What is costume jewelry?

Costume jewelry, also known as  trinkets, fashion jewellery, refers to fake jewelry used to adorn garments. To meet the needs of frequent changes of fashion, artificial synthetic gems (resin), imitation gems and cheap metals are usually used as the raw materials, and some may be made of low-value or subpar gems, such as agate, ordinary jade, and colored stones, etc. As the name suggests, such jewelry is generally of little value, just for decoration, although many people may wear costume jewelry the same way as real jewelry.

What is costume jewelry?

What is costume jewelry made of?

The raw materials of costume jewelry are generally taken from non-precious materials such as semi-gemstones, glass, alloys, and plastics. Because their materials are relatively easy to obtain, low cost and high plasticity, designers are free to play in the design of accessories. Instead of deliberately imitating precious metals, costume jewellery focus more on the designer's creativity and craftsmanship to reflect the value. Costume jewelry never bother to disguise being of plastic or glass. Of course, there are also some types of costume jewelry whose prices are not much lower than high-end jewelry. For example, the costume jewelry in the "Paris-Moscow" high-end handmade series launched by Chanel two years earlier, hundreds of professional craftsmen and technicians spent 10,000-12,000 hours on them. Whatever the market price, the artistic value is huge.

Noble history of costume jewelry

Nowadays, most of the costume jewellery we see has its own counters in brand stores. They are not expensive and a variety of styles are available. They are sought after by celebrities and fashionistas, and are regarded as the best helpers for matching clothes. But the earliest costume jewelry was a substitute for Fine Jewellery. This history can be traced back to the 18th century. In order to cope with rampant thieves, the wealthy at that time ordered craftsmen to make imitations according to the collections in their homes, and wear them in some less important public places (especially outdoors) Even if they were robbed, there were no heavy losses. Later, it gradually evolved into a trend. Major fashion brands active in Paris will create two sets of jewelry series for customers to choose from. Of course, the prices of these two series are very different, and the clothing jewelry industry is more class-oriented because of its rich materials. With the characteristics of broad and auxiliary clothing as the mainstay, the design scale is getting wider and wider, and it gradually breaks away from the role of "substitute" for high-end jewelry.

Jewelry Seen in Ancient Oil Paints