Book Review: Swarovski: Celebrating a History of Collaboration in Fashion, Jewelry, Performance and Design

Elyse Zorn Karlin

This book is sumptuous in its presentation. Its production quality is elegant from the silver cardstock end papers to the beautiful photography and fancy gatefold spreads. It will display nicely on your coffee table, weighing in at a whopping six pounds.

Beyond the dazzling first impression, the value of the book is really in the eye of the beholder. If you are looking for an in-depth history of the use of Swarovski crystals in jewelry, or even simply a look at the firm’s contemporary jewelry output, this book may not be for you. The photographs are gorgeous and the creations divine, but the text lacks in substance.

The book is divided into four sections: Fashion, Jewelry, Performance, and Design. The jewelry section has a nice essay by noted jewelry historian Vivienne Becker. It is oddly printed on mini pages and bound in front of the oversize pages containing images of the jewelry. It seems to say the story is less important than the imagery. And the jewelry pieces shown are over-the-top creations rather than a representative gallery of the Swarovski crystals used in jewelry since the end of the 19th century. Is it really necessary to show a high-style ring fashioned of Swarovski crystals as a 10 in. × 12.5 in. photo? The essay itself is a useful discussion of Swarovski’s role in establishing the costume jewelry world. But the author’s voice is not continued throughout the many images that are shown through captions, which would have been useful.

It is great fun to see Michael Jackson’s crystal-covered glove, pieces created for major fashion houses, the original crystal chandelier lighting commissioned for the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and more. Yet this book offers little information for those interested in jewelry specifically. The jewelry actually depicted in this book consists mostly of one-of-a-kind pieces worn on the runway or sold to an elite audience through couture houses, not jewelry most of us will ever see.