Vintage Coro brooches, as I wore them yesterday on my white Eileen Fisher cardigan
If you don’t feel comfortable with big pieces of jewelry, but you still want a sort of “statement”, consider tripling up on your jewelry. (for some reason, it works really well with odd numbers).
Tiny brooches, like those shown above, take on a new level of impact when grouped. (these pins are about one inch across). You can do this very effectively with bracelets too. Sometimes, with necklaces. Earrings… could be tricky…
Pins are particularly fun – the variety of designs available is staggering! Were you to suddenly decide that you wanted to find five brooches that looked like feathers, or vegetables, or hearts, or ballerinas – they’re out there.
This can be great fun. And some of these pieces are VERY inexpensive. Between etsy, bonanza, and ebay, there are tens of thousands of pieces of vintage jewelry waiting for us to snap up and create a new signature look.
Funny you should mention this today. Yesterday I wore a pair of handcrafted enamel earrings, bought 30 years ago and found myself thinking I should start wearing the matching brooch again. Combined with a funky jacket or sweater, it should say vintage as opposed to old lady. I hope.
What a lovely idea! And, that collection of three is so beautiful and artful. I'm also writing because I found a fabulous museum in Toronto that I think you might have fun with: The Bata Shoe Museum http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/. FINALLY figured out how to follow your blog (as opposed to checking every day). Always give me a smile. Susan (Mpls)
Take a look at Madeleine Albright's interesting book Read my Pins for her fun and original ideas about subject groupings with pins. She once even wore an entire jazz band!
Wow, what an interesting looking book! Thanks!
I love a lead on a good book, so looked this up on Amazon. Agreed! Looks like a fascinating read by the esteemed Ms. Albright; I'd forgotten her pins. There's another book on Amazon's listing called BROOCHES: TIMELESS ADORNMENT. And isn't that true; absolutely. Ladies have been wearing brooches forever. I have drawings/artists' renderings of my great-great (and so on…) grandmothers from the 1700s and also the 1800s (not to mention tintypes/photos later on), and even more recent history in the 20th century with my aunties…where a high-necked collar, be it calico or lovely lawn or handmade lace, is anchored with a straight pin (maybe with a ribbon) or interesting brooch (sometimes they were watches). On the prairie, in the city, rich or poor…when they had nothing else, or even when they had an "embarrassment of riches," they seemed to always have a favorite, pretty pin for Sunday Best! Thanks for the sharing…
I love my costume jewelry. It brings so much joy into my life. It makes me smile. Your pins are lovely.
Karen
Another fun thing to do with pins is to use them as a necklace. I slip a chain or leather necklace through the closed pin device. Depending on how you want it to hang, you can slip it once or twice, which will alter how the pin dangles.
I've amassed some decent costume jewelry of my own over the years, but I also have Mom's from the 1940s (always amazed at the incredible quality of those pieces, which I am SURE were not ultra-expensive because she was a very thrifty gal); thing is, I never know how to wear the stuff. I was never good at jewelry; pierced ears, but that's about it and, as I got older, I quit wearing so much of it. So, thanks for more good ideas. I aim to find it all and revisit some pairings. I do find the odd-number/threes scenario intriguing when it comes to a brooch. I have noticed brooches! Queen Elizabeth, Wallis Simpson; didn't Hilary Clinton wear some? Maybe Jackie Kennedy. Even Barbie dolls are styled with a brooch here and there. My mom always pinned on a brooch to her suit jackets when she dressed for her office job in the big city, back in the day. One of her most beautiful "sets" are earrings, brooch and necklace in fake emeralds with coral (real or not, I can't tell). Emerald green (more blue than yellow), clear green like water or glass; and the gorgeous, creamy, orangey-pink coral. I guess it evokes "tropical" but it really, really goes together. But what do I wear as a backdrop to show it off? Black? White? See, I never know how to put the whole package together like you do! One thing I do think is always very elegant is when someone pins a brooch to hold a scarf around their neck, like draping it to the side. (How do they keep it in place? Some kind of fashion tape I suppose!)