Miriam Haskell
Miriam Haskell | |
---|---|
Tell City, Indiana | |
Died | July 14, 1981 , Ohio | (aged 82)
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Chicago University |
Occupation(s) | fashion jewelry designer and manufacturer |
Known for | Affordable, colorful, ornate, frequently beaded, custom jewelry worn by many of Hollywood's stars |
Miriam Haskell (July 1, 1899 โ July 14, 1981) was an American designer of costume jewelry. With creative partner Frank Hess, she designed affordable pieces from 1920 through the 1960s. Her vintage items are eagerly collected and the namesake company, which first displayed her jewelry in New York City's McAlpin Hotel, continues. It is currently listed as Haskell Jewels, LLC.[1][2]
Early life
Haskell was born on July 1, 1899, in Tell City, Indiana, a small town on the Ohio River, approximately 80 miles southwest of Louisville, Kentucky. After high school in New Albany, where her Russian Jewish immigrant parents ran a dry-goods store, she studied for three years at Chicago University.
Establishing her business
Moving to New York City in 1924 with $500 in her pocket, she opened a jewelry boutique in 1926 in the old
Most notable clients and collectibility of her work
Miriam Haskell jewelry was worn for publicity shots, films, and personal use by movie stars
Watercolors used for advertising, by Larry Austin and others, showing models wearing large Haskell pieces are also collected[6] and a Florida dealer found many in a set of steamer trunks around 1978; Haskell's family sold her archives and samples to defray the costs of her nursing home.[5]
Her vintage pieces can command high prices from collectors. However, her jewelry was seldom signed before 1950, and it was her brother Joseph Haskell who introduced the first regularly signed Miriam Haskell jewelry. For a very short time during the 1940s, a shop in New England did request all pieces they received be signed by Miriam - this signature being a horseshoe-shaped plaque with Miriam Haskell embossed on it. Pieces with this signature are rare.
Wealthiest patrons and community work
Haskell's clients included
Declining health, and legacy
The horror of World War II affected her health and emotional stability; in her fifties, she became ill, despite an adherence to health food. In 1950, she lost control of her company to her brothers. Living in an apartment on Central Park South with her widowed mother through the next decades, she became increasingly erratic in her behavior. In 1977, she moved to Cincinnati, under the care of her nephew Malcolm Dubin, and died in 1981.[3] It was a sad ending for an exceptional life, but, as Pamfiloff writes, "Obviously, the legacy of her dream has filtered on down through the decades. It was a man's world. Designers were men. The owners of companies were men. The staff was men. The salesmen were men. It was all men. And then you had Coco Chanel, who just jumped right out there, and a couple of other women who carved out their own niche in the world. Haskell did that, too."[4]
Books
- Deanna Farnetti Cera, The Jewels of Miriam Haskell (Milan: Idea Books, 1997).
- Barbara Ellman, "The World of Fashion Jewelry" (Highland Park, IL: Aunt Louise Imports, 1986).
- Cathy Gordon and Sheila Pamfiloff, Miriam Haskell Jewelry (Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2004).
References
- ^ "W Magazine, June 2009 - Sleeping Beauty, Miriam Haskell gets a wake-up call by Jessica Iredale".
- ^ "Haskell Jewels, LLC". Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
- ^ a b Barbara Ellman, "The World of Fashion Jewelry" (Highland Park, IL): Aunt Louise Imports, 1986
- ^ a b "How Miriam Haskell Costume Jewelry Bucked Trends and Won over Hollywood".
- ^ a b c d Cathy Gordon and Sheila Pamfiloff, Miriam Haskell Jewelry (Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2004).
- ^ "Haskell Advertising".