Palm Beach Show 2011

14 Cabochon turquoise and pavé diamond ring, circa 1940, by Cartier. Courtesy, Sandra Cronan, Ltd. Platinum ring featuring invisibly set rubies and diamonds by Tiffany & Co. The center of the ring features 66 invisibly set rubies surrounded by 22 baguette cut diamonds, and 32 round cut diamonds. Circa 1940s and signed, Tiffany & Co. Courtesy, Macklowe Gallery. A pair of diamond, ruby and gold “Sign Language” brooches, circa 1940, by Paul Flato. Courtesy, Vendome. frequently seen on some of the world’s most glamorous women, including film stars like Merle Oberon and the Duchess of Windsor. During the golden age of Hollywood in the late 1930s and 1940s, stars were among the big- gest and most visible clients for the Retro jew- elry. It was a perfect match. Actresses needed jewelry that was highly photogenic, impactful, and larger-than-life, like their studio-crafted screen personas. Stars often wore their own jewelry on screen and there was no small amount of professional competition over whose jewels was the finest. Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Paulette Goddard, Rita Hayworth, and Joan Crawford were all well-known for their beautiful collections of jewelry. It wasn’t just women who wore Retro jewelry. Paul Flato (1900–1999), one of Hollywood’s most popular jewelers was known for the pieces he created for dapper gentlemen during the heyday of his career in the late 1930s to 1943: his cufflinks, shirt studs, and cigarette cases of impeccable ele- gance were worn and carried by some of Hollywood’s most powerful moguls and lead- ing men, including Gary Cooper, Fred Astaire, and Cary Grant. It was an era of tremendous style and glamour. “Flato was influenced by Surrealism,” says Elizabeth Irvine Bray, the author of Paul Flato Jeweler to the Stars. “He designed a pair of ‘foot’ cufflinks for the Hollywood costume designer Adrian [Adrian Adolph Greenberg], and his ‘nuts and bolts’ cufflinks of the 1930s, originally designed for society band leader Peter Duchine, became one of his most widely copied designs; you can still see ver- sions of them today.” Bray adds, “He made ‘sign language’ brooches for women; hands, in gold, with enamel or ruby fingernails, making the sign language gestures for ini- tials. They were hugely popular: Katharine Hepburn wore them in ‘Holiday.’” Among his witty designs was a brooch Flato made for actress Marlene Dietrich. “She fell on the set of ‘The Lady is Willing’ [1942] and broke her leg,” Elizabeth Bray explains. “The cast and crew commissioned a brooch from Flato: a pair of legs, in gold, with ruby toenails, and one of them is set in a cast!” The power of Retro jewelry was its initial visual impact rather than its use of rare mate- rials, a result of the restraints from World War II (1939–1945). Luxury industries in general, and fine jewelry in particular, were transformed. There was an unavailability of diamonds and exotic gemstones, and many of jewelry’s traditional raw materials like gold and platinum were diverted to a more brutal yet vital purpose.