How Much Have Ideas Of Luxury Jewellery Changed?

If somebody ever tells you that luxury designer brooches are back in fashion, there is a question you might ask in response: Have they ever gone away?

This is a very pertinent question, because if you are looking at the top end of fashion today, much of what you see might be wearable art that is not so dissimilar from the styles of the past. It was ever thus.

If you are looking at luxury jewellery and metalwork from antiquity, for instance, it is not hard to see certain echoes of style that resonate down the ages.

A prime example of this may be the Staffordshire Hoard. Discovered in 2009 near Lichfield, the collection of over 4,000 gold and silver items dates from the seventh century and is the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon jewellery and metalwork ever found.

That gives us every opportunity to assess what the styles and materials were like. While some of the items were military, such as a helmet and swords, others were decorative.

While our knowledge of life in these times is contained by a lack of written history – the real reason the period between the end of Roman occupation and the Norman Conquest was first called ‘The Dark Ages’, there is much we can tell about cultural and artistic influences on design.

In particular, there is the fact that artistic styles used by the Saxons were evidently influenced by older traditions, with a close study of the hoard showing examples of Celtic and Pagan styles that had never fully died out.

Similarly, in so much of the wearable art we see today, even down to the origins of items like brooches, necklaces and pendants, we see echoes from the past.

Of course, there will be swings in jewellery fashion. A recent Vogue feature on the topic highlighted a recent shift to some large and chunky statement items. There may be other times when more minimalist items hold sway. But none of these are entirely new. In so many ways there is nothing new under the sun – or even under a field in Staffordshire.