Collage credit: Leslie Carothers for Hadley Court
Timeless design. 24 year old Australian actress Margot Robbie [best known for her role in The Wolf of Wall Street ] was stunning in Yves Saint Laurent at the 2015 Oscars last night, but what got our attention was how she wore Van Cleef and Arpels’ iconic, tasseled ZIP necklace. Worth 1.5 million dollars, the design was first commissioned from Van Cleef and Arpels in 1938 for the Duchess of Windsor and made for her by the daughter of the founder of Van Cleef and Arpels, Renee Puissant.
Completed in 1951, and a stunning technical achievement, it was immediately worn by the Duchess for many years afterwards. The ZIP necklace was based on the idea of a simple zip fastener. For more images of this iconic necklace, see http://vancleefarpels.com.
Wouldn’t this make for a very, very special gift for the woman in your life? Yes, please!
When not a necklace, it becomes a bracelet. Isn’t this stunningly beautiful? Image Credits for necklace and bracelet: Deliver Me DiamondsConsidering the Duchess’ English heritage and our love of passamenterie and tassels, we thought we’d introduce you today to a line of very pretty tassels from the UK, Margam Jones.
Passementerie is from the French, meaning “ an ornamental edging or trimming (as tassels) made of braid, cord, gimp, beading, or metallic thread.” In the 16th century, the Guild of Passementiers was created in France and practitioners of the art were called “passementiers. ” An apprenticeship of seven years was required to become a master in one of the subdivisions of the guild.Many firms are well known for their beautiful, traditional passamenterie workmanship, but the UK’s Margam Jones makes these very pretty tassels that create a lovely transitional bridge between traditional and modern design that we love, as you can see above, and will see more of below.
Margam Jones specializes in working with luxury interior designers like Leslie Hendrix Wood to execute – by hand – any style tassel you desire to suit your home or hospitality project.
And now Margam Jones is getting ready to introduce a new, slightly more traditional collection, #PalazzoVenezia.
Here are some sneak peeks. To us, they are Oscar worthy with their deep, rich colors and sparkling hand blown glass and crystal embellishments.
And here they are in use, in situ, within this elaborate window treatment at the Aman Canal Grande Resort in Venice, Italy. Can’t you just imagine the sparkle in this room as Venice’s famous waterly sunlight glints off of the edges of all those crystals?
And, for those of you who may not need tassels for your home, but who dream of travel to Venice, where jewels like this would be welcomed, may we recommend this gorgeous new book by author JoAnn Locktov, Dream of Venice?See a review of it, here.
It is full of the most wonderfully evocative images of the City of Light, like this one, below.We hope you’re been inspired, Hadley Court readers, by the exquisite fashion statement Margot Robbie made by wearing the iconic ZIP tassel necklace by Van Cleef and Arpels, by Margam Jones’s tassels – one of the many beautiful details of design that inspired interior designers enjoy helping you create for your homes, and by the idea of a little armchair travel to the city of Venice, where the moonlight shimmers on the colored waters of the grand canals more beautifully than in any other place.
Image Credit: Nick Booth
As always, we appreciate you taking your time to read Hadley Court. Thank you!
Leslie Carothers
for
Leslie Hendrix Wood
Decorator
Chancellor Interiors
Midland, TexasFounder, Editor In Chief
Hadley Court~~~
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Image credits of Margam Jones: Margam Jones Tassels