Pearls for your Debutante Daughter
When Jacques Cartier moved his family across the Atlantic to England in the 1920s, he found himself, for a jeweller, in the right place at the right time. “All of society seemed to be en fête,” the #DukeofWindsor would recall of the postwar years, as “most of the great houses in London opened their doors for a flourish of hospitality such as will never be seen again.” There were extravagant dinners, “served on gold or silver plates by foot- men in the family livery with knee breeches, white stockings, buckled shoes, and powdered hair,” and dancing under the light of thousands of candles. It wasn’t unusual to receive 4 invitations a night and quite acceptable to move from one to the next. And when the private parties had finished, there were the West End nightclubs, “an almost continuous ball from midnight until dawn.”
Jewels of course were de rigueur, and nowhere more so than in the presence of royalty. Unlike their French neighbours (who no longer had a monarchy), British high society revolved around the Crown and the high point of a young lady’s life was her presentation at court in front of the King and Queen, the moment that formally launched her into society. Strict rules around the dress code for this event had been in place for decades: everything from the gloves to the length of one’s train to the number of feathers in one’s hair and the gems were traditionally white and simple for the young ladies (it was their mothers who could go all out in big stones!). #JacquesTheoduleCartier, who’d visited the Persian Gulf in search of the best #naturalpearls in the world, was well placed to offer his expertise and “Pearls for your Debutante Daughter” became one of the early catchy tag lines of Cartier London.
The effortlessly chic Cartier-clad future #DuchessofArgyll (love the rock chick attitude going on here) as she was named the 1930 #debutante of the year. For those interested in finding out more,or in need of some #royaljewels escapism, we’ll be diving into The Cartiers and The British Royal Family with @caroline.de.g next week.