In the mid 1930s, the vogue grew for blue as well as green. People flocked to the newly built lidos. Wealthier people went on cruises and the lower middle classes dreamed about going on one. Water - the green sea and the blue pool - had a lot of influence on fashion. Navy style was chic.
This was reflected in the trend for aquamarines in jewellery. In 1933, the Middlesex County Times told us that the stone had been revived on a large scale, and jewellers were busy teaming them with sapphires and diamonds.
At Cowes in 1934, anyone who was anyone was wearing aquamarines teamed with their navy blue and white outfits.
In her memoir "The Girl with the Widow's Peak" Lady Ursula d'Abo fondly remembered her father, the Duke of Rutland, giving her an aquamarine brooch as a coming out ball gift in the mid 1930s. Meanwhile her sister, Lady Isobel was given items of jewellery which used the stone at her wedding in 1936.
In early 1939, when Molly Bishop married Lord George Scott, she wore a wedding gown sewn with aquamarines.
Why this colour? I suppose it was the water-borne extension of the outdoor craze. Living on an island with such emphasis on our navy it was going to happen. Was it a subconscious way of putting "clear blue water" between ourselves and the worrying developments on the continent.
