Paul Edmund Flato

Paul Edmund Flato (September 1, 1900 – July 17, 1999), was an American jeweler, based in New York City from the 1920s to the early 1940s. Considered the first celebrity jeweler, he was well known for important jewelry, and as an early proponent of whimsical pieces. His long list of movie star clients included Greta Garbo, Mae West, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Doris Duke, Ginger Rogers, Carmen Miranda, Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, and Gloria Vanderbilt—many of whom wore his pieces on screen.

Biography Paul Edmond Flato was born in 1900 in Shiner, Texas, son of prominent Texas cattleman Rudolph, and Julia Burow Flato, a German immigrant. He died on July 17, 1999, having returned to Texas late in life, and received full column obituary in The New York Times.

He employed several designers, including future luminaries David Webb, George W. Headley and Count Fulco di Verdura. He was reportedly Harry Winston's largest client when Winston was strictly a wholesale dealer.

Designs Paul Flato was well known for "witty and flamboyant designs"

Some of his most famous pieces include platinum and diamond jeweled ribbons, scrolls and flowers. "An apple blossom necklace for Lily Pons, the opera singer, wrapped around the neck and opened in the front with diamond blossoms cascading on either side. A rose became a rambler that twined around the wrist on a baguette-cut diamond stem sprouting rose-cut diamond buds" wrote The New York Times in his obituary.

Downfall Flato was convicted in 1943 of fraudulently pawning $100,000 in jewels that colleagues and clients had entrusted to him, and served 16 months in Sing Sing Penitentiary. Flato was convicted despite maintaining his innocence. It was later discovered that his tailor had stolen the jewels from the pocket of a garment. Upon release in 1945, he moved to Mexico City until 1953, all the while fighting extradition to the US to face additional larceny and forgery charges involving a fortune teller who claimed he owed money to.

In 1970, he moved to Mexico City for a second time, opening a jewelry store in the fashionable Zona Rosa area, which he operated in relative anonymity until 1990, when he returned to Texas. Paul Flato spent his final years surrounded by his family. He was survived by his three daughters, Catharine Dennis, Barbara McCluer, and Susan Flato.