Kenneth Jay Lane is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 costume jewelry

Costume jewelry

Costume jewelry is jewelry manufactured as ornamentation to complement a particular fashionable costume or garment. Costume jewelry came into being in the 1930s as a cheap, disposable accessory meant to be worn with a specific outfit...

 designer

Designer

A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...

.

Biography

Born in Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 he is an alumnus of Detroit Central High School, the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 and the Rhode Island School of Design

Rhode Island School of Design

Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...

.

He was first a shoe designer for Delman and Christian Dior

Christian Dior

Christian Dior , was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior.-Life:...

 and he used his free time to create fun and flashy baubles. They were such an instant success that Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks Fifth Avenue is a luxury American specialty store owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises , a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the high-end specialty store market in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, i.e. 'the 3 B's' Bergdorf, Barneys, Bloomingdale's and Lord & Taylor...

 sold its entire initial inventory in one day. He was one of the persons included for "high fashion" in the Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

 Screen Tests

Screen Tests

Andy Warhol's Screen Tests are a series of silent film portraits consisting of several-minute unbroken shots of Factory regulars, Warhol superstars, celebrities, guests, friends, or anyone he thought had "star potential".-Production background:...

 and a guest at Truman Capote

Truman Capote

Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...

's Black And White Ball.

He has created unique designs for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...

, Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...

, Diana Vreeland

Diana Vreeland

Diana Vreeland was a noted columnist and editor in the field of fashion. She worked for the fashion magazines Harper's Bazaar and Vogue and the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Born as Diana Dalziel, Vreeland was the eldest daughter of American socialite mother Emily Key Hoffman...

, and Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...

. He is probably most well known for his three-strand faux pearl necklace worn by Jacqueline Kennedy during her husband's presidency, a version of which was worn by Barbara Bush to her husband's inaugural

Inauguration

An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's term of office. An example is the ceremony in which the President of the United States officially takes the oath of office....

 ball. Some say that Duchess of Windsor

Wallis, The Duchess of Windsor

Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, previously Wallis Simpson, was an American socialite whose third husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom and the Dominions, abdicated his throne to marry her.Wallis's father died shortly after her birth, and she and her...

 is buried in the jewelled belt he created for her.

His continued philosophy is that 'elegance, good taste and luxury never go out of style.'[] Current stars wearing his jewelry include the Olsen twins, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mischa Barton, Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears.

Many of the museum stores, including the Dallas Museum of Art

Dallas Museum of Art

The Dallas Museum of Art is a major art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, USA, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In 1984, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Arts District, Dallas, Texas...

, The Smithsonian, The Museum of Natural History, and the Bush Presidential Library carry his line of jewelry but his pieces can also be found on QVC

QVC

QVC is a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, United States, QVC broadcasts in five countries as QVC US, QVC UK, QVC Germany, QVC Japan and – QVC Italy to 200 million households...

. Other luxury stores carrying his baubles include Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Intermix, Beads by Mail, Net-a-Poter, Shopbop, and Pret-A-Beute.com.

In addition to jewelry, KJL currently offers eyewear and belts. The aformention items can all be found in his flagship store in New York City's famed Plaza Hotel. In late 2009, KJL announced the launch of a cubic zirconia collection to be called, CZ's by Kenneth Jay Lane.

His pieces are now considered by many as collectable as precious gems, with vintage pieces selling at Christie's

Christie's

Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...

 and Sotheby's

Sotheby's

Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...

 and Doyle New York

Doyle New York

Doyle New York is one of the world's largest auctioneers and appraisers of fine art, jewelry, furniture, decorations and other specialty categories. Located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Doyle offers approximately forty auctions each year...

.

Since 1977 his home in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 has been a duplex in the Stanford White

Stanford White

Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...

 mansion completed in 1892 and one of the few surviving mansions on Park Avenue

Park Avenue (Manhattan)

Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....

. From 1923–1977 it served as the home of the Advertising Club

Advertising Club

The Advertising Club of New York was founded in 1896 and was first known as the Sphinx Club but by 1915 the name had become the Advertising Club of New York....

. At that time it was converted into a cooperative

Cooperative

A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...

 apartment house. His living room is the former club library and features an original marble mantelpiece, a wide variety of original artwork and several lamps designed by Robert Denning

Robert Denning

Robert Denning was an American interior designer whose lush interpretations of French Victorian decor became an emblem of corporate raider tastes in the 1980s.-Early life:...

 of Denning & Fourcade

Denning & Fourcade, Inc.

Robert Denning & Vincent Fourcade, Inc. was an interior design firm which for over forty years was a leader in opulent interiors with offices in New York City and Paris...

.

He was added to Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair (magazine)

Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...

s International Best Dressed List, Hall of Fame in 1974. His book Faking It written together with Harrice Simons Miller was published in 1996 by Harry N. Abrams ISBN 0-8109-3579-1.

Media references

• He is referenced in the song "Sally Can't Dance" by Lou Reed
  Lou Reed
  Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
  
  . '... and wore Kenneth Lane jewelry...'