The Victorian
Secret Romance
Love in the Age of Industry
Wrap Yourself in the Season of Sparkle
The Victorians knew a little something about the secret languages and decadent seductions that lie just below the surface of everyday l’amour. You might credit their fascination with codes and secrets to the shroud of coal smoke that blanketed their world in industrial-revolution twilight. Or maybe it was all about the fact that when young and in love, you were rarely ever left alone. Some things simply must be said, chaperones be damned.
In their world, flowers spoke volumes—to receive a simple azalea meant “Take care of yourself for me”. Primrose, “I can’t live without you.” Parasols, gloves, even postage stamps became props for a good flirt. Fans conveyed more than a simple flick of the wrist. (Imagine your embarrassment if by twirling your fan in the wrong hand you telegraphed “I love another.” rather than “We are being watched.”) And jewelry? Jewelry began to mean even more.
The industrial revolution gave us just about everything you can think of—the cotton gin, travel by train, pants on women—and mass-produced goods. Everything about this era was revolution and raucous change for the average lady of the time, from new roles to play, to new power in the workforce and privileges at the ballot box. We channel that here, in our Victorian Couture Collection—jewelry that requires, dare we say it, balls to wear.
Today, women have largely dumped the corsets and pull their britches on one leg at a time, just like men. But we also get to do something they don’t: we can choose to mix the fluffily frilly with the functionally elegant. To take our ever more modern costumes and give them the romance they deserve with glittery drops and piles of pearls. Admittedly, this stylistic spanning of time and space takes a little practice, but moreover, it takes a willingness to make a statement. We know it’s in you.
How? Because ladies, we are the sum total of our genetic makeup and the benefactors of some badass mitochondrial DNA shared generation to generation. When you look at the decadent colors and forms in this collection, be awed by its over-the-top luxury, but also remember that there’s a little bit of the women who spoke in code over it inside all of us who proudly brandish the XX in our cells. Consider this collection our seasonal love letter to Queen Vicky and her generation; a little secret you can wear around your neck, on your finger, on your wrist, and whisper into your modern life.