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What is a Dress Clip or Fur Clip?

Dress Clips and Fur Clips

There were many different types of clips used to hold clothing in the Victorian, Art Deco and Art Nouveau periods. One style that we often find is called a dress clip. Many online retailers use the word dress clip and fur clip interchangeably, but they were actually two different styles of clips. The difference is in the intended use and the type of clip on the back.

A dress clip is a piece of jewelry which looks much like a brooch from the front, but instead of having a pin clasp at the back, it has a hinged clip which folds over to attach to the clothing. In dress clips, there is one wide clip, normally with a number of small pointed grips on the underneath side. In comparison, a fur clip has two long thin pointed prongs on the back which were intended to pierce a fur stole.) Often the clips were worn in pairs.

The clips on dress clips varied in design. Although all of them consisted of a piece of metal, the actual look and shape of the clip varied from one manufacturer to another. Many were made of a filigree metal design. Some had rounded tips and others had a pointed end. All had some sort of pointed "gripper" on the underneath side to hold to material. Dress clips were especially popular during the Art Deco period when many were made of pot metal and had clear diamante rhinestones.

For more information on the various styles of clips used on vintage jewelry, please visit the resource article on the subject in our library. It is much more details and shows pictures of many differnt styles of clips

Examples of the backs of vintage clips - the last one is a fur clip: (click the pictures for more detail)

To view other articles on other vintage words, please visit the word of the week archives.

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