O
n the night of May 19, 1962, Peter
Lawford, hosting a Democratic
Party fundraiser for JFK at New
York’s Madison Square Garden,
ceded the podium for one of the
most famous performances of the
20th century. Having snuck away from the set of
her latest fi lm, Marilyn Monroe strode into the
spotlight and launched into a breathy, suggestive
rendition of “Happy Birthday, Mr. President.”
The singing may have been average, but
Monroe wasn’t. When she slipped out of her
fur coat, she stood wearing a fl esh-colored,
skintight Jean Louis dress—it had literally
been sewn onto her—and sparkled in the
spotlight: The dress had been stitched with
2,500 Swarovski crystals.
It’s rare that a brand name is so
synonymous with its product, but Swarovski
happens to be one of those cases. There’s a
catch, though: while everyone knows the
Austrian family fi rm makes sparkly crystals,
they probably don’t know just how ubiquitous
those little gems have become. Swarovski
stones have shown up every where from the
jeweled curtain at the Oscars to stage costumes
for Elvis, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Rihanna.
Through its many divisions, Swarovski sinks
its crystals into watches, hangs them from
chandeliers and assembles them into home
décor items and gifts. But nowhere are the
stones more visible than in the fashion realm,
whether as part of the company’s own jewelry
line or on clothing created by some 150
high-end designers.Fast Facts
1895
Company
founded.
1977
First jewlery
collection
1989
Swan logo
introduced.
2,800
Current retail
locationsGlass menagerie
Swarovski wasn’t
part of the retail
world until the
mid-1970s, when a
company designer
named Max Schreck
was playing with
chandelier crystals
and assembled them
into a tiny mouse.
The fi gurine became
a best-seller at the
1976 Innsbruck
Winter Olympics
and led to an entire
animal collection.PREVIOUS PAGE, SWAROVSKI, MOUSE: COURTESY OF SWAROVSKI; THIS PAGE: JACKSON: BETH A. KEISER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; OZ: ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
Born in Bohemia in 1862, Daniel Swarovski
was the son of a glass cutter and an inveterate
tinkerer who invented an electric cutting
machine at age 30. Bohemia was famous for its
leaded-glass crystals, which had always been
cut by hand, and Swarovski’s machine allowed
precision cuts that rendered crystals that
sparkled so brilliantly, they were confused with
actual diamonds. That luster gave Swarovski
a selling proposition that, according to Robert
Buchbauer, CEO of the company’s consumer
goods business and a great-great-grandson of its
founder, remains to this day: “The core is still
very close to our founder’s thought,” he said, “to
provide a diamond for every woman.”
Meaning: an a ordable diamond—so close to
the real thing that it might as well be. Thanks to
the stones’ incomparable dazzle and reasonable
price, Swarovski crystals glinted their way onto
the silver screen (Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers and
Holly Golightly’s tiara in Breakfast at Ti any’s
were both Swarovski encrusted) and eventually
into the lives of consumers. Swarovski’s watches,
jewelry and gifts fi ll its 2,800 retail locations
worldwide. Meanwhile, partner brands have
stuck the crystals on everything from sneakers
to dog dishes to Mercedes-Benzes.
Indeed, it’s the range of product
collaborations that, Buchbauer said, has “kept
us in the game.” But it’s also something else: the
undeniable magic of bling. “Once [a] product is
enhanced with stones,” he says, “it becomes so
incandescent that people want to keep it for a
long time—it adds value to almost any kind of
product you can imagine.”All that glitters In 1892, when Daniel Swarovski patented a machine that
cut lead crystal into brilliant stones (above), the worlds of fashion and show
business came running—and they still are. Past and present appearances
of Swarovski stones include (clockwise from left): Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers
in the 1939 MGM classic The Wizard of Oz; Marilyn Monroe in her crystal-
studded gown after singing “Happy Birthday” to JFK in 1962; Michael
Jackson performing with his famous white glove covered in Swarovski
Lochrosen crystals.ADWEEK |OCTOBER 9, 2017 31
n the night of May 19, 1962, Peter
Lawford, hosting a Democratic
Party fundraiser for JFK at New
York’s Madison Square Garden,
ceded the podium for one of the
most famous performances of theBorn in Bohemia in 1862, Daniel Swarovski
was the son of a glass cutter and an inveterate
tinkerer who invented an electric cutting
machine at age 30. Bohemia was famous for its
leaded-glass crystals, which had always been
cut by hand, and Swarovski’s machine allowedSwarovski-
covered Nike
Air Max 97
sneakers ($400)