As this year comes to a close, my last post is about look­ing back. No…not at 2009 — I should like this year with its finan­cial woes and pro­fes­sional fits-and-starts behind me. Instead, today, we are going back, oh, about one hun­dred and seventy-four years to the begin­ning of the reign of Queen Vic­to­ria. She ruled Great Britain for sixty-four years (1837−1901), and was the most influ­en­tial taste-maker of her time and for a cen­tury or more, after­ward. Dior’s mid-twentieth-century fem­i­nine New Look was accom­pa­nied by the flora, fauna, and ribbon-bow bounty of neo-Victorian jewelry.

We still feel the affects of how the Queen chose to express her mood. The mourn­ing jew­els she wore in wid­ow­hood are today’s street-wise Vic­to­ri­ana (a ref­er­ence term we might not have oth­er­wise). The recent return in the pop­u­lar­ity of the snake as a orna­men­tal motif is largely inspired by the jew­elry in her per­sonal col­lec­tion, and in par­tic­u­lar, the gifts from her beloved Prince Albert.

When you view these images, please keep in mind that the pieces worn by Emily Blunt in the film are not squarely Vic­to­rian, remem­ber the film takes place around 1837, her jew­els are tran­si­tional, or still retain the tra­di­tional expanse and for­mal­ity of decades prior. Prince Albert’s later con­tri­bu­tions to what we have come to know as Vic­to­rian jew­elry is not to be under­es­ti­mated. Here, a quote from the Queen, after his passing,

“He did every­thing — every­where! Noth­ing did I do with­out him, from the great­est to the small­est, from State Affairs, from Polit­i­cal Ques­tions to the arrang­ing (of) our Albums, our lit­tle pho­tographs, the design­ing and order­ing of Jew­elry, the buy­ing of a dress or a bon­net … all was done together; my first word was ‘I must ask Albert.’”

Best wishes to all of you who have spent time with me — thank you, and happy and healthy hol­i­days! Meet you back here in 2010…xo, LEG

The Young Vic­to­ria, movie poster

The Young Victoria