What is Costume Jewelry?
If all the types of jewelry occupied a straight line, costume jewelry would be at one end and fine jewelry at the other. They are opposites in the world of jewelry. Where fine jewelry is usually expensive, costume jewelry is relatively inexpensive. Fine jewelry is classic in style, while costume jewelry is usually trendy. Fine jewelry is designed to last, to be handed down from generation to generation. столовеCostume jewelry is created to be “just right” for the moment. With this great diversity, you can see why you might use some of both types in your collection.
Costume jewelry is a relative newcomer to the world of jewelry – less than a century old. It was a result of the changing times marking the end of the Victorian era and World War I. With the 1920s came a resurgence of fashion in clothing. The old, classic, expensive fine jewelry couldn’t keep pace with the fashion. So the glitzy, trendy, inexpensive alternative of costume jewelry was born. Supported and glamorized by famous personalities like Coco Chanel, it gained immediate acceptance.
Today’s costume jewelry ranges from plastic pieces costing less than a dollar to intricate creations costing thousands of dollars. In general, costume jewelry can be divided into three types:
- replicas of classic gold jewelry designs
- plastic pieces created in fashionable of colors
- showy pieces with unusual metals and imitation gems
Costume jewelry is still strongly linked with the fashion industry. In fact, it is most often sold in specialty fashion dress stores, department stores and online jewelry boutiques like SparklesForever.com rather than fine jewelry stores.
Costume jewelry offers many unique advantages. First among them is affordability. Although designer jewelry pieces can run to several hundreds or several thousands of dollars, most pieces fall into an affordable range. This affordability allows you to experiment with costume jewelry. Mistakes made in buying costume jewelry are not nearly so costly as those in bridge or fine jewelry. Another advantage costume jewelry brings with it is fashion forward designs. No matter what the clothing industry’s changes are, costume jewelry is quick to meet them.