Starting in the 1960s, fashion designers like Pierre Cardin introduced metal into fashion. Sometimes Cardin’s jewelry-like elements were directly connected to the garment—a little black dress with a necklace-like collar that falls down the front exposing skin between each link of the pendant is part of the MFA collection—and other times the jewelry was separate. The decade brought the introduction of high-end ready-to-wear fashions, called prêt-à-porter, which offered the versatility of mixing and matching garments and accessories. Shiny chrome is highly reflective and part of the Space Age Modernism introduced by French designers. In contrast to some of the more outlandish designs Cardin and his contemporaries created, jewelry like this necklace was highly wearable and perfectly paired with the era’s streamlined mini-dresses.