Christian Dior

You may view available jewlery from this & other designers by searching for their name in our shop.

One of the premier couture designers of the 20th century, he made history by presenting the first collection featuring his “New Look” in 1947. With this new look, he also needed new jewelry.

Rare Vintage 1964, Christian Dior, Marc Bohan Ruby Paste Glass Necklace

Dior’s early jewelry pieces were not marked. They were done with famed French jewelry man-ufacturers Gripoix, Goosens, and Jean-Pierre, and featured hand-made components and superb quality. They can be very difficult to identify as Dior.

He also produced a line with Schreiner of New York in 1949, however these pieces are not marked this way. Additional collaborations with other designers and jewelry companies in the 1950s brought about several ready-to-wear collections including those marked Mitchell Maer for Dior and Christian Dior by Kramer. Beginning in the mid-50’s, Dior formed a lasting partnership with Henkle & Grosse’ of Germany.

A collaboration with Swarovski in the mid-1950s had a enormous impact. The introduction of the amazingly iridescent “aurora borealis” rhinestones in conjunction with Dior was far reaching, and he used them in many designs, and many other designers followed suit.

Jewelry produced from the mid-1950s through the 1970s by Henkel & Grosse is usually marked with an oval cartouche reading Chr. Dior with a copyright symbol. Sometimes the jewelry is tagged to indicate the firm’s association as part of the Dior mark or on a separate signature plaque. Often, you’ll discover this jewelry has Germany or Made in Germany either as part of the Dior mark, or on the clasp, etc.

Henkel & Grosse started using a date on most of their Dior cartouches when Christian Dior died in 1957. That contin-ued into the 1970s, but the style changed to be more Art Deco. The same style was also used in the 1970s without a date.

Larger oval plaques were used in the 80s spelling out Christian Dior Boutique. Moving into the 1990s they changed again to Chr. Dior or Dior without a date.

Vintage Dior jewelry from the 50s to the 70s is of high quality and highly collectible. That is extending to pieces from 80s under Marc Bohan, followed by Gianfranco Ferre’ and John Galliano into the 90s.

You may view available jewlery from this & other designers by searching for their name in our shop.