The Francoise Necklace

The Francoise Necklace

This necklace gets its name from the types of stones that Capitola Girl used to create it: Russian Jade and Picasso Jasper. The names got her thinking about Picasso and his wife Olga, a Russian ballerina. In terms of lifestyle, Olga was known to be a socialite and Picasso, a bohemian. This difference in values led to a lifetime of conflict between them. After getting married to Olga in 1918, they separated in 1927. But, because Olga and Picasso were subject to French law, divorce was not an option until they evenly divided their property. Picasso refused to do that, and Olga remained his wife on paper until she died in 1955. Darn Picasso.

About the time of Olga's separation, Picasso had taken on a mistress named Marie. Poor Marie loved Picasso, and she waited and waited for him to marry her, but he didn't. Instead he married a woman named Jacqueline in 1961. Darn again.

Picasso's marriage to Jacqueline was purported to be a retaliatory wedding, to get back at another woman that Picasso previously had two children with. Her name was Francoise. Francoise was the only woman that ever left Picasso because of his infidelities, and she was also the mother of his most famous daughter, Paloma. Capitola Girl thought Francoise sounded strong and unique, so she decided to name this necklace after her. It features black picasso japser, russian jade rounds, and gold-foiled india glass.