The Story of Jewelry Icon Fulco Di Verdura
The first thing I did when I found out I would be editor in chief of Town & Country was buy myself a Verdura Maltese cross. I had tried it on endless times in that beautiful showroom on the 12th floor of 745 Fifth Avenue and it had become something of a personal Holy Grail. It held, in its gold and many colored stones, the elements I had come to love most about jewelry: myths and legends, teachers and family.
The myth and legend begins with a Sicilian noble named Fulco Santostefano della Cerda, Duke of Verdura and Marquis of Murata la Cerda who became great friends with Diana Vreeland, Cole Porter, and Coco Chanel. It was with Mademoiselle Chanel that he traveled to see the mosaic of the Byzantine Empress Theodora in the Chapel of Ravenna in 1930. The rich gold and jewel-toned tiles in the mosaic inspired the two to create a design that countered the platinum and diamond Art Deco style of the time and create a pair of cuffs that featured irregular-shaped semi-precious stones set in gold.
The cuffs soon became a Chanel and Vreeland signature. Verdura came to New York in 1939 already fully socially connected-Cole Porter and Vincent Astor backed his business. The jewelry was worn by Garbo (a gold curb link bracelet-she kept it on while gardening), Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Crawford, Katherine Hepburn and assorted Astors, Paleys, and Whitneys.
In 1987, just a few years after Verdura's death, Ward Landrigan, then the head of Jewelry at Sotheby’s, bought the rights to the name and to all the Verdura archive. This is the part about teachers and family. The Landrigans-father Ward and son Nico-have revived Verdura's spirit and his bold, daring designs, creating a whole new generation who covet the Maltese cross cuffs and pendant, the Y necklace, the curb link bracelet (Carolina Herrera wears two at a time), the ruby wrapped heart, the three stone rings, the Cage rings, the Criss Cross bangle.
And if you want a lesson in jewelry, New York History, Broadway lore, quotable quotes, masked balls, 1920s decadence, and impeccable service, go visit the Fifth Avenue gallery, ask for Jim or Adele, and tell them I sent you.
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