ANNE KLEIN Gold-plated Faux Pearl sold Choker, Designer Necklace, Vintage 1980s

Here is a really attractive shiny gold-plated choker-length chain-link necklace, with large and slightly irregular high quality glass faux pearls, interspersed with matt gold stepped bead caps and twisted shiny gold-plated tube beads.

The choker is 43.5cms (17 1/8") in length with a couple of links to adjust the length slightly - no real extender chain here though - and a lobster clasp on the other end. There is a square hangtag attached to one end, with the block letters 'ANNE KLEIN' engraved on it. This is the signature of New York-based designer Anne Klein, who designed many items for department stores and became quite famous in the 70s and 80s. On the reverse is her famous lion-head logo.

I love this kind of thing because it is very dressy and fabulously eye-catching - however, it could also be worn with more casual outfits too - a sort of multi-purpose necklace, making it an indispensible piece of jewellery I reckon !! If you want to make a statement, this is the necklace for you.

Here is some interesting information about this US brand, and the other famous name that started her career here:-

ANNE KLEIN
Anne Klein was born as Hannah Golofski to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York on August 3, 1923. She studied art at Girls' Commercial High School in Brooklyn and later went to the Traphagen School of Design in New York City from 1937 to 1938 to study fashion. She married her first husband, Ben Klein, in the early 1940s, and together they founded Junior Sophisticates. The company revolutionized the junior market, doing away with the traditional "little-girl" clothing that featured button-and-bow detailing, and addressing the primary need of this important group—the desire to look more stylish, more polished, and, above all, more grown up.

The Anne Klein label was established in 1968 as a partnership with famed fashion guru Gunther Oppenheim. In 1971, Klein met Tomio Taki from Takihyo who approached her to enter a sold joint-venture to manufacture in the Far East with materials bought in Europe for sale in the US and Japan. The joint-venture never materialized as the margins were too thin; however, Klein approached Taki to partner in the company and by 1973 Takihyo owned 25% of the Anne Klein company.

In 1974 tragedy struck and Anne Klein died of breast cancer, leaving her equity position in the hands of her second husband, Chip Rubenstein. There was great contention among Taki, Oppenheim, and Rubenstein regarding Anne's successor. Taki wanted to elevate the assistant designer, but Oppenheim and Rubenstein wanted a name-brand designer to take the helm. At the time, Taki had the largest individual stake in the company so his equity position allowed him to promote the assistant - none other than the now famous designer Donna Karan, who a decade later became a household name. In a matter of a few years after Anne's death with Donna Karan leading the design-room, Takihyo purchased all of Rubenstein's position.

The success of the Anne Klein brand led to the development of the first bridge-line in American fashion, Anne Klein II. A line with a price point just under designer-label fashion yet still much better quality than better, moderate, and budget lines while maintaining a similar look.
Anne Klein, and then Anne Klein II were continued by Donna Karan and Louis Dell'Ollio as head designers until 1985. Taki and his partner Frank Mori at Takihyo then fired Donna on a Friday in order to rehire her the next Monday to begin a new partnership that became the highly successful Donna Karan New York line, followed by its diffusion line, DKNY.

In 2001, fashion designer Charles Nolan was hired to revive Anne Klein's image as a hipper, more fashion-forward brand. The next year, 2002, Charles Nolan quit to work on Howard Dean's presidential campaign.

Anne Klein and Co is currently owned by Jones Apparel Group, who acquired then-parent company Kasper it in 2003. Watches and jewellery are sold under this brand in many big-name department stores all over the US.