King Edward was the son and successor of Queen Victoria. When he became King, he was already leader of a fashionable elite. These elite adopted the characteristics of the then present fashion and art from all over Europe. Thanks to his fashion consciousness and the use of Platinum that has never been used before, the jewels crafted during his short reign were glamorous and refined yet delicate and airier.
Platinum was discovered years in advance, but was only used for the first time in jewels during his era. This precious material gave so many new opportunities that it changed the jewellery industry through Europe and the United States. Because of the new material, there were new possibilities for the making of details and settings. This new metal and the fashion sense of the King translated itself in openwork lace jewellery existing out of leaves and flowers.
These leaves and flowers were often detailed with mille grain. Mille grain are little studs on the edges which gave a jewel some extra eye-catching shiny details. Mille grains are not the only characteristics of Edwardian jewels, also the monochromatic white look of these jewels is typical. In addition to the white looking platinum, they mainly used diamonds and pearls which have the same colour scheme. Occasionally a jewel was crafted with other gemstones. In this case they would mostly like to keep it as clean as possible and would only use one different colour in addition to the overall white jewel.
King Edward may not have sat on the throne for long time, but he has left his mark on the history of jewellery. Not only was a new precious metal used, the look and feel of jewels during his reign was different from that of his mother Queen Victoria. The elegance and detailing of Victorian jewels has been retained however it has been given a contemporary twist thanks to the latest techniques and sleek white colour choice of King Edward. Where his mother first chose the theme of love and later loss, Edward chose to mainly use the theme of nature in jewellery for which we are very grateful.
