Paul Flato

America’s imaginative jeweler to the stars.

In 1938, the glamour of Hollywood—and the stars who would become his clients, including Greta Garbo, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, and Katharine Hepburn—drew Paul Flato to Los Angeles from New York, where he’d established himself in the 1920s as a jeweler to politicians and socialites. Although Flato was known for his surprising and Surrealist-inspired designs, he also created conventionally elegant pieces, like his exquisite series of feather brooches in diamonds and platinum. He also embraced the 1940s trend of convertible jewelry—pieces that could be taken apart and worn in a number of ways.