Wholesale Blog

The Next Chanel? Christian Dior's Vintage & Modern Jewelry

If you’ve been following our trends reports, you already know that designer jewelry is selling out in a flash. From Chanel to Tiffany, and Van Cleef & Arpels to Christian Dior, shoppers can’t get enough of these little luxuries. Christian Dior, who was known for his simplistically chic, lady-like designs, has also recently taken the jewelry world by storm with its CD logo popping up on everything from rings to necklaces, and earrings.

Mary Zubritsky

If you’ve been following our trends reports, you already know that designer jewelry is selling out in a flash. From Chanel to Tiffany, and Van Cleef & Arpels to Christian Dior, shoppers can’t get enough of these little luxuries. Christian Dior, who was known for his simplistically chic, lady-like designs, had also taken the jewelry world by storm with his CD logo popping up on everything from vintage rings and necklaces to today’s earrings and bracelets.

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Christian Dior, who was known for his simplistically chic designs, founded his storied French fashion house in 1946 at 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris. Prior to launching his namesake brand, Dior worked alongside Pierre Balmain at Lucien Lelong where they designed dresses for the wives of military officers and French collaborators. Dior’s designs were more voluptuous and body-hugging than the boxy, conservative shapes of World War II styles…which was said to be due to a lack of fabrics. He became an expert at creating feminine shapes and silhouettes for any woman of any size.

Launched in 1948, Dior Costume Jewelry was one of the luxury labels, alongside Chanel, who helped bring costume jewelry into lives of the everyday woman. Dior believed jewelry was as much a part of fashion as clothing, and jewelry completed the look. In fact, he designed pieces to be part of his collections, not as a separate business. When Dior passed away in 1957, Yves Saint Laurent took over as creative director and oversaw Christian Dior jewelry designs.

Since he spent much of his time in the French countryside, a lot of Dior’s jewelry was inspired by nature and many of his pieces from animals and floral motifs. Dior’s costume jewelry used colored and clear crystals, pearls and semi-precious stones such as citrines and peridots, turquoise glass drops, pink stones and pearls, rhinestones, and gilt metals. Dior’s fine jewelry features mother of pearl, precious stones, onyx, opals, and gold.

THE HOUSE OF GRIPOIX

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Just like Chanel, many of Dior’s first jewelry pieces were hand-made using colorful, poured glass created by the House of Gripoix, who was known for their Byzantine-inspired jewelry. Some pieces were also produced by Robert Goosens who at one point was Chief Designer of Jewelry at Chanel, and Roger Jean-Pierre who ran was also known for his work with Balmain, Balenciaga, and Else Schiaparelli. Today, these pieces are a collector’s item and very hard to find.

From the mid-50s onward, most of Dior’s jewelry was produced by Henkel & Grosse. There were additional collaborations in the 1950s that produced a number of ready-to-wear collections including Mitchell Maer for Dior and Christian Dior by Kramer, but even more memorable was Dior’s collaboration with Swarovski. This partnership introduced the world to the iridescent aurora borealis rhinestone, which was used in many of his designs.

In 1998, Dior announced its official jewelry division called Dior Joaillerie which hired Victoire de Castellane as creative director who previously worked for Chanel under Karl Lagerfeld. She is known for her creative, bold jewelry designs and is often cited as one of the best and most innovative jewelry designers of her time. Castellane also launched one Dior’s first and most notable fine jewelry collections called Dior A Versailles which was inspired by the Palace of Versailles’ hall of mirrors. Each piece was made with 18th-century jewelry-making techniques and the metals were darkened for an antique look.

DIOR’S CD LOGO

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Just like Chanel, Dior started incorporating their CD logo into the pieces in the 80s and also included designs such as bows, and the lily of the valley flower in both fine and costume jewelry. And some of these motifs were created using Gripoix glass, tsavorite garnets and diamonds.

While many of Dior’s older pieces can fetch top dollar on the resale market, more recent Dior jewelry created under Marc Bohan can have a punk look and feel, and other creative directors like Gianfranco Ferre’ and John Galliano put their own twist on Dior jewelry in the 90s. One of the most famous necklace designs by Galliano is the Masai worn by Charlize Theron in J’adore Dior perfume ads.

Currently, Dior’s vintage and more current pieces are some of the hottest jewelry items around. Whether it’s Dior’s colorful, youthful CD logo designs that can be found in their shops and online right now, or the house’s unique, antique jewelry collections, Dior’s timeless pieces are brilliant and elegant, and that’s why we think Dior jewelry is the next Chanel.

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SHOP DIOR JEWELRY AT LEPRIX WHOLESALE

Meet LePrix Wholesale, the most trusted and largest online platform to source authentic, pre-owned luxury. With LePrix Wholesale at your service, you have immediate access to all the bestselling designer pieces for your resale business.

You’ll never again have to spend countless hours searching for the hottest Louis Vuitton pochette or the classic Chanel bag at a healthy margin. Or stress over currency conversions, the customs and shipping process, or the authenticity of your purchases. Every item on LePrix Wholesale is inspected and authenticated multiple times. You can easily add a Certificate of Authenticity with your order.

On our wholesale platform, every item comes with a description, condition, and letter grade for top brands. By leveraging deep data analytics and AI, our platform also shows you a suggested minimum resale price and estimated profit margin for top pre-owned brands like Chanel, Hermès and Dior. Every item is LePrix-vetted and inspected so you and your customers can rest assured knowing that each purchase is authentic.

If you’re a business, you may qualify for exclusive access to authentic, pre-owned designer bags, jewelry, and accessories at wholesale prices. Find out more here.

ABOUT LEPRIX

LePrix means “the price” and “the prize” in French, which captures the spirit of the hunt for pre-owned luxury. The thrill of the hunt sparked the launch of the world’s largest marketplace enabling access to shop over 600 designer consignment boutiques online. While working with hundreds of the world’s best consignment boutiques, we discovered that our store partners were wasting a lot of time and energy sourcing inventory to grow their businesses. They needed a convenient way to source more top-selling products like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, etc. from other trusted resale businesses. And that is how LePrix Wholesale was born.

In 2018, LePrix launched LePrix Wholesale, which is the only marketplace in the U.S. unlocking access to pre-owned, pre-authenticated luxury from the world’s most trusted suppliers at deeply discounted prices. Our team of experts carefully select suppliers, curate the most desirable inventory and inspect your orders before shipment. You will be assigned a dedicated account manager to help you optimize your wholesale buying experience. We believe in empowering businesses like yours with the right tools (access to top sellers, inventory you need, or valuable resources) and support to help you grow your business.

*LePrix is not affiliated with any brands in any manner. All items are LePrix Vetted and Approved: LePrix’s team of specialists inspect every item before it’s listed and sold on LePrix Wholesale.