User:Havetopass/sandbox

Cameos

A cameo is a material that is carved with a raised relief that often depicts a profile of a face or a mythical scene. They were a revival of the Romanesque era of portraits. Cameos were most often displayed on necklaces as the focal piece or the pendant as they were the most popular kind of pendant in the Victorian era. Many Victorian women wore cameos as they were likened to art, exhibiting a portrait in a wearable method and often portrayed women in their ideal state, playing to the male gaze and the femininity of aesthetics popular at this time. Although it was said of Queen Victoria that “she herself always wore a miniature of Prince Albert set in a bracelet...” Cameos eventually led to the encasement of portraits in jewelry, allowing for individual imperfection to take hold over the idealized feminine state. As less affluent women became more interested in cameo designs, monograms became more stylish over time as wearers desired more personalized objects, that were cheaper than some other options. Jewelry and Status.

The Victorian Era was a time of great financial growth for many and so jewellery wearing became an outward symbol of status and wealth. Jewelry symbolizes significance in Victorian society and aids in furthering Victorian fashion placing importance on industrialization, capitalism, and the separate spheres. (268) The jewel worn can express subtleties to an observer and may suggest religious meaning, i.e. amethyst is very common, but diamonds and emeralds on the other hand are rare and therefore worthy of adorning. This is supported by work that claims jewelry has an exchange value that communicates cultural meanings and has significant influence on socio-political positions and divisions. (269)

Jewelry became a marker of wealth and its effect on etiquette (in particular, the etiquette of women) became substantial. Jewels were important for the wives of wealthy men to wear, as it was a subtle marker of the riches of the man. However, young women were expected not to wear many jewels, as jewellery was seen as an item for the middle aged. Thus, royalty and the top echelon of society wore rarer gems such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds in necklaces, chokers, and bracelets that signified status. Jewelry in general was usually worn on special occasions. Queen Victoria herself was “...very fond of jewelry, an essential taste in Royalty, as she was to receive a considerable amount of jewels as presents and official offerings throughout her long reign…” The Victorian Era was the last in which the crown jewels were ordered in quantity. This means that Queen Victoria, unintentionally, owned mostly new state jewels, demonstrating the modern styles and the importance that the jewels held. In the beginning of Vic’s reign, she was rarely seen without any form of diamonds, as “diamonds were empire.”

In courts, jewelry became a form of rivalry exemplified comba in 1855 during a series of visits between Vic and Napoleon III in which the royal ladies of the court wore as many jewels as their bodies could handle, sometimes layering neck pieces to show one another up. The French Empress, Eugenie, would retaliate by wearing her brand new jewels. Though not actually a violent battle, the jewels represented the wealth held by both nations and both nations wanted to show off that they were more powerful. Common people began wearing jewelry as the production of jewelry changed. Once it became easier and cheaper to make jewelry, it became a “good with little or no functional purpose and little intrinsic value”. Mail order catalogs became easier for anyone to buy jewelry - status became null and void.

It also influenced politics. The conflict of aesthetics and politics in gender is revealed in some ways by jewelry, as jewelry is an almost exclusively worn-by-women object. The materiality of jewelry implies money and male economics despite the aesthetics and subtleties of jewelry being a feminine distinction. Jewelry as a material within consumerism inherently supports the masculine-geared economics of the Victorian times, despite being a heavily feminized material and contributing to the feminine standards of aesthetics.