I’m one of those women who loves costume jewelry. In the mid-1980s, both myself and my mother discovered antique rhinestone baubles from the ’50s and ’60s. Mom collected colored stones. I had a weakness for faux diamonds. Together, our finds represented an incredible “treasure trove”: Art Deco dress pins, chandelier-like earrings, Tiffany’s-style bracelets and Hollywood star necklaces — all snapped up from flea markets in New York City, junk shops in Detroit and antique stores in San Francisco. And, though we amassed quite a collection, it definitely pales in comparison to the “cornucopian” exhibition currently on at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile — appropriately dubbed “Trop.”
Based on the theme of abundance, “Trop” steers you straight into the “jewelry box” of American-born collector Barbara Berger. The discerning daughter of a diamond dealer, Berger first purchased a pair of Chanel earrings — unearthed at Saint-Ouen’s Marché aux Puces, at the tender age of 13! Since then, she has assembled millions of items originating from France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and the United States.
The visitor is led through her lifelong accumulation of magnificent costume jewelry from the 1920s, all the way through to the swinging ’60s. Her brooches, clips and earrings — fashioned into glittering birds and bees, fanciful flowers, novelty shellfish and critters, as well as minute figurines — dance, crawl, leap and “lollygag” about, all over the pristine white walls of Patrick Jouin’s scenography. In some cases, he’s deployed pendants and pins like an artistic medium, using various jewels to create further entities: two bodies, a mouth, a hand, a tattoo or “mega gem.” He’s mixed shapes and colors, or layered fantastical items together. Each trinket is inlaid with a battalion of tiny glass stones, representing rubies, emeralds, sapphires or diamonds.
Stroll upstairs, where “too much” is never “enough”! Titled “Ornamentation,” part two of the expo, provides an “up close,” personal look at fashion’s purely “showy” edge. That section of this thematic overview spotlights a series of contrasting haute couture “moments”... The exoticism of Paul Poiret, overwhelmed by Chanel’s unabashed realism. Elsa Schiaparelli, whose surreal effects were eclipsed by the sobriety of Madame Gres. Or, Christian Dior whose extravagance “competed” with Balenciaga’s rigor.
In addition, more than 80 samples of needlepoint embroidery from Maison Rébé — launched in the 1920s — treat the onlooker to a myriad of visual thrills. Mostly figurative, these outlandish forms range from shrimp to Russian cigars, even “Niçoise salad” splayed over tartan plaids... Among the show’s glitzy keynotes: some 400 ceramic and braided buttons, along with textile prints, feathery fans and whimsical hats.
Trop — to Aug 31, Tue-Fri 11am to 6pm, Sat & Sun 10am to 6pm,107-111 rue de Rivoli, 1er, M° Palais-Royal, tel: 01 44 55 57 50, www.ucad.fr, 6E
