Sir Dudley Richard Forwood was taken aback one evening when he saw Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, “beautifully dressed as always but blazing with rings, earrings, brooches, bracelets, and necklaces, and almost stooping under their weight.” Teasing her lightly, he asked, “Ma’am I wonder if you aren’t wearing a few too many jewels?”
According to biographer Anne Sebba, Simpson’s answer was resolute. “You forget that I am the Duchess of Windsor,” she replied. “I shall never let the Duke down.”
In collaboration with her husband, Edward, Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII), the scandalous Simpson, a twice-divorced American for whom Edward gave up the crown, created one of the most daring, extravagant, and unique jewelry collections of the 20th century. Famous for pairing giant modern jewels with perfectly tailored, streamlined couture, her gemstones often had an intoxicating effect on her high society friends.
“Alec Guinness remembers meeting the Duchess at a party in Paris, and as an actor he had never forgotten the theatrical impact of her amazing yellow diamond. He was unable to take his eyes off it. He describes it as having looked like a huge and delicious, gleaming candy,” Caroline Blackwood writes in The Last of the Duchess. “He was seized by a childish longing to eat it. The Duchess was wearing a simple black Mainbocher suit and not one other piece of jewelry on that occasion.”
Perennially at the top of the world’s best-dressed list, Simpson’s love of symbolic, often avant-garde jewelry made a lasting impact on designers and the public at large. “Her style revolutionized the way high society women wore jewelry: bold layering, modern shapes, and hidden messages were all part of her jewelry language,” Guilhem Merolle writes in Collectissim.