Kenneth Jay Lane

Here’s the beginning of my review of “Fabulous Fakes: Jewelry by Kenneth Jay Lane” at Providence’s RISD Museum:

The New York-based, RISD-trained costume jewelry designer Kenneth Jay Lane once said: “Every woman wants to be Cinderella when she puts on jewels. Faux jewelry is like wearing glass slippers. A woman can feel she’s going to the ball, even if she’s not.”

“Fabulous Fakes: Jewelry by Kenneth Jay Lane,” organized for the RISD Museum by Henry Joyce, a Providence-based independent curator, presents more than 400 of Lane’s costume jewelry earrings, bracelets, necklaces, brooches, rings, belts, and watches, all drawn from Lane’s own collection. It’s a fun, bubbly exhibit. Lane isn’t about exquisitely refined craftsmanship, but about bowling you over with big, bold, fabulousness. It’s the triumph of style over substance.

Read the rest here.

“Fabulous Fakes: Jewelry by Kenneth Jay Lane,” RISD Museum, 224 Benefit St., Providence, Oct. 26, 2007, to Jan. 27, 2008.

Pictured: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Necklace (1970s), necklace (ca. 1980) and necklace (1985). Courtesy of Kenneth Jay Lane. Photography by Erik Gould, RISD Museum of Art, 2007.