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Verdura Reloaded:
Seven years after Fulco di Verdura's death, Ward Landrigan, a former head of fine jewellery at Sotheby's, bought and revived the company. Though many consider Verdura the greatest jewellery designer of the 20th century, his work had been pretty much forgotten by all but a few passionate connoisseurs. When Landrigan purchased the company in 1985, he acquired the enormous Verdura archives and started making pieces from the original designs. One of the company's hallmarks is a heart brooch made of cabochon rubies that have been tightly "strapped" with thin platinum ropes, set with diamonds. Landrigan calls it the company's "Bondage Theme". Not surprisingly, Mick Jagger once gave one to Jerry Hall. Let It Bleed, baby ...
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STORY RAINER SIGEL
During five decades on the cutting edge of jewellery design, the Sicilian-born Duke of Verdura made many unambiguous offers to stylish women. None was ever refused. A remarkable life unfolds, charmed with talent, guts and glory.
SOME say that it was Duke Fulco di Verdura's encounter with Coco Chanel that brought the break-through. Others argue that a man of such talent would have found his way anyway, no matter what.
Born in Palermo in 1899, Fulco di Santostefano della Cerda spent an early and highly pampered childhood in his grandmother's palace near Palermo. The "Happy Summer Days", as he later called this carefree time, held the promise of a life of never-ending luxury and leisure.
Yet, the fickle hand of fate intervened. Verdura's beloved grandmother passed away in 1912, leaving behind an unsettled estate. The entire family went to court, and young Verdura soon saw himself squeezed out of most of his inheritance. To make matters worse, the teenager was called up to serve in World War I as one of the "Boys of '99", a league of 17-year-old boys used as canon-fodder against the Austro-German forces. Verdura was wounded, and shipped back to Sicily.
When WWI ended in 1918, Sicily's nobility quickly settled back into an indulgent lifestyle, supported by regular visits of King George V, Sofia and Constantine of Greece and King Alfonso of Spain. Young Verdura enjoyed it to the hilt, later describing himself as "a real bum". Gaining the title of Duke of Verdura after his father's death in 1923, he managed to establish many enduring friendships, which helped him tremendously later on in his professional life.
Accounts vary as to why Verdura finally left Sicily in 1925 for Paris, after a brief sojourn through Venice. Some say that he got into trouble at home, others more kindly credit his desire to follow his many artistic aspirations.
Paris in the 1920's was all decadent fun and outrageousness, and Verdura took to it with a vengeance. Yet, financial realities soon caught up, causing him to take a previously unmentionable step. He looked for a job.
Charm, wit, connections and luck were again on his side, and he was soon designing a line of textiles and jewellery for Coco Chanel. His versatility and complex talent also made him Chanel's favourite personal jewellery designer. One of his most famous pieces ever was done during that time - the Maltese Cross bracelets, which Chanel often wore herself.
In no time, Verdura's audacious casualness in jewellery design became the symbol of throwaway chic. It was after all the age of Salvador Dali and Alberto Vargas, and art deco, surrealism and feminine elegance reigned wildly supreme.
Yet, new horizons beckoned, and Verdura left for New York in 1934, where he first worked briefly for the society jeweller Paul Flato. His social connections and raw talent quickly made his designs the preferred choice for New York socialites. Yet, on the request of Coco Chanel, he returned to Paris for a short while, designing several iconic pieces in the process. Central Europe in the late 1930's though was not a good place to be, as the drums of war sounded with increasing urgency.
In 1937, Verdura went back to work for Flato. After the New York jeweller opened his first showroom in Los Angeles, Verdura designs quickly started to appear on Hollywood celebrities, such as Katherine Hepburn (who wore some of it in the movie Philadelphia Story), Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford.
And then - finally - the moment of truth arrived. In 1939, and with the support of close friend Cole Porter, Verdura opened his first showroom in New York. Porter was one of the old Sicily party cliques, and Porter's wife, Linda, had a habit of commissioning a unique piece after each of Porter's concert openings - including a stud set honouring her husband's hit song 'Night and Day'.
Verdura's high-rolling client list grew by the month. The Astor and Vanderbilt ladies, the Duchess of Marlborough, Barbara Hutton, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Orson Welles became friends and regular clients. Later, the likes of Jackie Kennedy, Princess Grace of Monaco and the Duchess of Windsor often wore Verdura pieces.
Off-beat and irreverent designs were Verdura's hallmark and enduring legacy. In the late 1940's, while in Paris to open his atelier, he met Salvador Dali, who encouraged him to design a collection inspired by surreal themes.
Usually, however, Verdura's creations were based on natural objects, such as flowers. He is also known as one of the first major designers of the 20th century to set coloured stones in yellow gold, at a time when diamonds set in platinum was the safe choice.
Verdura was an exceptional visual artist, and his drawings were remarkably accurate and detailed. At times, he seems to have been influenced by Faberge, but he also broke with American design standards to set entirely new trends. For example, he was one of the first designers to make it fashionable for diamonds to be worn both during the day and evening.
Verdura loved coloured stones. "You can never trust diamonds," he often said. The result was many exceptional designs, such as a series of brooches made of seashells, encrusted with precious stones. Other enduring influences showed up, such as themes from ancient mythology and Christian iconography, wrapped in a lush Mediterranean mood. There were stylised bows and multi-purpose pieces. Women wore his jewellery on cuffs, hats, lapels, and belts.
Verdura also created portraits of pets as jewels, including a diamond-studded dog. There were bees, opal mice and pearl elephants. There were the famous 18th-century Indian ivory chess pieces he turned into a series of legendary brooches. And for an American ambassador's wife in London, he once made a tiara in gold and diamonds based on an American Indian feather headdress.
Verdura never married. In 1973, he retired and moved to London, where he quietly died in 1978.
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