When I first
announced my book Casual Bead Elegance,
Stitch by Stitch, I mentioned that I would provide insight into the book
between then and the release date which is in time for the 2016 holiday season.
I decided that
I would start by providing information regarding the projects featured on the
book’s cover. I chose to begin with the ring that was inspired by my
grandmother and the project's title reflects that—Grandmother’s Cocktail Ring. She
had a passion for jewelry and the piece of jewelry that I always associated
with her was the cocktail ring. Perhaps it was because I thought it seemed a bit
incongruous with her diminutive stature.
As a child, I remember her saying that I could eat an apple off her
head. (As a full grown woman, I am only 5’ 4” tall.) As an adult, I now
associate the cocktail ring with merriment. After doing research on of the
cocktail ring, I have an idea what might have been the source for this
association. (The links to information sources are pasted at the bottom, just
in case you are interested in reading more.)
The origin of the cocktail ring could
make you see it differently. It is linked back to a time in America called Prohibition when alcoholic beverages were banned. The 1920's was a time
period filled with tension between traditional values rooted in pre-war
nostalgia and the dramatic social and political changes taking place. During
this decade women not only gained the right to vote but also increasingly
worked outside the home. Women's attire changed dramatically too. Here
are some examples. They traded in restrictive corsets and long dresses for
shorter hemlines and trousers. The term “flapper” was coined as a way of
describing a new breed of young women who cut their hair into a bob, wore
make-up, smoke, drank and danced to the latest musical craze known as jazz.
The ban on alcohol seemed to have the
opposite effect than what was intended. It turned cocktails and cocktail
parties into a status symbol as big as anything you could wear.
These flappers would not let the ban on
alcohol deter them from their good times. They sought out hidden speakeasies
where they could take part in the underground cocktail scene. It also lead to
other excesses, norm breaking, and methods of attention seeking, such as the
cocktail ring. The original eye-catching
design of the cocktail ring was a large center stone that was accented with
pavé diamonds. Perhaps
flappers saw these rings as an effective method of drawing attention to the
fact that they were sipping illicit alcoholic beverages.
What do you
think? Are cocktail rings a symbol of when women were enjoying their freedom,
by breaking the norms and through self-expression or just gaudy?
Cocktail Ring History Links
No comments:
Post a Comment