Wendy Gell ruled the fashion jewelry scene of the 1980s and defined commercial collections of the 1990s. Starting off as a taxi driver in New York, Gell designed her first piece of jewelry in 1976 as a birthday gift for a friend, inventing the now famous ‘Wristy’ cuff. In 1982, Vogue published a full-spread feature on her jewelry, establishing Gell as a sought-after designer, with celebrities like Cindy Crawford, Andy Warhol, Hillary Clinton, Cher, and Princess Diana adding her work to their collections.

Throughout the 80s, Gell designed for fashion houses such as Oscar de la Renta and Bill Blass, creating bold and colorful pieces covered in rhinestones and pearls. Her success continued into the 1990s, when she was commissioned by Disney to produce jewelry and other products, designing accessories for films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. A defining figure in the history of costume jewelry, Gell has built a lasting legacy and now shares her expertise teaching jewelry making at Southern Oregon University.

Shelley Goodman, founder and designer of Fernella's Jools, was first introduced to jewelry making at the age of sixteen at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. From there, she attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she majored in fine arts and enrolled in Fred Fenster's jewelry course. It was during this time that Goodman realized she was far more interested in the creative expression of art jewelry than in the meticulous precision required for creating fine jewelry. After graduation, Goodman moved to New York City, where she was introduced to the process of pouring plastic resin. Inspired, she made a collection of matching pins for a group of friends in a band, thus Fernella’s Jools was born. Goodman began printing paper, creating collages, and pouring clear resin over them, which she would then transform into jewelry. Fernella’s Jools sold at boutiques worldwide and received extensive press in fashion magazines. Fueled by the energy of New York City’s art scene in the 1980s, Goodman manufactured costume jewelry in the United States for twelve years before segueing into children's accessories. Today, Goodman teaches jewelry classes for K-5 afterschool art programs with the hope of inspiring the younger generation in the same way she was inspired at Haystack. 

Sterling Hykes was an artist, jewelry designer, and teacher of the renowned Karamu House in Cleveland, Ohio. Hykes was born in Tennessee in 1916. In the 1920s, his family moved north as a part of the Great Migration. After working as a dishwasher in his teens, Hykes pursued art as a means of finding a greater purpose, enrolling at the Cleveland School of Art as an evening student. Hykes worked in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, and enamel on copper jewelry, creating pieces based on animal imagery and African Art styles. His work was regularly featured in Cleveland Museum of Art’s May Show. Notably, Hykes designed the record jacket for Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1956 speech 'The Birth of a New Age'. After a dedicated career in art, Hykes passed away in 1974 at the young age of 58.

Wilmer Jennings was an artist, printmaker, and jeweler known for capturing African American life during the Great Depression. A graduate of Morehouse College, Jennings studied with renowned artist Hale Woodruff in Atlanta, collaborating on several murals for the Public Works of Art Program that depicted African-American contributions to American’s cultural traditions. 

Jennings left Atlanta for Providence, where he attended the Rhode Island School of Design on a General Education Board fellowship, studying printmaking and later taking jewelry classes and learning lost-wax technique and centrifugal casting. From 1943 to 1990, Jennings was the Chief Designer at the Imperial Pearl Company, creating African inspired designs and costume jewelry for Hattie Carnegie, Monet, Eisenberg, Yves Saint Laurent, and many others. During his time at the company, Jennings became a gemologist and developed new techniques in jewelrymaking, including the use of rubber molds for more elegant castings, inventing a new jade color for glass beads, using alabaster and crushed colored glass to mimic French enamel, and creating a plastic that resembled semi-precious stones. 

Today, Jennings’ prints are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The National Gallery of Art, Howard University Art Gallery, RISD Museum, Fisk University Galleries, and ​​The Edward Mitchell Bannister Art Gallery at Rhode Island College. His costume jewelry designs for Eisenberg’s Artist Series from the 1970s are highly collectable.

Artist and designer Ruth Kligman played a notable role in the Post-War Abstract Expressionist movement. Born in Newark in 1930, Kligman knew she wanted to become an artist at just seven years old after reading a book about Beethoven. In 1958, she moved to New York and studied at the Art Students League, the New School for Social Research, and New York University.

Often viewed as a muse to the Expressionists, Kligman is perhaps best known for her relationship with Jackson Pollock (and for surviving the car crash that took his life). She also had brief relationships with other leading artists of the era, including Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning, before marrying Spanish painter Carlos Sansegundo.

Although celebrated primarily for her abstract paintings, Kligman also created distinctive jewelry pieces using Lucite, works she called “body ornaments”—bold, sculptural designs, crafted from colorful plastics. Her jewelry found commercial success, selling through retailers such as Bendel’s and Saks Fifth Avenue. (Though her pieces are sometimes signed with Sansegundo’s name.)

Kligman remained active in her artistic practice throughout her life, continuing to create and exhibit work until her death in 2010.

Diane Love is a multi-talented American artist, designer, and author known for a diverse career spanning decades. Graduating from Barnard College with a BA in art history, Love initially planned to pursue painting, never intending to become a jewelry designer. Her jewelry design began when she started making pieces for herself, a path that led her to design for several friends. She gained prominence in 1969 when Bergdorf Goodman offered her designs for sale. In 1970, Love was invited to design for the fashion jewelry company Trifari, creating her own collections for them under the title Diane Love for Trifari. Her designs were greatly influenced by her background in art history.

Beyond jewelry, Love's entrepreneurial spirit led her to opening her eponymous shop on Madison Avenue, leading to boutiques at Bloomingdale’s, designing decorative accessories for Mikasa, home fragrance for Celebrity, and authoring two books, one on flower arranging the other on home design. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. After closing her business, Love, a "perennial student", returned full time to visual art, taking classes at a number of prominent New York art schools. Today, Love's primary focus is her work as a visual artist. Her mixed-media collages include disparate elements of her photography and drawings resulting in dynamic compositions. Love works full time as an independent artist, occasionally extending her creativity into writing, acting, and cabaret performance.

Patricia Madeja is a studio jeweler, goldsmith, and educator. After receiving her BFA with an emphasis in jewelry from Pratt Institute in 1985, Madeja established her own studio on Long Island in 1989. Inspired by geometric forms and architecture, Madeja devises and fabricates intricate mechanisms that introduce motion into her elegantly playful designs. As an emerging studio jeweler in the late 1980s, Patricia Madeja joined Robert Lee Morris, where she advanced to the role of design assistant. During her early career, she experimented with a wide range of materials—acrylic, rubber, brass, copper, and steel combined with sterling silver—to explore the dynamic between the precious and the non-precious. These formative investigations established the foundation for her current work in sterling silver, 14- and 18-karat gold, and gemstones. In 1998, Pratt Institute invited Madeja to teach a jewelry class. She was appointed Jewelry Coordinator in 2005 and received a full-time faculty appointment in 2011. At Pratt, she has developed a program that equips future jewelers and metalsmiths with a strong grounding in both theory and studio practice, while preparing them to succeed in a diverse and evolving marketplace.

Winifred Mason was a pioneering metalsmith, recognized as one of the first Black designers to establish a successful career in the field of Art Jewelry. Mason launched her business in Harlem before relocating to Greenwich Village, where she became a prominent figure in the Studio Jewelry movement. Mason’s work was characterized by geometric forms crafted from patinated copper or brass. After receiving a Rosenwald scholarship to study in Haiti, she began incorporating Vodou-inspired symbolism into her designs. In addition to her own artistic achievements, Mason served as an influential mentor to emerging artists, including Art Smith, Camille Billops, and Jean-Baptiste Pericles.

Barbara Raleigh's profound love for art and jewelry was ignited during her studies at SUNY New Paltz, where she trained under notable figures Bob Ebendorf and Kurt Matzdorf. Influenced by the Abstract Expressionists' use of color and form, some of her earliest work  concentrated on enameling. Following her graduation, Raleigh moved to New York City to launch her design career. She honed her skills with a course in jewelry drawing at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) before securing her first position at the prestigious costume jewelry firm Trifari. It was there that she would eventually rise to the pivotal role of Vice President of Design. Raleigh credits her early success to the mentorship she received from Krussman and Fishel, the sons of the company's original owners and masters of the jewelry business. “My education at Trifari spanned everything from design and manufacturing to sales and marketing,” she says, “I learned the intricacies of model-making, product development, and design for mass production from jewelers who had been at Trifari for decades.” Trifari was a trailblazer in the costume jewelry world, recognized for its leadership in style and fashion. The company was renowned for developing innovative techniques and materials, and notably, for integrating the work of famous artists into new collections—a marketing strategy that distinguished Trifari from its competitors. (See Diane Love.)

Raleigh's career later expanded to include work with other prominent companies, such as QVC. She established a successful jewelry forecasting service, traveling to global fashion capitals to interpret emerging trends for her clients. More recently, she has returned to her foundational passions of enameling and sculpture, bringing her journey full circle.

Biba Schutz is a contemporary New York City based studio jeweler and artist. She earned a BA in Design from the American University in Washington, DC, before founding her eponymous brand. Self-taught, her initial designs created from anodized aluminum were found frequently on the covers of Seventeen magazine, Cosmopolitan, WWD, Details, and Harper’s Bazaar through the mid to late 1980s. These brightly colored sculptural pieces represent her brief yet notable stint in the jewelry fashion world and encompass many of the graphic design techniques she learned in school, through the composition of bright colors (which were paramount in the 80s) and geometric shapes. This early work was also inspired by memories of Schutz's childhood home and the plastic outdoor dishes her parents used. In 1991, Schutz began incorporating more classical metalsmithing tools and techniques into her process, which naturally led to a shift in formsand a shift away from the fashion world and into the realm of craft and art jewelry. Today, Schutz's work remains inspired by the ever-changing urban landscape of the city, the contrast of textures and forms around her.

Schutz is represented by numerous galleries. Her work is featured in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has received awards of excellence from the American Craft Council and the Smithsonian Craft Show, where she continues to exhibit today. Her pieces are fabricated by hand in her midtown Manhattan studio.

Bill Smith was a designer celebrated for his bold and unique costume jewelry. Originally from Indiana, he moved to New York in 1954 to pursue a career in dance, soon discovering his talent and passion for jewelry design. Smith rose to prominence in the early 1960s with his company, Smith St. Jacques, creating pieces featured in Vogue and worn by icons such as Twiggy and Cher. In 1968, he became creative director at Richelieu, where he reimagined the company’s signature pearl necklace designs into extravagant wearables. The following year, Smith became the first Black recipient of the prestigious COTY Award in recognition of his contributions to design. After leaving Richelieu in 1972, he continued to collaborate independently with notable companies including Cartier and Omega Inc., maintaining a vibrant and influential career until his death in 1989.

Curtis Tann was an enamel artist and designer closely associated with the Pasadena art community. Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Tann studied enamelwork at the historic Karamu House before serving in World War II. Following his service, Tann relocated to the West Coast, where he became a founding member of Eleven Artists Associated—one of the earliest organizations dedicated to supporting African American artists in Los Angeles. Drawing on his expertise in enamel, Tann worked for the costume jewelry company Matisse Ltd., a subsidiary of Renoir of California. He later became the first full-time director of the Watts Towers Arts Center. Tann continued producing work throughout his life, leaving behind a legacy deeply rooted in both artistic innovation and community education when he passed away in 1991.

Willie Woo was a costume jewelry designer known for his pop art recreations of vintage 1930s rhinestone jewelry. The son of The China Mail editor Kyatang Woo, Woo was born in Hong Kong and moved to New York at age 21. There, he started his company with his business partner (and short-time romantic partner) Vogue editor Kezia Keeble. Making his pieces from original vintage molds, Woo used an appropriation of early jewelry styles as a ‘reintroduction’ of rhinestone jewelry to the Post-Modern design world. Deemed the 'Rhinestone King,' Woo was featured in Vogue, Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, Ebony, and Life Magazine. His work was sold in major stores like Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Lord and Taylor, and was lauded by fashion designers like Issey Miyake. Despite features on television, and a COTY Award win, Woo went into obscurity by the late 70s.

A bejeweled brooch, a cascade of glimmering pearls, a velvet heart-shaped belt…the jewelry is the outfit, whatever you wear, wherever you go. Jeans, black tie gown, or sequined maxi dress—a jewel presents a starting point to inspire everything around you. Begin with one piece of jewelry and add more, more, more. It's never too much. There are no rules. Wear things the “wrong” way. Experiment. Follow your intuition and abandon the trends. Layer your necklaces atop one another to form new shapes. Bury your arms in bangles of all sizes and textures. Pin your brooches to belts and dress straps. Mix new with old. The best jewelry—even if it's 200 years old—deserves to see the world and be worn. The beauty of vintage jewelry is its one-of-a-kind nature. These small pieces of history paint a picture of bygone era while also offering a rare form of storytelling and self-expression unlike anything else.

Kristen Bateman is an author, writer, editor, designer, and creative consultant. She created the jewelry brand Dollchunk and also sells and collects vintage and antique jewelry. She is the author of seven books, including Little Book of New York Style, A Met Gala Lookbook, and Little Book of Miu Miu. She writes for Vogue, W Magazine, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country, The New York Times, Architectural Digest, and many more. She also writes the shopping newsletter Doll Dealbook, and occasionally writes on her own independent website Sudden Chic on beauty, fashion, and culture.

I was introduced to The Jewelry Library during my first year working in fashion. I was just starting out; everything was so inspiring. I had just started learning the stories that jewelry can tell. Before, it was just an accessory—something meant to elevate your outfit without any deeper conversation. But I learned how much jewelry can say.

In dressing my mannequin, I focused on the Oscar de la Renta brooch, captured by its beauty and earthy colors. I had seen it in the TJL Collection, and even pulled it a few times for photo shoots, but I could never really find the right way to style it. Here, I wanted to create a look that meets both editorial and real life dressing. I started thinking of outfits that focused on the brooch and made it a centerpiece. In my styling, I love volume and movement; therefore, I picked the gold pleated maxi skirt that brings out the golden details of the brooch. From there, I decided to pick a blazer with a shawl that adds movement and ties back to the pleats of the skirt. The black blazer acts as a canvas for the earthy colors of the brooch, accentuated by the earrings and bangles.

Olivia Jakubik is a New York City-based fashion stylist. Known for her keen eye for style and versatile approach to fashion, Olivia has collaborated with publications and brands such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Numéro, Unsubscribed, Under Armour, Hereu, Victoria's Secret, and more. She has also had the opportunity to work alongside renowned fashion editors like Edward Enninful and Gabriela Karen-Johnson. 

I’m a maximalist when it comes to stacking necklaces, drawing influence from the “truck jewelry” style that was prominent in NYC during the eighties—especially in hip-hop culture. That era’s street style, captured in iconic photos of Eric B. and Rakim wearing enormous pendants, continues to inspire me.

I kept the metal tones consistent, focusing on yellow and similar shades. As a menswear enthusiast, I incorporated pieces from my personal collection that reflect my love for tailoring. The mannequin wears a Canadian tuxedo—an all-denim look featuring pleated jeans paired with a work-style denim jacket—balanced with a grey double-breasted Ulster coat for a refined touch. The look is completed with Belgian shoes featuring a gold crest and a green corduroy Alfargos Marketplace cap that adds a bold pop of color.

Most of the jewelry is by Bill Smith, an artist I really enjoyed learning about. His work opened my eyes to viewing jewelry from new perspectives. I even used one of his chokers as a bracelet and nearly repurposed his horoscope belt as a necklace—there’s so much hidden versatility in his designs. The standout piece by Diane Love serves as the anchor that ties all the accessories together.

Elias Marte, fashion, art, design and jewelry aficionado, and vintage watch curator is a partner in Alfargos Marketplace, a monthly men’s clothing pop-up, as well as a real estate agent based in NYC.

Jewelry is an act of preserving memories, and none more so than Victorian jewelry. Each piece serves as a cultural barometer, reflecting the society of a specific era. It also offers an intimate glimpse into the life of the individual, as evidenced by the deep, secret messages conveyed through their jewelry.

I used dried flowers to maximize the space, as I am naturally a maximalist. Drawing pieces from my own archive, I picked the clothing, shoes, and jewelry that felt most reflective of my aesthetic. My sense of style has a modernist feel, but with a vintage edge. I blend practicality and function, often with a romantic aspect, through lace, pearls, and vibrant color. I draw from vintage couture and history and love to incorporate antique jewelry pieces. Unexpected accessories such as the gloves, shoes, and a pop of color are hallmarks of my styling.

Mary Reinehr Gigler is a fashion stylist and creative consultant based out of New York City with a background in Art History. Her work can be seen in film, editorial, and on the red carpet. Her work with clients brings their personality and energy to light so they feel confident in the world created for them.