or excessive even with a 21-carat, cushion-shaped canary-diamond Verdura ring on the red-taloned fourth finger of that same hand. Whatever she wore, she wore in a way you would never forget, says Oscar de la Renta, citing her habit of wearing pearls thrown to the back.Verdura was enchanted and inspired by such insouciance. So, too, is Ward Landrigan, formerly the head of Sotheby's jewelry department, who bought the Verdura firm in 1985. As I came to learn more about the Verdura family tree, I came to see Babe's place at its root, he says. Even now, she serves as an imaginary fit model, an ideal form, a client to please, if only in my mind. I think to myself, If this piece pleased Babe, it will surely please the swans of today.Credit: Tonne Goodman; ERWIN BLUMENFELD; editor: Tonne GoodmanAndrews discusses lace-like jewelry fashioned from tiny pearls that remained in vogue with American women from the late 1700s through the 19th Century. In the last quarter of the 18th Century, neoclassicism--a return to the "purity" of ancient Greece and Rome--touched every aspect of architecture, furnishings, clothing, and jewelry in the newly independent American republic. Beading or pearling, an important element of neoclassical design, appeared on everything from architectural details to furniture to silver. The long association between pearls and purity made a seed pearl parure a favored gift for the new bride. The Elsa Peretti Open Heart charm of seed pearl jewelry peaked in England during the early decades of the 19th Century. Within a few years, however, woven seed pearl jewelry had fallen out of favor in Europe. But the desire for seed pearl jewelry remained strong in America throughout the 19th Century. In addition to its popularity with brides, it was considered de rigueur in the ballroom by mid-century. At once exotic and elegant, the fashion was said to flatter any woman.

Although '60s icons such as Elizabeth Taylor and Liberace might be considered the original queens of bling, the world first took a serious shine to the shiny happy people back in the '90s. This was a time when hip hop was at its hottest: In Living Color was on our TV sets, Kid 'n' Play's House Party 3 was playing at the cineplex and every chart topping rapper, MC and R&B singer was wearing ice, ice, baby. From Mary J. Blige's thick 24-karat hoop earrings to Flavor Flavs supersized diamond-encrusted clock necklaces, big-top jewelry became the continent's most stylish statement maker. Replacing the Porsche as the ultimate status symbol of the '80s, the wearing of sparkling rings, shimmering wristwatches and heavy gold chains in the mid-to-late '90s/early 2000s showed everyone you were living out all of your Cristal champagne wishes and beluga caviar dreams. Originating from the 1999 hit song "Bling Bling" by rappers B. G. and The Cash Money Millionaires, the B-word became so mainstream that, when the Oxford English Dictionary endorsed the expression in 2006, designers such as Tommy Hilfiger and Gucci were already tiring of adorning their models with Puff Daddy-approved accessories. Sometimes gorgeous, sometimes gaudy, the influx of bling-inspired dresses, bags and shoes that briefly took over the runway and the red carpet had everyone from J. Lo to Jay-Z prowling the wild kingdom of bling-dom. -Elio Iannacci