Abstract: An iridescent lustrous composite which can simulate the appearance of mother-of-pearl comprises a substrate comprising a transparent or translucent plastic which has been pigmented with a metal oxide coated mica pigment and the substrate carries on at least one of its surfaces a transparent thermoplastic resinous laminate film of at least ten very thin and generally parallel layers of transparent thermoplastic resinous materials, the contiguous layers differing in refractive index by at least about 0.03 and in which the layer at each external surface of the laminate film has a thickness which is greater than the thickness of any one of the multiple very thin layers.