What is Coco Chanel's relationship with jewelry? Did she work with pearl jewelry?

Once cultured pearls became available in the twentieth century, the price of pearl jewelry decreased accordingly, making them more readily purchased by members of the middle class in addition to those of the wealthier classes. Coco Chanel catapulted the popularity of pearl jewelry in the 30's. Chanel created a magnificent fashion empire and serves as a prominent female figure in fashion history of the twentieth century, thanks to her amazing creativity and entrepreneurship. Though she was born into poverty, Coco Chanel desired luxurious clothes and jewelry beyond anything else, so she began to create them for herself as well as others. She became one of the very first fashion designers to bring imitative jewelry to a whole new level. Coco Chanel was of the opinion that jewelry should be worn to adorn woman's body, not to exhibit affluence. She rarely sported her many real pieces of jewelry, but rather was more inclined to wear costume jewelry. She liked to make jewelry that was larger than life, jewelry that was not ashamed to be fake. Coco Chanel is actually the first entity to make wearing fake jewelry socially acceptable. With Chanel becoming such a strong brand name, she could do no wrong so her jewelry collections were soon in high demand by the most affluent of customers. Coco Chanel's jewelry designs were so well loved that they were soon imitated by other fashion jewelry manufacturers (much more affordable versions of course). Coco Chanel drew her inspiration from international royalty, turning traditional jewelry into creative, unique designs of costume jewelry. One of Coco Chanel's favorite gems to work with were artificial pearls. While she was growing up, pearl jewelry was worn only by members of aristocratic society. Coco Chanel created pearl jewelry that was actually costume jewelry by having larger pearls in unnatural colors. Chanel's pieces of pearl jewelry often held rows of pearls. To this day, costume jewelry is an inherent part of style in the House of Chanel.

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