Please note: The jewelry that was part of my segment on MARTHA is for sale at the following galleries in New York:
-Primavera Gallery
-Kentshire Galleries
-Doyle and Doyle
Contact information for these antiquarian retailers is listed here.

Tiffany & Co. (American, 1837-present), Paulding Farnham (American, 1859-1927), designer.
Iris Brooch, (Pink tourmalines, green garnet, platinum, c.1900-1901). Primavera Gallery, NY
Photo: Howard Agriesti, The Cleveland Museum of Art

Beginning in the 1840s, jewelry design reflected a wild fancy for all things organic. It was as if each ornament captured the cycle of life in a single, lyrical moment and immortalized it forever. The frenzied collecting of plants and flowers added a new lexicon of exotic species to the bejeweled menagerie. Diamond floral bouquets overflowed with graduated cascades of diamond drops, imitating rain or seeds falling from flower heads. This style of ornamentation was known as “en pampille” and remained fashionable until the 1850s. Corsage ornaments, enormous gem-intense brooches, were worn on the bodice of a ball gown. Often this important jeweled accessory took the form of a floral spray set with trembling with flower heads. This was accomplished by mounting each sprig and stem on a spring, permitting it to quiver with the slighted breeze. By the glow of a candle-lit ballroom, these bouquets floated across the dance floor leaving glitter in their wake.

Mother Nature’s produce was held in high esteem at the 1867 Universal Exposition in Paris. Botanical arrangements were seen everywhere, depicting their subjects with amazing accuracy in gemstones and precious metals. The jeweler and artist Oscar Massin became known for his sensitively reproduced flowers. Designer Leon Rouvenant displayed a jeweled life-size branch of lilac, to be worn as a hair ornament or brooch; the jewel was purchased by Empress Eugènie of France, whose collection of the best of French goldsmithing was unsurpassed. In the United States, the Tiffany school, taught and developed by head designer Edward C. Moore, devoted its efforts to educating its students in the study of botany. The school’s library possessed an impressive collection of reference books as well as dried and pressed specimens to be used by students to practice their watercolor and sketching techniques.


 Paulding Farnham, Tiffany’s lesser known but no less brilliant designer of jewelry, created gloriously beautiful flower-form brooches, hair ornaments and corsage decorations for the Paris Exposition of 1889. In particular, his two dozen orchid jewels which were designed specifically for this event, received the highest praise. “Twenty-four species of orchids, which are so faithfully reproduced that one would almost doubt that they are enamel, so well do they simulate the real flowers.” Orchids were a symbol of wealth and status during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and orchid fever was at its height when Tiffany & Co. displayed its prize examples at the Paris Exposition. Shortly after, collectors of hot house orchids, such as the financier Jay Gould, began to gather Farnham’s bejeweled ones too. 

An iris brooch, designed by Farnham, was purchased at the 1900 Paris Exposition by railroad magnate Henry Walters. Mounted with curved petals of Montana sapphires, flashing blue to deep lavender, and accented by yellow sapphires and diamond veining, the ornament remains a prime example of Victorian naturalism done with American flair — and with materials sourced in the United States. 

The example above is a similar iris brooch created by Farnham, this particular one may have been given to his wife.

Peter Carl Fabergé brilliantly reproduced floral arrangements in gold, enamel, precious gemstones and rock crystal. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna owned at least 20 examples of these flower arrangements. Her collection included several varieties of flowers and plants, including holly, catkins, sprigs of rowan, wild cherries, raspberries, cranberries, carnations, chrysanthemums, pansies, field daisies and a miniature pine tree. The most celebrated arrangement, a basket of lily of the valley sprouting from a velvet mass of green moss, was a favorite of the Empress. It sat on her desk from 1896 until 1917, the start of the Revolution. The basket was crafted in woven yellow gold and the moss was magically spun from green gold and platinum wire (this was before the common use of platinum in the early twentieth century) that had been left unpolished in patches, and clipped. Upon each stem grew leaves of carved nephrite, and blooming above the foliage were pearl flowers topped with rose-cut diamond petals.

Just a little preview of me on MARTHA. Click here to read more about my segment…

Nineteeth-century cameo cufflinks of labrador dogs carved in Labradorite. Image from www.vicmart.com

Labradorite is one of my favorite minerals used in jewelry. I was first introduced to it many years ago, while working at Edith Weber & Associates. As Edith and I were packing jewelry for an upcoming show, she handed me an antique ring set with a devil’s head carved from Labradorite. The superb sculpting of the gem and its “Labradorescence,” which we recognize as iridescence in lustrous blues and greens, brought Lucifer’s face to life, almost, it seemed, from a light within. Since then I have been obsessed with this ominous gem. Labradorite was originally discovered during the nineteenth century in coastal Labrador, a region of Atlantic Canada. It has also been mined in other countries. Colorful examples are the most desirable and this link illustrates a wide variety of lively specimens.

A fine example of period Labradorite jewelry is rare, so the cufflinks pictured above are an unusual find.

Sorry about the no-show on Thursday and Friday — I’m back down from the clouds, rested, and feet planted firmly on the ground. Thank you for your patience.

In reviewing the images from the Chanel and Christian Dior Spring Couture 2010 shows, the most apparent design schematic for jewelry was proportion. It seemed that Karl Lagerfeld saw the nineteenth-century corsage brooch, a large, imposing ornament, as having contemporary relevance in a more realistic, somewhat smaller, interpretation. The beaded details, pastes, and embroideries in his designs were placed higher, closer to the face; a flattering idea based on the turn of the twentieth-century way of styling jewelry. The top of one dress was created from chains of glittering white crystals. This was the collier, a choker length jewel, as both neckline and adornment. The efficiency of the idea read as the kind of brilliant shorthand, which Largerfeld does masterfully.

How charming are these filament insecta scatter pins? There is an ease, a versatility, to the concept of suggested form rather than a literal one. These pins would float equally well on a softly printed dress or casual coat without reference to season, or even to species. Modernist jewelry designers of the 1940s and ’50s took this concept and turned it into an art form.

John Galliano for Christian Dior pushed the elevator button and took us to the penthouse of romance. The clothes, small waisted with cascading skirts and crisply nipped jackets, were paired with antique-inspired jewels of grand-grander-grandest proportions. The enormity of the paste drops and marquise-shaped crystals served as the tongue-in-cheek punctuation to the whole. Irony is a universal motif, and when done with wit, transverses our collective imagination as smoothly as water on glass. You could almost cast the jewels in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland. All the gorgeous exaggerations apply, so back into the elevator, and down the rabbit-hole we go…

Christian Dior Spring 2010

My segment on MARTHA today. I just got back from doing the show. It was wonderful. Martha is a consummate professional, and everyone who works on the show is amazing beyond words!! There is a real treat in store for MARTHA fans for Valentine’s Day, and I encourage all of you to tune in (you couldn’t possibly just watch me…the show is too good!) Please forgive me for being so brief as I am utterly exhausted and I have been MIA for my family for the last few days. I will back on the blog tomorrow with a new post so I hope you will please join me then. xo

Here is an announcement from Rizzoli’s publicity department today:

We are pleased to announce that Lori Ettlinger Gross, author of Brooches: Timeless Adornment, will be on MARTHA on February 8th.

In NYC, MARTHA airs on WNBC/Channel 4 at 11am ET. Check other local listings for times and stations.

It was clear from the sparingly-applied ornamentation that the people of Haiti were on the minds of Golden Globe attendees last night. And if you haven’t yet given whatever you can to the Red Cross or any one of the emergency-relief organizations seeking immediate funding, please do! They need it most urgently now. Make this a life lesson for your children. When each of our three teenage boys heard that their parents had given money to these efforts, they independently and voluntarily (and without informing us until afterward) donated from their own hard-earned savings. A very proud moment in the Gross household.

Ok, and now for the show…

Given the display of restraint, there were still a few bright spots, many of which would translate nicely to us civilians. Hands down Julia Roberts won the evening jewel-wise. She wore an absolutely incredible 1972 Van Cleef & Arpels eighteen-carat yellow gold and citrine necklace with a sexy, petite-noir YSL dress. The look appeared effortless, natural, yet respectfully appropriate given the zeitgeist of the evening. Loved the fact that Halle Berry, Jane Krakowski and director, Kathryn Bigelow were wearing pieces by geode-splicing Kimberly McDonald; her work is very well executed and has an edgy individuality rarely seen on the red carpet. Courteney Cox played to her strengths in an extremely flattering Victoria Beckham gown and deep brown Lorraine Schwartz drop earrings. Carey Mulligan’s brilliant headband read refined ingenue; a nice touch that placed the focus on her adorable short do. Calista Flockhart made a definitive case for pearls — whoever chose the color of the strand she wore had a superlative eye for subtlety — they underscored the creaminess of her skin to perfection and in a way the camera could celebrate. Two understated-but-smouldering awards should go to Jennifer Aniston and Kristen Bell. Bell’s for her fitted VCA Folie de Pres necklace and her short, dazzling white Jasmine Di Milo dress, and Aniston in gold jewelry and a black Valentino gown, a slightly less formal look, that proved the sensuousness of yellow metal. Tina Fey, one of my writing heros, gets kudos for keeping real and wearing what suited her personal style — a plucky Zac Posen with a Dior’s New Look vibe, and fitted yet generous diamond earrings.

As for those who needed tweaking, well, I’ve been called to the mat recently for my candor so I’ll keep it as tactful I can here. The gorgeous Amy Adams should have rethought the brooch from Carolina Herrera’s personal collection. I completely understand what she was attempting with the jabot pin, and I commend the effort. However, the placement was off. When she turned sideways it made it look as though a part of her anatomy was tipped in gold — a kind of Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction without the disgarded wardrobe. I would have recommended that the ornament be placed similarly, just higher up towards the shoulder.

All the asymmetrical necklines were lovely but why everyone felt the need to completely divert the attention to the wrist (far too many bracelets and/or bangles) or wear no jewelry at all, was disappointing. Maggie Gyllenhaal, who could not have worn that sculpted vision of pink better, went fairly bare; the single bracelet too tame for such inventiveness. I also greatly admired Juliana Margulies in her well-chosen Narciso Rodriguez, and as she stated she kept the jewelry simple with a, “less as more” approach. Ok, but… small and slight is not necessarily less on the red carpet, and it certainly wasn’t more with the strong architecture of the gown. She could have done a fabulous, fitted earring without upturning her streamlined look. Last but not least, Mariah Carey, whose jewel style I have admired here in previous seasons. That reveal of décolletage deserved far more elaborate jewels. If you are going to dress diva, then please go the whole way, not half. May West’s style as a buxom beauty included a slathering of diamonds, opera singers have always dressed their dramatic talent in a show of gems, both fine and faux. Carey’s curvaceous attributes would have been better framed with jewels of proportionate presence. The lack of balance is what brought her look to a halting objection.

On another note: The folks at Philip Stein sent over one of their new Fruitz watches for me to try out their “natural frequency technology” which according to the company, “… encompasses the chief resonant frequency of the natural earth and is a frequency that is harmonious and grounding to life… and consumers have reported better sleep, less stress, clearer focus and better concentration when wearing Philip Stein watches…” The company introduced it “electromagnetic technology” watches in 2003, and developed their “natural frequency technology” in 2008. I’m wearing the white peach version for the first time today. Style-wise the watch is really cute, if not streamlined (sporty would be a better word). It has a Japanese made quartz movement, comes in delicious colors with coordinating rubber bands, displays a large, easy-to-read round face and lays comfortably on the wrist. The all-white watch I’ve got on my wrist right now is equally attractive, if not a little chic. I cannot tell if the “natural frequency technology” is working yet — or at all. I’ll give it another day or two before I decide. I’m sure stress will find me by Wednesday. I was wondering, though, in order to get a better night’s sleep, do I have to wear the watch overnight? Hmmm… that would be a deal breaker. I am very selective as to my bejeweled bed partners. What kind of girl do you think I am anyway?

Gearing up for the Golden Globe Awards this Sunday night, jewelers, such as the haute house of Cartier, are catering to Hollywood’s A-list. Up In The Air’s Anna Kendrick was getting the star treatment and trying on a
number of rock-em/sock-em gems that would easily knock-out the competition (and let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that these events aren’t about scene stealing among the nominees). I hope that Ms. Kendrick made choices that played up her petite frame and personal style. On the video, there was one necklace that looked truly beautiful on her. That particular example would make an excellent choice. Not everyone goes with what suits them as much as what is trend-itiorial. In fact, trying too hard has become pandemic at the GG’s — too much of even a great jewel is still too much.

I once was watching an old 1930s newsreel of a Hollywood premier. The actresses, whom I couldn’t identify, seemed so relaxed and natural, and yet, so elegant and refined at the same time. Their jewelry was equally appropriate — gorgeous too — but it didn’t seem to bog them down in importance. In fact, I would describe the look as not quite dowdy with an uplifting note of naive exuberance. Almost as if they were debutants wearing their grandmother’s heirlooms to their first social and didn’t know how to wear them with attitude. Ignoring the bauble on your arm as if were your own skin. That is the way to wear almost any type of jewelry, and certainly the way it appears most natural. Just fyi…

Thomas Jefferson's watch key containing the plaited hair of his deceased wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson's watch key containing the plaited hair of his wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson

On January 22, 2010, Thomas Jefferson’s watch key will be sold by Christies. Watches in the eighteenth century were wound by hand using a key-shaped device; they had to be wound each and every day. This particularly remarkable example contains the plaited auburn hair of his deceased wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson, who was thirty-three at the time of her death. Note the elegant engraving on the front explaining its contents. Jefferson was utterly devastated by the loss; Martha died shortly after giving birth to their sixth child. The front of the key lists Mrs. Jefferson’s day of her birth as well as the day of her passing: September 6, 1782.