1960s Modernism Blog

POSTED BY Victoria Tillotson, 27 August 2007

Welcome to my blog! I’m Victoria, aka Metal Chik. I’m not really a metalhead (anymore), but I am a lover of metalsmithing and jewelry and want to share the luuv with you! My story is simple: A punk rock kid who collected jewelry becomes an academic, later moves to NYC and becomes a jewelry designer and teacher at School of Visual Arts! I am a geek inside and also a historian, antique jewelry expert and author. I know, ho hum. But as Metal Chik, I’m going to focus on cool jewelry, trends, get inside the kooky jewelry industry and Diamond District, gab about gemstones and talk my butt off. My sidekick is the fabulous Adam Moore. Adam has an extensive background in fashion, with major retail experience, trend analysis and styling. He is also a jewelry student with tons of promise, so he’s going to demo a lot of stuff for us. Adam loves the Liberace size ring, and was really into this episode.

So this week we are all about vintage jewelry and how-to's. I love to do episodes like this about vintage jewelry on Metalchik, and I luuuuuv the 1960s — Pucci, Courreges, Pierre Cardin ... the graphic patterns, geometric lines, and, later, the f-u attitude during the Summer of Love ...

OK, OK, I’ll stop air-guitaring "All Along the Watchtower" as I get all nostalgic now … But seriously, the 1960s totally keep on rockin’: Fashion keeps on taking cues, like the oversize glasses and Pucci print tunics last summer, and the oversized enamel or plastic pendants on long chains. But nothing beats the real thing, the look and feel of authentic 1960s mod jewelry.

Since I used to sell this kind of jewelry, I know just where to go on the Web to get some awesome pieces. My friends Howard Auerbach and Ken Maffia have amazing taste and classic modernist jewelry by famous jewelry designers like Ed Wiener and Art Smith. Another friend of mine, Marbeth Schon, has a great selection of cool pieces, not just modernist, but also wild jewelry by contemporary designers. She is also the editor of Modern Silver Magazine, an excellent source for information about vintage jewelry. And my friends Shannon Aaron and Sue Jacobson have one of the funnest Web sites for vintage design and jewelry around, The Modhaus. The name says it all!