Kenneth Jay Lane

Kenneth Jay Lane is an American costume jewelry designer.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on 22 April 1932, Lane is an alumnus of the University of Michigan and the Rhode Island School of Design.

Lane was a member of the New York art staff on Vogue, before going on to design footwear for Delman Shoes between 1956–58 and for the New York branch of Christian Dior from 1958 to 1963, where he trained under Roger Vivier.

Lane was one of the subjects of Andy Warhol's Screen Tests (where, in a film taken in 1966, he represented "high fashion"). Through Warhol he met Nicola Weymouth, an English socialite who became his wife in 1974. They divorced in 1977.

Since 1977 his home in Manhattan has been a duplex in the Stanford White mansion completed in 1892 and one of the few surviving mansions on Park Avenue. From 1923–1977 it served as the home of the Advertising Club. At that time it was converted into a cooperative apartment house. His living room is the former club library and features an original marble mantelpiece, original artwork and lamps designed by Robert Denning of Denning & Fourcade.

Lane started designing jewelry and launched his business in 1963 whilst producing bejeweled footwear for Dior and Arnold Scaasi. He first came to public attention after Jo Hughes, a fashion industry insider, showed some of his designs to Wallis, the Duchess of Windsor, who bought several pieces and recommended him to her friends. As both costume jewellery and society reporting were popular at the time, press reports of this incident launched Lane's business. His talent at copying high end jewelry from a quick glimpse proved popular, his clients proudly wearing the faux pieces.Jacqueline Kennedy was among those who commissioned fake jewels from Lane in order to enable her to wear them more freely while keeping the valuable originals in a safe.

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