Vintage Ugo Coreani Brooch

Brooch by Italian designer Ugo Correani. It's in good vintage condition, although the coating has chipped off in one corner, it's not noticeable when worn.

Ugo Correani:



While Ugo Correani's name may not be widely recognized today, his works are celebrated and well-known. For example, he designed jewelry for the first Haute Couture Chanel collection when Karl Lagerfeld became its creative designer. Pearl necklaces that are very pricey today were made by this man.

From Vogue Archive, 1983:



Also he designed for Valentino and Christian Lacroix. But his most important work was for Gianni Versace. Correani made jewelry with those famous medusas heads that now are iconic for the fashion house. He also worked with Versace at La Scala creating accessories for the plays. He loved working with him and used to say that he wanted to be buried in a Versace suit.


Ugo Coreani for Versace: 





Belt by Ugo Correani for Atelier Versace, Vogue 1990 (photographed by Irving Penn):



Unfortunately, when he died there wasn’t any family member or colleague to make an archive with his works. And a lot of stuff was lost. And that’s why his jewelry is very expensive and rare today. Several years ago the founder of vintage store JJ Martin found his small atelier in Milan and discovered a huge amount of jewelry. She started to tell his story and Harpers Bazaar called him the best-kept secrets in fashion jewelry. The stuff that she found was sold for at least 700 dollars.