Coppola & Toppo: the Italian excellence of vintage jewellery

In 1948 Lyda Coppola in Toppo, Venetian by birth, founded the couture jewelery brand Coppola & Toppo together with her brother, after having attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice and the laboratory of Ada Politzer, a well-known jewelery designer. Daughter of a Trieste mother of Jewish origins and a Neapolitan father, Lyda began creating jewelery by mixing materials from various parts of the peninsula in an unconventional way, from Murano glass to Torre del Greco coral. The war is over, the world is hungry for beauty and Lyda's jewels represent exactly what people need: the unusual, the modern, the refinement that has the power to erase the horrors of the recent past. Coppola & Toppo's creations – jewellery, but also shoes, scarves, bags, belts and foulards – immediately attracted the attention of both local high-end tailors and French stylists.In 1948 Lyda Coppola in Toppo, Venetian by birth, founded the couture jewelery brand Coppola & Toppo together with her brother, after having attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice and the laboratory of Ada Politzer, a well-known jewelery designer. Daughter of a Trieste mother of Jewish origins and a Neapolitan father, Lyda began creating jewelery by mixing materials from various parts of the peninsula in an unconventional way, from Murano glass to Torre del Greco coral. The war is over, the world is hungry for beauty and Lyda's jewels represent exactly what people need: the unusual, the modern, the refinement that has the power to erase the horrors of the recent past. Coppola & Toppo's creations – jewellery, but also shoes, scarves, bags, belts and foulards – immediately attracted the attention of both local high-end tailors and French stylists. Elsa Schiaparelli, Jacques Fath, Edward Molyneaux, Robert Piquet, Pierre Balmain, Jeanne Lanvin, Nina Ricci, Cristobal Balenciaga and Jacques Heim are among the brand's first customers. Coppola and Toppo became "the icing on the cake", the finishing touch of outfits, suits and photo shoots, thus helping to give shape to the French haute couture of the 1940s. Starting from the 1950s, production moved to America, while maintaining its Italian soul. The spectacular effects of shapes and colors played on the ductility of the crystal mounted on invisible metal structures, satisfy American taste. Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Women's Wear Daily and the New York Times salute the creator who arrived from overseas, catapulting her into the Olympus not only of fashion but also of cinema and entertainment in general; Coppola & Toppo jewels seduce Maria Callas, Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.Over the years, Italian stylists also began to entrust Coppola & Toppo with the creation of their jewellery: from Capucci to Krizia, from Pucci to Lancetti, from Enzo Fontana to Valentino. The latter became the maison's most important client, particularly stimulating its creative research and favoring the introduction, among the various materials used, of metal and plastic annexes. An intricate floral creation, typical of the brand's 60s production, decorates Penelope Tree's hair in a photo shoot for Vogue Italia by David Bailey in 1969; a spiral necklace envelops Verushka's body, long and lithe, in a 1975 shoot by Gian Paolo Barbieri.

There is the history of fashion in Coppola & Toppo jewels: Lyda Coppola's aesthetic sense, her instinct, her singular way of observing materials, sensing their potential, shaping them and mixing them in an unprecedented way until their most complex facets emerge and the most hidden secrets reveal a world apart, an approach to jewelery that has no equal. In 1986, after his death and the consequent cessation of activity of the maison, Maria Pezzi wrote in Donna: “Hers was a now lost craftsmanship: before moving her jewelery into the laboratory, she studied them directly. Specifically calculating the weight, the workmanship, the lace effect, the waterfall effect. It is certain that Italian fashion, initially founded above all on imagination, risk and personality, has found a great ambassador in Lyda." Today Coppola & Toppo's bijoux and accessories fall into the category of the most coveted accessories by collectors of vintage jewellery. Wearing a Coppola and Toppo jewel today means paying homage to what is and has been beautiful in Italian fashion, to the savoir-faire that lies behind the amazing creations that we see in magazines and on the catwalks, and to the courage to express your personality through good taste. In 2021, the brand was taken over by Paolo Longhitano who, together with Rossella Jardini (ex Moschino), takes care of its relaunch and creative direction.