Fashion Jewellery: Made in Italy

While Deanna Farneti Cera has written extensively and eloquently about vintage jewelry, this latest title from her seems to be a bit too general and open ended for her area of expertise. Fashion Jewellery is a beautifully executed monograph devoted to this particular area of accessories, and yet it seems to lack the impact it might have had.

Cera has tied the development of the fashion jewelry business a bit too closely to the actual business of fashion especially in Italy. In doing so, she has managed to make a few statements that might be taken as a bit too personal, meaning that they these statements contradict what popular knowledge might otherwise dictate. For instance, to say that Walter Albini was not a successful clothing designer is a statement that would raise the hackles of most who are fashion aficionados.

The story that Cera tells, while one might find it interesting, might also be conceived as over told or over explained as this business, while related to that of clothing, has not always developed in tandem with it nor does it always bear a hand in hand relationship. Some of the history is germane to the title, but too much verbiage is spent on explanations that are not essential to the subject.

Fashion jewelry developed in Italy from that era has always remained one of the glories of the worldwide business of accessories, and yet the examples shown are not always exemplary nor spectacular. Granted, there are some exquisite photos of jewelry and some fabulously nostalgic ads and editorials included but few would live up to what might be deemed incredible or glorious—and certainly not all that memorable.

The book might have taken a different turn if it had been approached with less text and more photographs and surely more examples from the greats of Italian fashion jewelry like Ugo Correani, Coppola e Toppo, and then so much licensed product that was developed with the rise of rise of Italian fashion in last 15 years of the 20th century.

For some this will be a wonderful visual album of this era of fashion jewelry that will satisfy their curiosity; for others, this will prove a bit too scholarly and not always as fulfilling as the reader might have hoped for.