The Adventurine Posts How Instagram Memorialized Elsa Peretti

Elsa Peretti working on jewelry in her New York City apartment during the mid-1970s and an image of her Open Heart pendant on a Mesh necklace by Raymond Meier Photo via Instagram @vogue and @raymondmeier

Jewelry News

How Instagram Memorialized Elsa Peretti

Designers, stylists and editors paid tribute to the Tiffany legend

by Marion Fasel

March 20, 2021—As the news spread around the world yesterday that the jewelry world had lost a legend, designers, stylists and editors paid tribute to Elsa Peretti on Instagram. Following are some of the many posts we spotted on the social media app.

Photo via Instagram @kateyoung

From stylist Kate Young: #elsaperetti … what a loss. Truly an icon and an inspiration. I admired your style and swagger. Your insistence on rigor and design. Reducing things to their most primal and simple forms. Making a simple open heart into a poem about what the heart contains. You represent so much of what I love – elegance, sensuality, minimalism, decadence and fun. The world is more beautiful because of you 🕊

Photo via Instagram @daniellegoldberg

From stylist Danielle Goldberg: forever favorite. #elsaperetti important to note my first email address was bean711@aol.com because of my beloved kidney bean necklace by elsa peretti @tiffanyandco

Photo via Instagram @kimdunhamjewelry

Jewelry designer Kim Dunham posted the above 1970s image of Elsa working with the caption: Elsa @elsaperettiofficial was not only a brilliant, jewelry designer but a compassionate humanitarian. A true inspiration. I’m sadden to hear about her passing today. The world was a more beautiful place because of her.

Photo via Instagram @raymondmeier

From photographer Raymond Meier: Saddened to hear the loss of a legend today. You will be missed @elsaperettiofficial @tiffanyandco

Photo via Instagram @bernardcohencollection

Jewelry designer Bernard Cohen posted the delightful image of Elsa above with the caption: My photograph of Elsa Peretti and Henry Platt at the International Ball, Atlanta. Late 20th C.

Photo via Instagram @sophiebuhai

One of many photos posted by jewelry designer Sophie Buhai shows a view of Elsa’s home in Spain. Sophie captioned the gallery of images simply 💔RIP ELSA💔

Photo via Instagram @pamelalove

Jewelry designer Pamela Love posted 1970s image of Elsa in Spain with the caption: There will never be another one like you – RIP @elsaperettiofficial #elsaperetti

Photo via Instagram @taffinjewelry

Taffin jewelry designer James de Givenchy posted a detail shot of Elsa’s bone cuff with no caption just showing off those amazing curves.

Photo via Instagram @townandcountry

Town & Country posted a 1970s image of Elsa with the following caption:

#ElsaPeretti, legendary Italian jewelry designer and visionary, has died. She was 80 years old. As @babylynnieland [aka journalist Lynn Yaeger] wrote in our November issue, “When Elsa Peretti crafted her beloved Bone Cuff from silver exactly 50 years ago, she became the matriarch of truly modern, groundbreaking jewelers. Her ingeniously sculpted masterpieces happily traded faceted gems for formidable shine, giving permission to all who followed to make beautiful things out of materials other than high-carat stones or precious metals. With that bold choice Peretti also made clear you didn’t have to be named Minnelli or Berenson to flaunt your Bones. Everyone was welcome to the party, preferably with dancing shoes on.”

Photo via Instagram @thomascristos

Stylist Thomas Christos Kikis posted one of Elsa Peretti’s bean boxes artfully photographed on a nightstand and captioned it simply #elsaperetti 🖤

Photo via Instagram Stories @levihiggs

David Webb archivist Levi Higgs posted the above image of Elsa Peretti modeling the American designer’s jewels in 1971.

Photo via Instagram @particulieres.nyc

From Jewelry Advisor/Seller Shelly Branch:

Elsa| Years ago, I had the bittersweet task of selecting a gift for a high school valedictorian in Oklahoma. She had just lost her entire family—both parents and two brothers—and trusted me to tell her story. The magazine I worked for agreed that our intrusions warranted a graduation present. So before boarding the plane to visit her one last time, I was off to Tiffany to buy an Elsa Peretti open heart pendant. I will never forget the girl’s face when she opened the box. This bright teen, who had aged and matured too many years in the span of a few months, smiled and screeched with youthful abandon. It was the first time I saw her act her age, the first time I saw her come out of her mournful shell. She studied the jewel’s curious shape and asked me to please secure it around her neck. We both cried. Elsa Peretti’s jewels have always held that transformative power. The woman who found inspiration in bones and skulls, and who struggled with her own commercial success, invariably moved people with her work. Gone today at 80, she leaves us all with a better understanding of the interplay between nature and art, jewelry and sculpture—and how sensual adornment for the body is an eternal concept. Thank you, Elsa, for the everlasting gift of beauty, of emotion—and power. (Photo: Hiro, 1989)

Photo via Instagram @voguemagazine

Vogue magazine posted the following and linked to their obituary for Elsa Peretti here:

Elsa Peretti, the Italian-born jewelry designer who revolutionized the industry with her biomorphic designs inspired by bone fragments and pebbles, has died, age 80.

Peretti is arguably the most successful female ever to work in the jewelry field. Read more about her life and legacy at the link in our bio. Photographed by Duane Michals, Vogue, December 1974

Photo via Instagram @jckmagazine

JCK Magazine posted the image above of Elsa’s gold Bone Cuffs and the following caption as well as a link to their obituary: Elsa Peretti, one of the most influential modern American jewelry designers, has died. Tiffany & Co., the jeweler house she’s famously associate with, said in a statement, “A masterful artisan, Elsa was responsible for a revolution in the world of jewelry design. Her collections of organic, sensual forms have inspired generations. Elsa’s relationship with style and the natural world was profoundly personal and strongly reflected in her creations.… Elsa explored nature with the acumen of a scientist and the vision of a sculptor.”

Photo via Instagram @rgarrahan

Rachel Garrahan, British Vogue’s jewelry and watch director, posted an image of Elsa Peretti modeling on Halston’s runway wearing her Bone cuffs and linked to an obituary she wrote about the designer.

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Elsa Peretti’s Bone Cuffs Reimagined

Elsa Peretti’s Bone Cuffs Belong At The Met