One of the items I was able to use for the book was a copy of Monets 1st Fashion Trend Report in 1937, the year the Monet Jewelers debuted. It was a great find ! The booklet was simply a binder with colored ( pink and mint) pages stapled together! It was filled with allthe latest Paris fashion show news  and the latest jewelry  and accesories shown with the new clothes. As a designer I loved reading it … too bad  more of these had not survived!

Monet designer Mario Granville frequently travelled to and followed Paris fashion very closely. The jewelry he  presented every season was heavily influenced by what was going on in Paris, much as designers still do today.  Yesterday like today, designers recieved their information not just from Paris but from so many other sources that were popular at the time and influenced fashion jewelry. Fashion editors from major magazines, Hollywood, and of course buyers input on what was selling at store level were all valubale sources of information and taken into consideration when planning the seasons newest looks.

The actual  trend book and additional pages are all shown in the  book.

I love this ad !  Suzy Parker one of the great models of the 50s and 60s was a Monet favorite  and some of her ads for the company are iconic.

Here she is wearing the bracelet I posted just below  as well as  a bunch of other great Monet bracelets from that time period. Some of the others she is wearing are showcased in the book , you may be able to find one of your favorites here.

Bracelets were a big big trend in the 50s whether charm bracelets with multi charms or just one large single charm or just chain or link styles bracelets were  a major accesory of the 50s and early 60s!

Thanks to JenJust Jen for bringing the poster to our attention!

I just recently purchased this bracelet by Monet and thought it might be fun to share with other Monet fans. Am not 100%  sure but  am guessing that it may be from the late 40s.  Monet  made some very bold and unique bracelets in the late 40s or early 50s so I think this may be from one of those time periods. If anyone has any info on this ………..PLEASE let me know!!

I love this bracelet and wear it often and everyone comments on it when I do—everyone is also always surprised when I mention it may be from the late 40s. See what I mean by timeless !!!

This is a great set I recently purchased – I just love how its so dimensional and so well made. Both the necklace and the bracelet are adjustable, a style feature Monet used throughout the 1950s on many of their necklaces and bracelets. The pin for the series is shown in the book and can be found on page 115. The attention to detail on all of these pieces is just outstanding and the quality still holds up after 59 years !!!!!!

Just for reference here is the original mat page for the series from the Fall 1953 catalogue.

In the book I featured the 3 designers who helped to create the image that became and was Monet. The last designer  of the 3 to leave was Roy Miozzi who left in 1985. Monet had many designers throughout its long history, there were chain manipulators, designers for special collections like Ciani and YSL and many other talented designers whose name not all of us may know.

This page from the companys newsletter, The Monet Family, is a page dedicated to the senior designers on staff at that time.

Even if there were no words at the bottom this ad conveys what Monet was all about throughout their long history-luxe glamour and quality.

The bracelets shown here are wonderful–do you have any?

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

The Chernows had a seemingly relentless publicist during the 30s – not only did he make sure that Monocraft and later Monet were featured in every newspaper and magazine in the country, he also wrote a weekly column for Womans Wear Daily promoting Monocraft!

The ad here is from the Washington Post of 1936- while it was not clear enough to be reprinted in the book, I thought it might be easier to see here. While not too clear you can see the arrow pin the model is wearing right under her collar.  The ad reads: Monogram is  New Style Fad.  For that smart touch of gold to accent your black ensemble try a golden arrow pin with dangling monogram. Particularly chic when worn under the chin as shown above. The sharp angle mode is echoed in the stitched black envelope hat slashed by a long black feather. Love the hat too!!!!

Underneath is one of my  Monocraft dangle monogram pins  in a very similar style which probably dates from the same time period!

Love this pin, it’s  soooo very Art Deco.  None of the sketches are dated so my guess is this must be from the early to mid 30s–it’s beautiful!

Monocraft did a number of different initial bracelets starting in late 1935 and into 1936. My guess is the Chernows may have been taking small steps towards entering the jewelry business. They were both notorious for  thinking things over for long periods of time before taking that final step. The patent for an initial bracelet is from 1936, while the sketch  by Mario “Granny” Granville is  for a bracelet similar to the one in the patent but with different style intials.

One of the things I recieved while writing the book was a whole “stack” of pencil sketches all bound up together in a manila folder! Many of them were sketched on interoffice memo paper, others were carefully sketched on vellum paper and some were just doddles on hard bristol board……..and of course NONE of them were dated, well of course not, why would they be!!!  Yet some of them I was lucky enough to find in some old newspaper ads, others I found in an old Monocraft catalogue from the 30s, so the dates on some were easy enough to find. There were so many it was impossible to fit them all in the book so I’ll  be posting some here. These were all sketched by Edmond Granville, Monets’ only designer from 1934 to 1959! The Scottie pin is probably from the mid 30s while the bracelet we know to be from 1935-36. The  bracelet shown is a click it bracelet . The sketches are old and a bit fragile so they may not all be too clear.