Fall Inspiration

Victorian drawing of how Chatelaines are worn 

Chatelaine belt

Chatelaine circa 1780

Chatelaines, women of the early to late 1800's wore these amazing collection of tools hung from a number of chains and fixed to the waist by either a belt or a hook on the waistband of a skirt. This practical piece of jewelry worn by working women through to nobility varied wildly in decoration and metal. The word "Chatelaine" is french and means the keeper of the keys or the mistress of the castle, the image that this meaning conjures in my head is one of an iconic Anne Boleyn the famed first mistress of the Henry the VIII. In practicality the Chatelaine had no such "forbidden fruit" connotation but nonetheless the double entendre of the meaning of the word in French and it's use in English  fascinates me and has inspired a  collection using pieces from Chatelaines and creating necklaces to be worn by the modern day woman all the while knowing the history of that which she is wearing and giving license to her to imagine being the keeper of the castle keys, the seamstress from the 1800's, the Queen of England or even the mistress.

Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII from the Tudors