In 2012, Elsa Peretti signed a 20-year, $47.3 million contract with Tiffany & Co. She would die in 2021, but her work lives on. Today, many of her designs are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the British Museum. Elsa Peretti jewelry can be purchased from 1stDibs. The designer was also honored with the Leonardo da Vinci Lifetime Achievement Award in Design at the 2019 Florence Biennale.
Elsa Peretti Jewelry
In 1969, Peretti began designing jewelry for Manhattan fashion designers. One of her first creations was a sterling silver bud vase worn on a leather strap. She was inspired by the flower-filled bottle necklaces worn by Italian girls and created her first line of jewelry based on them. Halston became Peretti’s long-time friend. By 1971, Peretti had her own line of jewelry, including a bracelet and a necklace. Peretti was also a model for Halston in that year.
Peretti’s work was so successful that it received several awards and was sold to fashion houses around the world as wholesale jewelry vendor. Her earring collection was especially popular, garnering over $1 billion in sales.
Her collections were a hit during the 1970s, and the designer was credited with reinventing fashion during this period. By the early 1990s, Peretti had won numerous design awards and was named Accessory Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.