During the 1920s and 1930s, dress clips ousted traditional pins and brooches as the jewelry accessory of choice for women. The in-style clips – as well as related jewelry forms, clip-pins, fur clips, and sweater clips – continued to be extremely popular jewelry adornments until the 1950s. In fact, clips had their real fashion heyday during the 1930s and 1940s, a time known for exquisite jewelry design and fashioning.
Today, expensive, fine jewelry clips made from diamonds, precious stones and platinum, as well as beautifully constructed costume jewelry clips made from all sorts of materials, are considered highly collectible pieces. And, regardless of their vintage age, well-preserved clips continue to work as smart, chic accessories that bring a fresh, confident, unexpected allure to all kinds of modern outfits.
How Jewelry Dress Clips Work
The fashioned, or face-up side of a dress clip is mounted onto a wide, metal, spring-clip which is not seen when worn. The spring-clip often has ridges or teeth made to grasp and hold thin material of clothing, such as a dress, without damaging the garment. To position a clip on clothing, simply open the spring-clip, slide the dress clip over the edge of the garment – on a neckline or collar, for example – and clamp the dress clip shut around the material.
Jewelry Dress Clips, Clip-pins, Fur Clips, Hat Clips, Sweater Clips … What's the Difference?
Often, pairs of clips are mounted together on a removable pin-back frame so they may be worn together as a single piece of jewelry, or brooch, as well as worn separately – perhaps, one on each collar. These jewelry pairings are sometimes called clip-pins and are extremely popular as collectibles. Also, there are dress clips that are attached together that are used in-tandem to pull fabric together (as on the rear of a blouse that may be a size too large, for example).
Another similarly styled clip is known as the fur clip. Like dress clips, fur clips were also fashioned in mounted pairs as well as singles. The difference is that a fur clip has two sharp prongs attached to the rear spring clip (as well as the rear mounting, or pinback frame, to hold two clips) so that one could pierce the fur garment with as little damage as possible. Fur clips became very popular in the 1920s as a way to hold fur evening wraps together. Clips for hats use sharp prongs as well. Obviously, the wearer of pronged clips of any kind can accessorize on furs, hats, or both.
Sweater clips are two clips attached together, usually by a chain, so that a cardigan-style sweater may be worn over the shoulders and "clipped" together in the front, as an alternative to buttons. Sweater clips also work well for securing capes, wraps and scarves.
Vintage Jewelry Clips Make Versatile Fashion Ornaments
The versatility that made the clip so popular back in its heyday, is precisely what continues to make a jewelry clip so perfect for today. With a little imagination, one clip, or pair of clips, can be worn with just about any outfit. Below are many ways to accessorize and add style to a wardrobe with vintage jewelry; simply add clips for instant posh.
Thirty Ways to Accessorize With Jewelry Clips
- Barrettes, bobby pins and hairpieces
- Hairbands
- Headbands
- Hats and hatbands
- Necklace chain, cable, leather or ribbon to wear as pendant or choker
- Scarves, wraps, shawls and capes
- Shoulder or chest area of a one-shoulder dress
- Necklines on rounded sweaters and tops
- Corners of a square and sweetheart necklines
- "V" of V-neck necklines
- Psuedo-sweetheart neckline (pull each side of V-neck sideways, secure with clips onto bra straps)
- Centered at décolleté on an off-shoulder dress
- Scooped, V-cut, low-cut dress backs
- Area between collar points, like a tie
- Collars or collar points
- Blouse, dress, jacket or coat lapel(s)
- Garment pockets
- Front of garment by hanging safety pin on underside of garment and clipping onto pi
- Cuffs
- Furs
- Frontsand waists of skirts and kilts
- Pinned to the back of a top
- Belts and waist ties
- Boot and bootie tops
- Shoe and sandal laces, leathers, and straps
- Vamps/tops of dress pumps
- Sock tops
- Gloves
- Purses
- Lingerie and nightwear, bra straps, tops of stockings
Claire Eddins - Writer/editor, award-winning photographer Claire Eddins collects gems, horses, and obsesses over home, art, and design.
