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1941 ChanelRelevant American Reinad ArtDecoStyle Silver PolkaDot LargeBow Brooch

Name: 1941 ChanelRelevant American Reinad ArtDecoStyle Silver PolkaDot LargeBow Brooch
Brand: Reinad
Price: 585 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

In Spring 1941 after French fashion couturier Gabriel "Coco" Chanel had stopped production of her clothing designs while she remained in Europe during the WWII era, the decades-old American costume-jewelry company Reinad began imprinting pieces in its new retail line, Chanel Novelty Co, with the script signature "Chanel". As this was prior to the use of the sans-serif capital-letter signature "CHANEL" on French-made jewelry that was commissioned by the Parisian designer, as well as before U.S.-copyright protection began in 1955, the House of Chanel that was mostly owned by the Jewish Wertheimer family of venture capitalists (who remarkably still produced Parfums CHANEL and French-vineyard wine via legal proxy while they lived in asylum in The States during the war) filed a U.S. lawsuit to demand that Reinad halt the use of its founder's famous last name. As the Werthheimers' quickly won, Reinad only produced the single seasonal collection stamped with the French brand name, and subsequently only imprinted its company name as the sans-serif capital-letter signature "REINAD" without a copyright symbol, which was different that its prior signatures dating back to its founding in 1922. When Chanel herself resumed French-made fashion production in Paris in 1953 (with Werthheimer support leading to their acquisition of all rights to her name despite her post-war eight-year exile in Switzerland due to close association with Nazis), for the first time all of her creations were signed "CHANEL" like the original packaging of the exceedingly profitable "No.5" perfume. While Reinad continued to produced costume jewelry until 1954, in the last decade of this business, the U.S. company continued to try to appeal to potential Chanel buyers by at least making Chanel-style designs. As such, owning an attractive and well-made Reinad piece can be considered a useful investment in fashion history as evidence of a little-known turning-point involving the most famous ongoing luxury-fashion business Chanel, as well as of the impact of that legal judgement had on advancing U.S. design protection for brands that later used the copyright symbol. Like early ArtDeco-style oversized heavy metallic costume jewelry by Chanel, this three-dimensional monochrome silver-alloy polkadot bow brooch imitates a pale polkadot-textured ribbon. Notably, while high-quality ribbon for styling hair or decorating clothing in a non-functional way was still an expensive accessory for special occasions a century ago, Chanel made extensive use of the large-bow motif in her couture clothing and costume-jewelry ensembles since the 1920s. As an appropriation of the tuxedo bow-tie accessory for men when it instantly connoted being rich and powerful, she often tied a monochrome silk ribbon around her head to pull back her hair. She so frequently used a bow to adorn her models and clients throughout her career that it became an iconic symbol of the brand.

Creator:

Reinad

Metal:

Rhodium,Silver,Base Metal

Weight:

40 g

Dimensions:

Width: 3.25 in (82.55 mm)Length: 3 in (76.2 mm)

Style:

Art Deco

Place of Origin:

United States