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Miriam haskell3/29/2023 ![]() Haskell or Jewels of Haskell are not considered to be collector’s pieces, but rather trendy fashion jewelry made for mass sale in department stores. Newer Haskell made from the 2000s on varies in quality. Each designer kept Haskell’s tradition of using high-quality materials, including faux baroque pearls, and impeccable craftsmanship alive while adding their own unique touches to the lines they oversaw. A number of other lead designers worked for Haskell thereafter including Peter Raines (briefly), Lawrence Vrba, and Millie Petronzio. He worked there for a decade and is credited for a number of noteworthy Haskell lines. Robert Clark, who later partnered with William DeLillo, joined Haskell in 1958 and took the reins as head designer when Hess left the company. ![]() Pieces signed Josef Morton and Amourelle often exhibit characteristics of Haskell designs. He also worked with Kramer in the 1960s to design their Amourelle line. Hess retired from Haskell in 1960 and co-founded the Morton Hess company with Josef Morton Glasser, Miriam Haskell’s nephew. While Miriam Haskell didn’t die until 1981 at the age of 82, she lost control of her business to her brothers in 1950 as her health declined. Many early brooches and clips, which are unmarked, have decorative elements sewn onto plastic disks while later marked pin styles were more neatly finished with filigree backings. During the World War II era, non-traditional materials such as shells, cord, wood, and various plastic elements were used while war conditions made it hard to get metals and importing other components was difficult. This popular vintage costume jewelry is known for its hand-manipulated construction using imported glass beads of varying sizes, faux baroque pearls, and rose montee rhinestones among other embellishments. Many celebrities owned and were photographed wearing Haskell jewelry, including the Duchess of Windsor, Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, and Lucille Ball. Haskell jewelry was worn on the silver screen and in numerous theater productions during this era. Sales boomed both domestically and in Europe. Interviews with former employees, however, point to Hess as the creative genius behind most early Miriam Haskell designs while she ran the business side of things.īy the late 1930s, Haskell’s business was thriving. The extent to which Haskell herself designed jewelry for the business is largely unknown. She quickly hired Frank Hess, who had been working as a window dresser for Macy’s, as a jewelry designer. Miriam Haskell opened her first shop in the McAlpin Hotel in New York, New York, in the late 1920s.
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