Russia.
Charles I of England had a French Huguenot designer named Chardin whom
religious troubles had forced into exile in London. Chardin, born in
Paris, was a world traveler as well as a jeweler and had seen the
fabulous treasures of Turkey, Persia, and India. He died Sir John
Chardin and was buried in Westminster Abbey, certainly a tribute to his
genius. The queens of the earth have been leaders in furthering new
styles in diamond designs, and among these were Elizabeth of England,
Catherine of Russia, Marie Antoinette and Eugenie of France, Victoria
and Alexandra of England, and Marie of Rumania.
At
the turn of the present century, France experienced the beginnings of a
great epoch in fine jewelry design in which it led the way. For the
first time in history diamonds, the hardest substance known to man,
were set in "soft" shapes. Collars, necklaces, and bracelets which
formerly had been as stiff as court etiquette were now designed in
flowing lines and feather fronds. Big pear-shaped diamonds were set on
almost invisible platinum wires to move, like limpid water-drops, in
pendant necklaces and earrings. Carrier's of Paris probably was the
first jeweler to set any gems in platinum. Carrier's also was the first
to create jewelry from the standpoint of its use with prevailing
fashions. Deeply fringed necklaces, for instance, appeared when the
evening decollete" was low. The diamond dog-collar, which was literally
named for the wide leather collar of the lap dog, followed the fashion
for a long throatline set by Consuela, Duchess of Marlborough, who
possessed the truly "swanlike" neck. The breastpin of the eighties
followed the collar-pin of the sixties. When the neckline was finished
with a little round turned-down collar, the ladies wore a collar-pin.
When the fashion emphasis was on bosom,
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