20th-Century Jewelry: Innovation in Design and Materials

Manufacturers used aluminum during the Great Depression to imitate more expensive materials like silver. Founded in the early 1930s, the Everlast Aluminum Company created a market for a range of aluminum products, including table wares and lighting. Everlast even produced a line of jewelry, which included this fashionable belt.

Architect and designer Michael Graves came to prominence as part of the postmodernism movement of the 1980s. Postmodernists challenged the “less is more” philosophy of mainstream modern designers. Designers like Graves festooned their designs with ornament, such as the bright colors on this cuff bracelet. To a postmodernist like Graves, more was more.