Victorian Accessories

I next thought to research other areas of fashion in the period, and so turned to accessories and jewellery. The two that I have drawn are a victorian style buckle ring, and one earring of a set. Each have diamonds (or clear stones such as cubic zirconia) however it is obvious that they are very different in style. This may be reflcetive of the fact that Victorian jewellery designers looked to the past for inspiration, starting with Grecian designs during the first few decades of the 1800s, then moving on to more renaissance period pieces,



"There was also an interest in jewels inspired by the Medieval and Renaissance periods. It is a testament to the period's eclectic nature that jewellers such as the Castellani and Giuliano worked in archaeological and historical styles at the same time."

-http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/jewellery-through-the-ages/

. Nature is a very obvious theme to the majority of the jewellery, including reference to flowers and fruits, which were fairly extravagant rather than delicate during the 1850s onwards. The colours of gemstones were also used to symbolise different emotions and messages within the flowers or fruit.

Necklace as part of a set, 1806

an example of naturalistic jewellery

This theme is also carried on into the hair accessories of the time, where women would decorate their hair with flowers or pieces of hair jewelery, such as brooches. When designing my Estella, I will take into consideration the natural element of jewellery and accessories when thinking both of styling and of hair, playing off the innocence and fragility of flowers against Estella's cold exterior.

a simple example of hair decoration

victorian 'mourning flowers'