Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
It didn’t matter that Marilyn F. Cooperman didn’t have any formal training when well-known American luxury jeweler Fred Leighton asked her to design jewelry. By then, she had written professionally about fashion, established her own clothing company, and built up so much New York City chutzpah that she could have made it anywhere.
When she was 20 years old, the Toronto-born Cooperman moved to New Zealand and wrote a newspaper column about fashion and beauty. In 1963, she relocated to New York City and opened her first clothing company, Max and Marilyn, where she sold Art Deco–inspired clothing to department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdale’s.
Cooperman designed a collection of resort wear for Fred Leighton’s apparel store, but by the mid-1970s, she returned to writing and worked as a fashion director for Seventeen magazine and later held editing roles at Simplicity and Vogue Patterns.
In 1987, Leighton, an esteemed red carpet jeweler who has become known for bringing antique and 20th-century jewels to a discerning international clientele, asked Cooperman to design accessories for his store on Madison Avenue. She accepted his offer and took up studies on wax casting at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
After five years of designing for Leighton, Cooperman opened her own jewelry company, Marilyn F. Cooperman, Inc. Her earrings were brightly colored, eye-catching confections that featured opals, rubies and blue sapphires, and she created innovative, alluring bracelets that mixed patinated silver and 18-karat gold. Her accessories were a hit, especially among celebrities, political figures and royalty.
Cooperman’s jewelry is held in the collections of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, the Yale University Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She was on the Board of the American Society of Jewelry Historians.
On 1stDibs, find vintage Marilyn F. Cooperman earrings, brooches and rings.
1980s Contemporary Vintage Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Early 2000s American Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Diamond, Pearl, 18k Gold, Platinum
20th Century Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Diamond, Pearl, 18k Gold
20th Century American Modern Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Diamond, Pearl, Platinum
1970s Vintage Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Diamond, Emerald, Pearl, Ruby, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
18k Gold, Yellow Gold
Late 20th Century Japanese Contemporary Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Diamond, Black Pearl, Platinum
1980s Unknown Modern Vintage Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Coral, Lapis Lazuli, Black Jade, Gold, 18k Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Contemporary Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Multi-gemstone, Gold, 18k Gold
1950s Vintage Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Diamond, Platinum
21st Century and Contemporary Thai Baroque Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Amethyst, Pearl, Ruby, Blue Sapphire, Pink Sapphire, Green Sapphire, Top...
21st Century and Contemporary British Contemporary Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
South Sea Pearl, Tanzanite, Gold, Yellow Gold
20th Century Unknown Contemporary Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Diamond, Yellow Gold, Gold, 14k Gold, White Gold
1960s Modern Vintage Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Emerald, Pearl, Diamond, 14k Gold
2010s American Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Diamond, Sapphire, Gold, Silver, 18k Gold
1980s American Vintage Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
18k Gold, Yellow Gold
21st Century and Contemporary American Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Diamond, Freshwater Pearl, Sapphire, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold, Silver
Early 2000s American Marilyn Cooperman Earrings
Diamond, Emerald, 18k Gold, Gold, Yellow Gold