A white woman wearing an old, light blue dress walks toward a dusty blue and tan French chateau down a dust-strewn path in an old world romantic image similar to a painting.

An Introduction to Fallen Aristocrat Collections

A collection of enchanting jewelry inspired by wanderlust, longing, and a fall from grace. Originally designed by Paula Danyluk, owner of the Paris Market & Brocante in Savannah, GA.

A white woman in a deep olive green silk dress lounges on an antique chaise beside a window, reading an old French letter. She wears five distinct chains and charms with a Lover
Featured | Etoile Star Stud Earrings ; Forget-Me-Not Locket Necklace ; Lapis Lazuli Pendant ; Long Stick Chain Necklace ; Ilari Coin Pendant Necklace ; Lover's Eye Pendant ; Rolo Chain Necklace

origin story & premiere collections

Paula Danyluk, designer and founder of Fallen Aristocrat Jewelry, has long been drawn to things with a past. For decades, she's wandered the world gathering artwork, histories, unique friendships and antique treasures to create a vast personal collection of knowledge and style from which Fallen Aristocrat was born.


Musing upon her store of French coins and antique charms gathered along the brocantes of Paris, Paula envisioned a new generation of heirlooms by creating pieces that felt at once extravagant and everyday—modern with a vintage appeal. And in 2018, those dreams at last became reality.


A close-up image of two, white hands held one above the other with a golden coin pendant dangling between them on a chain. The woman is wearing a white lace dress and an elaborate, antiqued gold charm bracelet with a saint pendant as well as a long, white ring.
La Semeuse Necklace

The First Empire


Our debut jewelry line, photographed at Chateau Gudanes by acclaimed artist Jamie Beck, is named the First Empire and features five distinct collections: Bonaparte, Romanov, Museum, Mythos, and Lover’s Eye. Holding some of our most treasured pieces, each collection takes its name from a tale of tragic grandeur, forbidden love, or relics of a bygone era. 


We begin with the star-crossed lovers, Joséphine de Beauharnais and Napoleon Bonaparte.

A white woman stands with her back to the camera, looking over one shoulder toward the golden sun. Her dark, curly hair hangs over one shoulder as a white silk dress slips off her exposed back. At the center of her back is a golden heart-shaped locket held by a knight
Forget-Me-Not Locket Necklace

Bonaparte collection

A masterful blend of imperial wonder and ill-fated romance, our debut collection is regal and heartfelt, named for the love story of Napoleon Bonaparte and his empress, Joséphine de Beauharnais. Their love was tumultuous, their marriage broken shortly after it began, yet crumpled upon his deathbed, Napoleon is still said to have cried out for Joséphine one last time. 


These pieces are regal, heartfelt, and enchanting, inspired by the coins, shields, and fleur-de-lis of Old World France. 


“Your tears rob me of reason, and inflame my blood. Believe me it is not in my power to have a single thought which is not of thee, or a wish I could not reveal to thee.”


An antiqued golden hand pendant holds onto a wide, gold ring off a bar chain necklace. The entire jewelry piece is draped over a cracked old stone statue bust of a man
A white woman with dark red-painted lips and heavy dark brown eyes looks to the left, her thick black curly hair caught up in a low bun. She wears a black, high-necked blouse but what stands out is the small, black oval stud earring at her lobe lined in gold, and bearing a golden lion on its back legs.
Explore the Bonaparte Jewelry Collection
A white woman in a sleeveless black dress stands at an antique wooden French desk hovering over a pile of old letters, perfume bottles, and a crown. An ornate mirror hangs before her.
Konstantin Earrings ; Lady with Doves Ring

Romanov collection


Imperial, extravagant, audacious, refined; the Romanov legacy is one of sinners and saints gathered beneath a watchful court of golden stars. These pieces are inspired by the lavish coronations and gilded secrets of the House of Romanov—a line dressed in divinity even as the marble crumbled below their feet. 


The delicate labyrinthine design of Fabergé eggs and ghosts of the grand palace inspired the use of intricate filigree, black diamond crystal pavé, and vintage intaglios in this exquisite series.


A white woman lounges in an antique, embroidered dress with one hand lightly perched on her dark, curly hair. At her ear hangs an elaborate, bronze layered chandelier earring with crystal studs gleaming.
An elaborate earring hangs from a white woman
A white woman sits in a white dress with soft, yellow suns embroidered. Her dark, curly rope of hair hangs down her left shoulder along dark golden earrings. At her wrist is a solid gold bangle with filigree carvings along its side.
A white woman with dark, curly hair looks tot he left against a painted, soft grey-blue background painted like a mattress. Her red lips are slightly parted, her expression mournful. At her ear lies a round, light blue earring with a small, golden saint figure intaglio at center and crystals lining the whole thing.
Explore the Romanov Jewelry Collection
A close-up shot of a white woman
Featured | Aristocrate Charm Necklace ; Aristocrate Charm Bracelet ; Aristocrate Charm Earrings

Museum Collection


Artful and eclectic, with an air of eccentricity, these pieces were envisioned after years spent walking the halls of some of the most noteworthy museums in the world. 


It began with fifteen charms, coins, cameos, and intaglios—a delicate yet powerful assembly purposefully mismatched to catch the light from every angle. Woven into a framework of genuine Carnelian and Taiwan jade, freshwater pearl and Czech black diamond crystal pavé, each piece of the trinity promised protection, strength, creativity.


A pale, ivory-white oval pendant is carved in an intaglio with a woman in Grecian dress holding her arm out as three doves fly around her. The piece is surrounded by antiqued golden loops, and rests on a long, dark gold stick chain with a three-leaf charm at the end and a small, green stone. The whole jewelry piece lies over an illustration of pastel Parisian buildings.
An oil painting of a bald, white man with a white-grey beard stands in profile facing the right. From his ear dangles a thick gold rolo chain that swirls around a central glass cameo charm at the end.
A round, glass locket framed in dark gold rests over an antique French letter with sepia script, the jewelry pendant lying on a thick rolo chain necklace. All of it rests over green silk and red velvet from an old gaming set.

aristocrate charms


Intricately detailed and rich with color, the charms of our Aristocrate line are cast from vintage prayer coins, cameos, intaglios, and glass stones sourced across Europe, promising to bestow beauty, protection, and strength to whomever the wearer may be. 


Cast rainbows across your skin with the addition of these colorful charms to any chain, inspired by the stained glass windows famed for their beauty and wonder across the cathedrals of Europe.


Explore the Museum Collection
A white woman in a soft blue, old-fashioned dress with puffed sleeves crouches among waving grass and wildflowers before a misty French chateau in the backdrop with mountains. She wears a prominent, thick golden rolo chain from which hangs an oval pendant framed by coral-colored dots and a miniature portrait of an eye.
Featured | Mixta Persona Earrings ; Lover's Eye Pendant ; Long Rolo Chain Necklace

Lover's Eye Collection


The art of Lover’s Eyes dates back to eighteenth century England and the love affair between George IV, the Prince of Wales, and a widowed commoner named Maria Fitzherbert. Forbidden to engage with her, he commissioned a miniature portrait of his eye wrapped in pearls, and sent it with a letter pleading with her to become his wife.


This sparked a trend that we have since revived with several styles of eyes painted in watercolor on linen paper, then placed under glass with a decorative frame to be worn as a brooch or pendant always near the heart. Our current pieces are framed by carnelian beads or glass pearls, featuring a variety of eye-shapes and skin tones.


A dark-skinned, Black man
An antique golden yellow jewelry box sits on a block of marble, top open to reveal a brown eye in an oval golden brooch framed by small, glass pearls. To the right is a Black, dark-skinned eye brooch and another on its face.
An oval pendant bearing a brilliant blue eye is framed by deep red carnelian beads, hanging from a dark gold hook. The pendant is laid over a light tan wallpaper backdrop with colorful flowers painted and olive-green leaves.

custom orders


When we sought to revive this Old World art, our design came about with careful thought toward a contemporary audience, but our highest hope has always been to offer custom pieces designed after your own beloved's gaze—a feat we've achieved with the help of a local Savannah artist.


Each custom piece starts with a photograph and description, detailing the eye you wish to capture forever in paint and gold. It can be a lover, a parent, a child—someone precious to you. Create an heirloom with us to last generations and preserve your own history.



Photographed is a custom order commissioned by Jamie Beck of her husband's eye, gifted to her daughter and photographed by the artist herself.

Shop the Lover's Eye Collection
A white woman in an antique, lace white dress lies back on an old chaise, her cheekbone and nose catching the light as she closes her eyes. The focal point is the carnelian pendant around her throat, hanging on a dark gold bar chain over her collarbones.
Featured | Carnelian Pendant ; Bar Chain Necklace

Mythos collection


There is a collective mythos whispered across empires and eras, bearing symbols for protection and prosperity, joy-bringers and ego-breakers. In our collection are pieces gathered across the world that represent rebirth and resurrection, power, and the stories of the stars by which some people live their lives.


Alongside cicadas and scarabs, we have a collection of zodiac charms inspired by vintage French designs, intricately detailed to represent symbols of the 12 astrological signs. 

Legends invite power, lessons make us wise.


Four golden earrings cast in the shape of cicadas, long insects with ridged wings, lay across veined marble in the soft shade of light cast through amber-yellow bar glasses.
A white woman with dark hair and an ornate Oriental-style silk coat lays back on a chaise. On her finger is a warm, orange oval ring carved in the shape of a scarab, seen in a bigger depiction just to her right.
Explore Our Mythos Collection

a final word


As in all endeavors, there comes a time to expand—and expand we've done with two new collections over the last few years: Modern Muse and Grotto.


Modern Muse is a crossroads of ancient wisdom and youthful audacity, inspiring the wearer to be artless and daring in their play. Layers of chains and charms offer the chance to be curious, subdued, or wild—a true muse for modernity.


Grotto is the dwelling place of divinity, carved by the sea, inlaid with luminescent pearl and silvered whispers of the old gods. Steeped in Old World lore and a dose of magic, the grotto is where humanity is born anew.


Explore these collections within their own blogs to come, and any new pieces we add to the golden strands of our jewelry box.


All fine art photography was taken by Jamie Beck at Chateau de Gudanes in France, 2018. 

Model featured is Louise Pascal.

— Fallen Aristocrat
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