Princess Alexandra’s Influence on the Art Nouveau Movement

Princess Alexandra in her wedding dress. Photo source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain (PD-US).   Princess Alexandra’s fresh approach to life and fashion represented hope to a nation in despair. Victorian England, eager to forsake the heaviness of the previous forty years, began to push toward hope and regeneration. As one would expect, this hunger for change had a direct impact on the jewelry and fashion industry in the late 1800s. In every queen’s life there is a moment when the baton begins to shift toward the next generation. The years between 1885 and 1895 were those years in Queen Victoria’s life. In her place arose Princess Alexandra, who served a transitional role in jewelry history that would last nearly 40 years. Just as Princess Diana captured the heart of the world in the late 1900s, so Princess Alexandra captured the heart of the world in the late 1800s. She represented the coming of a new age, and her marriage to Edward VII was celebrated wildly and extravagantly in many European countries. In England, her arrival was a mob scene, and it’s safe to say that once she set foot on British soil, the jewelry industry took full advantage of her unique style. Though Queen Victoria remained firmly mounted upon her throne until her death in 1901, the jewelry industry made a self-preserving decision to follow Princess Alexandra’s lead in the fashion of those later years of Victoria’s reign. The attempt to influence a new generation toward a renewed sense of fun and interest in fashion paid off, and from this transition emerged the Art Nouveau movement. by Angela Magnotti Andrews