Diamonds Are A Gurl's Best Friend

Well in at least this country. The jeweler Cartier is celebrating 100 years in America this month. Cartier is really 150 years old but came to the US fifty years after being founded. At work as a stylist, I get all kinds of magazines and publications in which I saw Cartier is celebrating their anniversary. The picture above is there flagship in New York which I have visited before to just look! The place is quite amazing. Cartier was founded in 1847 by Louis Cartier, the jewelry house in the 19th century earned a reputation as one of Paris's preeminent jewelers, furnishing baubles to aristocrats. Cartier was one of the first jewelers to use platinum in jewelry.Cartier also was the first to introduce the first jewelery bracelet-watches for women, introduced the tank watch, and was the first to create jewelery using animal motifs. Cartier is the jeweler who sold Marie Antoinette's earrings and the Hope diamond before they ended up in the Smithsonian Institution. The jeweler eventually came to America in 1909 where Cartier's grandson, Pierre Cartier bought a mansion on Fifth Avenue. The mansion was then owned by Morton Plant, who decided to sell it to Pierre for $100 and a double-strand pearl necklace valued at $1 million. It wasn't long before the Astors, Vanderbilts and Morgans were pushing open the doors there.Since then Cartier's line expanded to leather goods, perfumes, handbags and all kinds of couture jewelry ranging from $2,000- $10 million for certain pieces.





Marilyn Monroe was decked out in Cartier diamonds for Gentlemen Prefer Blonds.



And like every year at the Oscars, many movie stars are oftened "loaned" pieces from the vast vintage collection that Cartier has to offer. If I'm a real good Mistress maybe the Boy-Toy will take me to our little Cartier boutique here to get my little piece of history.