Kenneth Jay Lane
The designer who made costume jewelry chic and put glamour within everyone's reach.
No one did more to free costume jewelry from the second tier than Kenneth Jay Lane. Beginning in the early 1960s he treated faux gems with the seriousness of fine jewelry, dressed the most photographed women in the world, and proved that glamour need not depend on the value of the stones.
From Detroit to Park Avenue
Kenneth Jay Lane was born in Detroit in 1932, the son of an automotive parts supplier, and studied at the University of Michigan and the Rhode Island School of Design. He came to New York for the art department of Vogue, then found his way into fashion through shoes, designing for Delman and, crucially, for Roger Vivier at the New York branch of Christian Dior. It was there, working amid the finest materials in Paris-quality footwear, that his eye was trained.
The jewelry began almost by accident. Embellishing shoes with rhinestones, he started wrapping plain dime-store bangles in leather and crystals, then turning out earrings to match. The pieces caught on. When the fashion insider Jo Hughes showed his designs to the Duchess of Windsor, who bought several and told her friends, his business was made.
I myself am a fabulous fake.Kenneth Jay Lane
Why His Jewelry Matters
Before Lane, costume jewelry was an afterthought, something modest worn to church. He approached it as couture instead, with bold color, dramatic scale, and quality "stones" of glass and resin that often passed for the real thing. He drew freely on Cartier, Van Cleef, and Schlumberger, and on the jewels of Egypt, India, and the Art Deco era, then made the result chic in its own right rather than a poor copy.
His clients could have afforded anything, which was precisely the point. Jacqueline Kennedy commissioned faux versions of her jewels so she could wear them freely and keep the originals in the safe, and his three-strand faux pearls became an icon of the era. The Duchess of Windsor, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Diana Vreeland, Princess Diana, and Nancy Reagan all wore his work. As he put it, his jewelry was made for people who want to be noticed.
Lane signed his pieces with marks that were soldered, engraved, or set deep into the metal, never glued, and the early work, stamped K.J.L. before the periods were dropped, is the most prized by collectors today. Bold animals, Maltese crosses, cabochons, and ropes of pearls are the vocabulary to look for.
The House Today
In 1993 The New York Times compared Lane to Coco Chanel for having made faux jewelry chic, with one difference: where Chanel dressed the wealthy, Lane's pieces reached a far wider audience. He embraced that democratic streak completely, becoming a fixture on QVC, where his appearances drew enormous sales and introduced his work to millions. He kept designing and holding court in New York until his death in 2017, at eighty-five. The house that carries his name continues to produce jewelry in his spirit.
Kenneth Jay Lane at MDVII
At MDVII we look for Lane's vintage work, the bold early pieces in which his wit and his eye are fully on display. The Kenneth Jay Lane pieces available now are gathered below.
