The Origin of Costume Jewelry

The original of the word "Costume Jewelry" is certainly debatable. Here a quick summary of my understanding of the origin of the term costume jewelry.

In my personal research I first saw the term used in 1916. The term itself was not defined but was used simply as a statement, "The most fashionable jewelry of the moment is the so-called costume jewelry..." The term appeared to be used to distinguish this jewelry from the higher priced jewelry typically worn for evening attire. The term costume jewelry didn't appear to regularly in articles until the early 1920's... more specifically 1923.

Backstory....

As is typical.... Fashion was evolving. Designers had historically embellished garments with an array of ornamental material. But as fashion evolved during the 1910's and became less embellished, a whole new industry developed to adorn the daytime frock. Fashion during this period was translated to the public almost as a morality, including protocols about the proper jewelry adornment for each costume-- protocols carefully crafted by the jewelry industry. :)

Beginning around 1915, the jewelry industry became set on educating the public about the "proper" wear and use of jewelry. They felt that the American public at large was not adequately informed about how jewelry could be worn. Up to this point, it had been thought proper to wear jewelry with the evening gown. Jewelry for daytime wear was either nonexistent or in the opinion of the experts, "improperly worn." To remedy this, (translation: increase sales) the jewelry industry formed committees to educate American women on the wearing of jewelry for various costumes and daytime activities. With this education, the acceptance of proper jewelry adornment began to change from "real" gems for evening wear to semi-precious. As the acceptance increased going into the early 1920s, it became more and more respectable for jewelry to be worn made of imitation stones and crystals. Then, to thwart the naysayers or critics of this new phenomenon, who called this new non-precious jewelry geegaw (cheap), the jewelry industry give it the name "costume jewelry," and heralded it as the essence of fashion.