Are Marella Agnelli's Beaded Indian Necklaces the Real Thing?

A Japa Mala bead necklace. Perhaps Marella Agnelli's bead necklace was inspired by these traditional wooden bead necklaces. Photo credit: GourangaUK, CC BY-SA 2.5.   First captured in a photograph of Marella Agnelli taken in Rome in 1959 (see image here), her indomitable beaded necklace is actually a twisted mass of between four and six strands of Indian beads, possibly including emeralds, rubies, and pearls, all held together by a golden clasp. A favorite of the mid-century's Queen of International Style, Marella Agnelli, this necklace features prominently in no less than nine photo occasions spanning the last ten years (click here to view a collection of these photos). Curiously, I have been unable to find any photos of the European beauty wearing this necklace (clearly a favorite) during her socialite days of the 1960s. In fact, it seems to have gone into hiding for upwards of 40 years--a mystery worth investigating, indeed. Sra. Agnelli resided in Turin, Italy, where she reigned alongside her husband, Giovanni ('Gianni') Agnelli, who ruled the Fiat empire until his death in 2003. Jet-setters before jet-setting was trendy, the Agnellis made their style mark in both Italy and the States, where they spent two months out of each year shopping (and lunching with) the best of New York. One source reports that these necklaces were made for Marella Agnelli by the bodacious jeweler, Kenneth Jay Lane (KJL). However, the dates do not line up, and I believe that this same writer's assertion that Sra. Agnelli was "out of sorts" with Mr. Lane when he added "this lovely piece to his Couture line," is true not because she treasured having a one-of-a-kind KJL piece, but because he diminished its impact in her wardrobe when he began selling his knockoffs to all her friends {cited: KennethJayLaneSales.com}. In fact, I believe that Sra. Agnelli's necklace is an original Indian relic, perhaps purchased directly from merchants in India or through international traders she came across in her travels to Rome. And I believe that when her friends started wearing identical necklaces in black and red, the maverick stylista stowed her favorite jewel away for a better day. Dubbed 'The King of Faux,' Kenneth Jay Lane transformed imitation jewelry into an art form with his bold imitation of big names like Cartier and museum showpieces from the Renaissance, as well as the Victorian and Art Deco Eras. His foray into jewelry began in 1962 (three years after Sra. Marella wore her necklaces in Rome), when he began making brooches and earrings out of glass and crystal beads to match the jeweled shoes he designed for Christian Dior. Soon after, he took a job with Arnold Scaasi making shoes and earrings. Though he is reported to have been friends (at least business associates) with the society mavens of the 1960s, including Sra. Marella Agnelli, his association with them likely did not begin until after he launched K.J.L. in 1963. I believe sometime after he began working with the cream of the crop in New York in the early 1960s, he copied Sra. Agnelli's necklace, just as he copied Jackie Onassis's Maharajah necklace and Elizabeth Taylor's Van Cleef & Arpels necklaces right around the same time. Always one to live by what Truman Capote called "some aesthetic system of thought, a code transposed into a self portrait," Marella Agnelli never followed trends. She set trends. And so, her Indian necklaces seem to have disappeared just as all her friends began wearing exact replicas. Later, as the contemporary styles of the 1980s replaced the bohemian styles of the 1960s and 1970s, Marella Agnelli knew the time was right to bring her favored jewels out of hiding. Now, nearly 30 years later, she has enjoyed many decades with these stunning beaded necklaces worn tightly around her neck, as she did in Rome in 1959, as well as loosely cascading across a clean white palette, as she did in their first reappearance at Malcolm Forbes's 70th birthday bash in 1989.