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Fran had long thought about repurposing possibilities for her grandmother’s wedding dress from 1904. So she kept the dress carefully wrapped in acid-free tissue paper. Then she discovered our Gilded Lace Collection jewelry at No Roses Jewelry in Los Angeles—and it quickly occurred to her that we could make jewelry from that extraordinary wedding dress. The idea intrigued her.
The day came when Fran showed the wedding dress to the No Roses owner, Lisa Sirlin-Hall. Lisa assured Fran that it would be a great idea to send us the dress and see what design ideas we would come up with. And so the dress was flown cross-country to New York.
We opened the box with great anticipation. The dress had been handmade in Philadelphia of Valenciennes lace imported from France. Although stained by age, what an extraordinary dress it was, consisting of five parts: a long coarser underskirt, a long sleeveless princess slip, a thinner top skirt, a thinner cotton long-sleeve, high-neck blouse, and a lace jacket. The dress was extraordinary. We took photocopies of the lace, which had been inserted into the dress, and from those copies we designed the jewelry pieces. We made several earrings, rings and a necklace for Fran.
