Kjl Rhinestone Earrings
Late 20th Century American Regency Clip-on Earrings
Gold Plate
20th Century Stud Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Modern Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1980s American Art Deco Clip-on Earrings
Gold Plate
Vintage 1970s American Necklace Enhancers
Crystal
Late 20th Century American Modern Collectible Jewelry
Metal, Gold Leaf
Vintage 1960s American Brooches
People Also Browsed
Vintage 1980s American More Rings
Diamond, Yellow Gold
20th Century Chain Necklaces
Gold Plate
Late 20th Century Mexican Modernist Brooches
Silver, Sterling Silver, Enamel
1990s Stoles
20th Century Link Necklaces
Vintage 1970s French Clip-on Earrings
Gold Plate
20th Century French Halter Tops
21st Century and Contemporary Pendant Necklaces
18k Gold, White Gold
Mid-20th Century American Art Deco Pendant Necklaces
Crystal, Diamond, Gold, Gold Plate, Yellow Gold
2010s Italian Skirts
20th Century More Earrings
Vintage 1970s American Modern Pendant Necklaces
Gold Plate
1990s French Cocktail Dresses
21st Century and Contemporary French Coats
20th Century Drop Earrings
Crystal
Vintage 1980s Unknown Modern Clip-on Earrings
Recent Sales
Vintage 1960s Chandelier Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Dangle Earrings
Vintage 1960s Clip-on Earrings
21st Century and Contemporary American Contemporary Clip-on Earrings
21st Century and Contemporary American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Art Deco Clip-on Earrings
20th Century American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1980s American Clip-on Earrings
Late 20th Century American Chandelier Earrings
1990s American Drop Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1980s American Clamper Bracelets
Vintage 1980s Modernist Choker Necklaces
Pearl
Vintage 1980s American Modern Stud Earrings
Late 20th Century American Retro Dangle Earrings
Zircon, Rhodium
Vintage 1960s American Drop Earrings
Rhodium
Vintage 1980s American Art Deco Clip-on Earrings
20th Century Modernist Multi-Strand Necklaces
Silver Plate
Vintage 1980s American Clip-on Earrings
Rhodium, Base Metal
Vintage 1960s American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1970s American Chandelier Earrings
21st Century and Contemporary American Drop Earrings
Late 20th Century American Chandelier Earrings
Late 20th Century American Chandelier Earrings
Vintage 1980s American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Clip-on Earrings
American Dangle Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Chandelier Earrings
Vintage 1980s American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Drop Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Chandelier Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Chandelier Earrings
21st Century and Contemporary American Clip-on Earrings
2010s American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Chandelier Earrings
21st Century and Contemporary American Dangle Earrings
21st Century and Contemporary American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1980s American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Chandelier Earrings
21st Century and Contemporary American Dangle Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Chandelier Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Chandelier Earrings
Vintage 1960s Clip-on Earrings
21st Century and Contemporary American Clip-on Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Chandelier Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Chandelier Earrings
2010s American Clip-on Earrings
21st Century and Contemporary American Dangle Earrings
Vintage 1960s American Drop Earrings
21st Century and Contemporary American Clip-on Earrings
Kenneth Jay Lane for sale on 1stDibs
The father of so-called “fabulous fakes,” Kenneth Jay Lane was a spirited innovator within the jewelry industry, designing elegant and luxurious pieces without the use of real jewels. And while Lane aspired to create classic designs for earrings, bracelets and necklaces intended for everyday wear, his pieces caught the attention of celebrities, royalty and socialites.
From a young age, the Detroit, Michigan-born Lane was a lover of fashion. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Michigan. He pursued a design career in New York City, and a failed start in the art department of Vogue magazine led to a decade of designing shoes for the likes of Delman and Christian Dior.
Lane would occasionally develop shoe designs for friends he had in the fashion world such as Bill Blass and Arnold Scaasi. A show for the latter afforded him the opportunity to beautify shoes with rhinestones and create bangles and earrings to pair with the footwear — he found plastic bracelets at discount variety store and had them embellished by craftspeople at a shoe factory.
A love for costume jewelry design emerged thereafter. Lane created his own collection and admirers such as Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor showered him with praise. A pearl necklace he designed was worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. In the early 1960s, ready-to-wear pioneer Hattie Carnegie purchased Lane’s jewelry line. Lane was given the position of design director for Carnegie but he soon changed course, moving instead into a small studio and pursuing his own path.
Lane worked with milk glass, gilded silver hardware, faux coral and other materials, and sold pendant necklaces, dangle earrings and modern bracelets to private customers. He was fond of renowned fine jewelry houses Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels and designers such as Jean Schlumberger, and cited having found inspiration in Egyptian and Indian jewelry over the years as well as Art Deco jewelry. Lane’s designs, which he called “faque” and “junque,” became well-known for their distinctive color combinations and clever characteristics such as embroidery. By the time he purchased a small jewelry factory in Providence, Rhode Island, where his accessories would be made during the 1960s, Lane had secured relationships with top Manhattan boutiques and his work had caught the attention of fashion magazines.
Directed by the filmmaker Gisèle Roman, a 2018 documentary about Lane’s life and work called Fabulously Fake: The Real Life of Kenneth Jay Lane features interviews with legendary fashion designers Carolina Herrera, Tory Burch and Diane von Furstenberg.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of vintage Kenneth Jay Lane brooches, rings and other accessories.
Finding the Right earrings for You
In the United States, ear piercing didn’t really become popular until the 1950s and ‘60s, but our desire for a dazzling pair of vintage earrings has deeper roots than that. In fact, wearing earrings actually goes back thousands of years, and you can find many tangible connections between now and then in how we continue to talk about these treasured accessories.
Women wore ornamental earrings — studs and hoops at the very least — in Ancient Egypt, which is home to mines that are among the earliest sources of emeralds in the world. Emerald earrings are highly prized today, and their quality lies in their rich, saturated color. The highest-quality emeralds are green or bluish-green. Earrings worn by the affluent in early Roman civilizations were set with precious stones such as diamonds and pearls, and a clean-looking pop of pearl on the front of the lobe is as timeless as ever. Hoop earrings are imbued with symbolism and cultural significance for many, and on view in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Ancient Near Eastern Art Gallery is a pair of simple gold hoops from Mesopotamia dating to between 2600 and 2500 B.C.
Today, ear piercing is very popular all over the world, and, as a result, it is difficult to overstate how much everyone pines for a good pair of earrings — modernist drop earrings, glamorous Victorian hoops, geometrically complex chandelier earrings, you name it. Sure, jewelry trends and the fashion darlings of social media come and go, but earrings have a staying power that seems impenetrable: The still-strong love affair between British royals and Cartier earrings is more than a century old, glossy 1970s hoops from legacy houses such as Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels remain the statement makers they’ve always been and although people have been stacking earrings for many moons, the allure of an expertly mismatched stack of charms and studs still feels fresh and new.
While there is no shortage of modern earring designs to choose from, the classics, like coral earrings, Art Deco–style earrings and diamond drop earrings are still heavy hitters. On 1stDibs, find a wide range of antique, new and vintage earrings today.