The Glitter and the Gold

Consuelo Vanderbilt was married at eighteen to the ninth Duke of Marlborough in 1895, in a transatlantic marriage that drew wide attention at the time. Her memoir, written decades later under her second married name, is a vivid account of life among the Anglo-American aristocracy at the turn of the century. She writes frankly about her unhappy first marriage, her friendships in Parisian and London society, and the constraints placed on women of her class.

As Duchess of Marlborough and later as the wife of the French aviator Jacques Balsan, Consuelo Vanderbilt moved in the social circles that sustained the European luxury trades. She was a client during the Belle Epoque and Garland Style periods, when Cartier's Paris and London branches were establishing themselves among the aristocracy.

Relevance to The Cartiers

The memoir provides first-hand testimony of the social world in which Cartier operated during its formative decades. Consuelo's descriptions of the jewels worn at court functions, country house weekends, and Parisian salons illuminate the customs and expectations that shaped demand for high jewellery in this period.