Retro

Retro Period 1940’SDESIGN:IF ART DECO JEWELRY WAS FOR THE AGE OF SPEED, THEN THE 40’S JEWELRY WAS FOR THE AGE OF THE MACHINE. THE DESIGNS MIMIC PLUMING, ZIPPERS AND BRICKWORK. THEY ARE AMACHINIST OVER-HEATED DREAM WORLD-THE FORMS EXPANDING, WINDING, CURVING AND CURLING OUTWARD. THE LARGELY FLAT AND COLUMNAR FASHIONS OF THE 20’S AND 30’S DICTATED THE “TWO-DIMENSIONAL” ART DECO STYLE, TO THE NEXT DIMENSION, INTO SHAPES NEVER SEEN BEFORE. GOLD WAS TREATED LIKE A DRESSMAKERS MATERIAL WITH VOLUMES OF FOLDS, RIBBONS AND PIERCED LACEWORK. BIB NECKLACES AND TORSADES COME IN THE MID-1940’S IN ANTICIPATION OF FULL FEMININTY OF “THE NEW LOOK” LAUNCHED BY DIOR IN 1947SYMMETRY OF THE ART DECO DESIGN TIPS AND TILTS IT’S WAY INTO THE 1940’S. SURREALISM HAD HIT THE SENSIBILITIES OF THE 30’S DESIGN, BUT IN JEWELRY THIS ODD FANTASY WORLD      CAME INTO BEING IN WARTIME PIECES, WHEN LIFE MUST HAVE SEEMED AT ITS MOST SURREAL. NOW IS THE TIME FOR JEWELRY TO “AMUSE”, CREATE A REACTION, A LAUGH. SOME OF IT IS PRACTICALLY CARTOON-LIKE, AND SOME OF IT (IN THE CASE OF JOHN RUBLE CO.), ARE ACTUAL COPIES OF DISNEY CARTOONS! DESIGN OVERALL WAS INCESTUOUS, WHATEVER THE BEST DESIGNERS OR HOUSES WERE SHOWING WAS SOON COPIED. PERHAPS THE SIMILARITY WAS PUERLY UNINTENTIONAL, FOR OFTEN THE SAME MANUFACTURER WAS USED.