There are times when you want and need something new, but can't afford spending any money and time on it. So, the best thing is turning for inspiration to the style icons of the past such as Bessie Wallis Warfield. Better known as Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, the famous belle from Baltimore stole the heart of Edward, Prince of Wales, who, in 1936, gave up the throne to marry her.
Famous for her style of dress and sense of fashion, she was followed and copied by many women all over the world. In 1954 Givenchy created a gown for her dubbed the "Monkey Dress". It featured layers of white flowing silk organza and was covered in delicate wool-embroidered colourful monkeys playing musical instruments. The dress combined simplicity with a sense of fun à la Schiaparelli (another designer favoured by the Duchess who was also brave enough to wear Schiap's lobster dress), representing a sort of mirror to her personality. The Duchess donated it in 1968 to the Maryland Historical Society together with a photograph of her wearing the dress.
The necklace derived from it features a medium-sized metallic twisted cord, a little bit of leather as closure and three plastic monkeys of the kind you find in toy and bookshops as well, among the animal miniatures.
It's a very affordable piece, and it's inspired not just by the "monkey dress" but also by the fact that, as a young girl, Wallis often had to make do and mend. When she was presented to society in 1914 her mother Alice designed her dress (copying it from a gown donned by Broadway star Irene Castle) and a seamstress named Ellen sewed it.
While the necklace doesn't feature her trademark "Wallis Blue", the sapphire shade she donned at her first wedding (her gown in that occasion - a high-necked floor-length sheath of silk crêpe cut on the bias with covered buttons on the bodice, matched with a fitted jacket - was made by Chicago-born designer Mainbocher), it is a reference to the fact that, when she became the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis started favouring simple, unadorned styles using them as backdrops for her fabulous eye-popping jewellery (widely copied by many costume jewellery companies...). Though this piece is a bit silly and not made with the precious stones loved by the Duchess, it's still fun and eye-popping in a very surreal kind of way.
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