1960s GIVENCHY CUSTOME JEWELLERY SLAVE GILT BANGLE BRACELET

This gilt bangle was made for Givenchy in the 1960s. It is a rigid bracelet in gold-tone metal, closed with a safety clutch, weighing 60 g and sized for a wrist of up to 6.5 inches. Hubert de Givenchy had opened his couture house in Paris in 1952, and in its first decades it became known for a clean, refined elegance, closely associated with his friend and client Audrey Hepburn, whom he dressed for films including Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961.

In the 1950s and 1960s couture houses increasingly extended their names to accessories, from perfume to costume jewellery. These pieces allowed far more women to wear the house's style than could buy its clothes. A Givenchy bangle carried the same restraint as the house's dresses: a strong, simple form, made to complement rather than compete with the outfit.

The 1960s favoured bold, graphic jewellery, often in gold tones, worn with the clean lines and shorter sleeves of the decade's fashion. Rigid bangles were a staple, worn singly for a minimal look or stacked for impact. Their simplicity suited both day dressing and evening, and they remained an essential part of the decade's wardrobe.

The bangle's interest lies in its form and finish. The rigid shape gives it presence on the wrist, its weight lends substance, and the gilding provides a warm gold tone. The safety clutch closure keeps it secure. Light wear to the gilding in places records its use and gives the surface a softened, lived-in quality.

Accessories from Givenchy's early decades are sought for their link to the house's classic period and to the elegance associated with Audrey Hepburn. This gilt bangle, in very good condition, is easy to wear today, alone or with other bracelets, and carries that history in a simple, durable form.