Brilliant: Cartier in the 20th Century

On Tuesday night I had the distinct pleasure of attending a VIP showing of the new exhibition Brilliant: Cartier in the 20th Century at the Denver Art Museum. I was so lucky to get to work on parts of the exhibition as an intern this summer, researching vanity cases, organizing spreadsheets, and attempting to source photos. What a great project to get to work on as a vintage lover right?

The exhibition is finally open after literally years of work for the museum, and it is fabulous! There are over 250 pieces of archive/vintage Cartier in the exhibition, spanning from the years 1900 to the 1960's. From the Edwardian tiaras to the 1920's Egyptian revival cigarette cases, I was in awe from beginning to end. I had seen images of the pieces all summer and yet was still stunned when finally viewing them in person! Luckily for you, the Denver Art Museum and Cartier are allowing photographs for this exhibition...

One rarely gets the chance to wear their shining rhinestone hair combs, I had to take the opportunity to get decked out in finery of course! I made the dress a few weeks ago, though sadly I didn't end up with any good photos of the back, which was the time consuming part! The back has an art deco stepped cutout with sheer black sequined net filling in the opening, I promise I will take more photos of this dress soon so you can have a look! I hand beaded the neckline with black bugle beads and seed beads for a bit more sparkle. Shape wise it is very similar to my one-hour 20's dresses, I just added darts to the bust to help it fit better as a sleeveless dress. The black moire fabric is some sort of thermoplastic fiber, my guess is acetate. I love this fabric, I have a thing for moire.

In addition to my rhinestone leaf combs, I wore a rather 20's pair of rhinestone earrings I got at a modern accessory store called Charming Charlie. The place is stuffed full with questionably Claire's-like cheap jewelry, but there are gems hiding in the rest of the rough! I stick to the formal/prom area and have found a few vintage styled pairs of earrings there. The necklace is a little lariat that I showed you all last week.

I will definitely be visiting the exhibition again to marvel at the jewels and get more photos. The photos in this post are actually all from my mom who I took with me as my plus one! I'm eager to grab my camera and go back for more. In the meantime, if you live anywhere near Denver I highly recommend seeing this exhibition as the jewels are marvelously beautiful and the exhibit is well designed and overall quite divine!

Dress: Made by me
Jaguar Pin: Vintage (etsy)
Earrings: Charming Charlie
Necklace: Made by me
Hair Combs: Ebay (here)
Shoes: Jessica Simpson (from ages ago)
Tights: Amazon (here)
Purse: Givenchy, vintage ($12!)