Jewelry for my 1839 Christmas Outfit

I wore my "this old thing" 1839 dress to a Victorian Christmas Tea hosted by the delightful Modern Mantua Maker (https://themodernmantuamaker.wordpress.com/) in her beautiful Christmas-y home!

Since I was wearing an old dress, I made new jewelry to go with it (and finally debuted a stunning bonnet I got from Timely Tresses!). I was inspired by a couple of late-1830s portraits for my hair and jewelry:


Woman in a Red Dress by Anton Einsle, 1838


Portrait of Three Girls by Johann Nejebse, 1839

Here's my version of these looks:




I loved the little Pearl elements in the braids of the girls, so I clipped in a pair of earrings into mine and they worked perfectly! The ones I'm wearing are my large teardrops, but there are many styles that would work for this: https://www.damesalamode.com/search?page=1&q=pearl+earrings&type=product

I made the Swarovski Garnet and pearl necklace especially for this outfit and *loved* how it turned out, so this necklace is now available in my shop: https://www.damesalamode.com/products/choker-necklace-swarovski-garnet-and-pearl

And of course I threw on a festive collection of rings in Christmas colors. These (and more) are available here: https://www.damesalamode.com/collections/historical-rings

Layered Collet Necklaces for Autumn

I love Autumn!  It's my favorite time of the year.  Growing up in the South it meant there was finally a break in the heat, college football was back, and I was always excited to go back to school.  Now I love that it's time to make big pots of steaming soup, I can break out my cozy sweaters, and I *still* appreciate the break in the heat.

This also happens to be my favorite color season with the influx of rich jewel-tones and warmer earthy colors.  These tones are particularly well suited to collet necklaces, especially whey they are layered together.

Here are a few of my favorite combinations for Autumn (click on the link to go right to the necklace on my website):

Orange Topaz

Colorado Topaz

Amethyst Purple

Amethyst Purple

Raspberry Pink

Green Tourmaline

Olive Green

Colorado Topaz

Raspberry Pink

Small Green Tourmaline

Orange Topaz

Colorado Topaz

I hope you like these pairings!  What colors would you mix together?  You can see all of my collet necklaces here at www.damesalamode.com

New This Week from Dames a la Mode

Another slow couple of weeks of listing new items in the Etsy shop, but I've got some really lovely new pieces I wanted to show you!  Click on the picture and it will take you right to the listing in my Etsy shop.

Double-Stranded bracelets made with real Pearls and a lovely filigree box clasp.  $40 each and available with the clasps in several finishes

 Light Sapphire Blue collet necklace in the loveliest color of sky blue.  I loved this necklace so much I kept back some of the limited vintage stones for myself!  $135 and very limited quantity.

A rich, vibrant deep red collet necklace set in my signature crown settings.  The Antique Gold of the settings just adds to the heirloom feel of this piece.  It's like something a great grandmother passed down to you!  $110

These sparkling Peridot and Diamond crystal earrings are a subtle size, but make a big impact thanks to their eye-catching color and unique design.  $18

I've offered these great lion intaglio earrings in my shop for some time, but I was thrilled to find a vintage stash of them in these new colors!  Now available in red, green, and navy, which all look wonderful with the gold lions!  $20

The gold and black lions may look familiar as I've offered in them in my shop for some time, but now they are also available with Silver lions!  I really love the contrast of the rich black and cool silver!  Very Gothic!  $20

My Jane Austen silhouettes are now available as earrings!  Only $12 each!

New this week from Dames a la Mode!

I can be somewhat haphazard about how often I post new reproduction jewelry in my Etsy shop.  Some weeks I list like crazy, and other weeks I barely post anything.  It is generally related to how busy I am filling orders.  Adding new things always seems to be last on the list, so it is often ignored or forgotten.  I'd like to keep track of it, especially for my regular customers, since I know it can be challenging to wade through the Etsy pages to find what's new.

So here's what we've got this week!  Click on the picture to be taken to the item in my Etsy shop, Dames a la Mode:

Reproduction Cameo earrings made with gorgeous vintage cameos.  They have a very detailed and visible relief on them, so they are really remarkable!

This lovely bracelet is made with genuine rice pearls and features a gorgeous filigree box clasp, just like the ones you see from the 18th Century!  These looks especially great when worn as a pair. 

This is a one-of-a-kind vintage piece that I picked up.  It's really beautiful- very sparkly stones and not a single one missing. They surround a fiery glass opal. 

These Topaz-and-Diamond dangle earrings were inspired by an original pair, and I'm really happy with how close they are to the color of the originals!  The top stones are rare Light Topaz Swarovski stones, so these are very limited!  A classic style for both 18th and 19th century!

My very popular hoop-and-pearl earrings, now available with REAL Pearls!  These gorgeous genuine pearls are the perfect shape for these earrings and look really gorgeous when worn.  

My custom Jane Austen crosses are now available in many, many colors!  The original clear Topaz is still there, of course, but now you can coordinate your cross with your gown!  

This isn't techinally a "new" listing as I used to have it in my shop, but today I stumbled across a little bag of these wonderful grassy-green stones that I didn't realize I had! That means I have a few more collet necklaces I can make out of them! They are a great color- somewhere between Emerald and Peridot.  

And of course my new Jane Austen Silhouette Jewelry!  These are available as just the necklace or with the matching earrings, and feature a custom pendant with Jane Austen's profile and signature.  I love these so much!

I hope you've enjoyed my  new offerings this week!  As always, if there is anything you'd like to see in my shop, just leave me a comment and let me know!

Reproduction Jane Austen crosses

One of the holy grails of Georgian Jewelry has always been the Topaz cross pendants owned by Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra.  They were given these as gifts in 1801 by their brother, and they have an exciting story behind them!

[Charles] has received 30 pounds for his share of the privateer & expects 10 pounds more–but of what avail is it to take prizes if he lays out the produce in presents to his Sisters.  He has been buying Gold chains & Topaze Crosses for us;–he must be well scolded.” 

Letter from Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra, May 27, 1801

Charles was in the Royal Navy, and he received the money for his part in the capture of an enemy ship! Jane and Cassandra were lucky enough to receive this beautiful crosses with part of his share. 

Jane and Cassandra Austen's Topaz Crosses

We know from Cassandra's letter that they were meant to be worn on gold chains, which is the reason for the loops at the top.  Jane's is on the left- the one with the oval-shaped stones. 

From the moment I started reproducing my Georgian Paste jewelry, people were asking for a reproduction of Jane's cross.  After being disappointed with the selection of commerically-available settings, I was able to find someone to reproduce settings for me based on my exact specifications, and I'm so pleased with the results.  

The thing I'm most pleased with is the tiny little balls on the ends of the arms, which is such a beautiful design feature on the original pieces.  You can see them better in this close-up image:

These are currently available in Brown and Orange Topaz paste stones in my Etsy shop, however I am working on sourcing some actual Topaz gems to make even closer reproductions.  For now, you can buy your very own reproduction Jane Austen cross from Dames a la Mode. 

My newest reproduction Georgian collet Necklace

Recently I was lucky enough to attend my first ever Costume College, which is an annual gathering of costumers from around the world.  We spend three glorious days in lovely Southern CA talking about all things sewing, researching, and making.  It is paradise, and made even better by the multiple opportunities to wear our historic finery in an air-conditioned setting (all too rare for us reenactors!).

I wore a dress I'd worn many times before, but I did make a brand new necklace!

This double-strand collet necklace is based off of this wonderful portrait I recent came across:

 Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin by Georg Matthieu, c. 1774

I was utterly charmed by this portrait, and especially her unusual two strand collet necklace.  I had to have one for myself.  I whipped it together right before the ball, but I'm pleased with how it turned out!

My AMAZING hair was done for me by the lovely Jenny la Fleur!  She was kind enough to be my hairdresser AND my roommate, and she was superlative at both tasks!

Collet Necklaces in Ralph Lauren's Spring 2015 Runway Show

I recently had a customer purchase one of my harlequin collet necklaces, and she wrote me a note to tell me that she was inspired to purchase because of the jewelry in the newest Ralph Lauren ad preceding Downton Abbey.  I'll admit that I hadn't seen the ad as I tend to watch my Downton Abbey online and not on PBS, but I definitely wanted to see what his jewelry was like.  I performed a little Google-fu and boy was I surprised by what I found.  Ralph Lauren has fully embraced the collet necklace!

Just look at these jewels from Ralph Lauren's Spring 2015 runway show: 

Layered Necklaces

Harlequin Necklaces

A million, billion jewels!

Nothing subtle about these, is there?  I’ve always loved the harlequin collets, mostly because I have such a tough time deciding which color I like best, and I think Ralph Lauren has styled these models beautifully.  I especially love the big, bright jewels with the more understated outfits, but honestly I just love all of these looks!

Create your own Ralph Lauren look with the multi-colored collet necklaces available in my shop!