Rare collier Ugo Correani, fausses perles et métal, c. 1980, signé, en très bon état

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Ugo Correani is one of fashion jewelry's best-kept secrets. For two decades, starting in 1973, the Rome-born designer worked behind the scenes from his humble Milan atelier for some of the industry's biggest names, including Chanel, Versace, Valentino and Christian Lacroix. Correani designed the opulent pearl-draped jewelry for Karl Lagerfeld's very first haute couture collection at Chanel in 1983 and collaborated with Lagerfeld at Chloé. But his most fruitful collaboration was with Gianni Versace, who he met in the 1970s when Versace was a mere guppy in the fashion fishpond. The Versace-Correani relationship produced an explosive alchemy, both on the stage at Milan's La Scala theater (where the duo produced costumes and jewelry for several plays, including Evita, André Malraux and Salomé in the mid 1980s as well as on Milan's catwalks. From blinged-out colored crystal studs and hand-mounted rhinestones to Byzantine-inspired gold metal coin disks and more sober black and silver metal, Correani interpreted Versace's fearless style into refined, witty and meticulously produced costume jewelry.