bits and baubles

i am not sure why women love jewelry so much. it honestly is most likely the most simple answer. all things usually are. we never let go of the childhood quality of attraction to shiny objects. i, for one, am quite happy to have maintained my love for shiny things. jewelry can "be" a million things too. it can be a fun little thing you see at a street market in any city anywhere, it can be a wardrobe staple, and it can be an incredibly powerful talisman - a little physical link to a point in time on the map of your life. for me personally, to mark an intense moment in life, it's either a tattoo or a piece of jewelry. i feel a need to physically mark these moments - it makes me feel anchored - and i suppose i wear my decorations like the story of myself...

wow - ok, let's come down from there, shall we? let's move to the very practical idea that jewelry can make or break an outfit. a plain white tee and jeans can be brought up to SHA-BAM level with a strong necklace. little black dress can go from conservative (pearls) to bohemian (bangles piled up the wrist as far as you like), and hit every mark in between. and since it's right up top in plain view for all the world to see (as opposed to the glory of a shoe or a bag) it can shout out your style idea immediately. in short, jewelry is a wildly important part of a wardrobe. it helps seal the deal, if you will.

one of my favorite jewelry designers is Ippolita. my obsession began about 2 years ago - and i went on a little bit of a bender. i had just been "downsized" out of what i had believed was my career. i got a nice substantial severance, and i set aside a small chunk of this "blood money" for marking the occasion. with jewerly. (and 2 tattoos). thus began my fixation on Ippolita. it is everything i adore. the shapes are gorge - organic, wavy, sensual. and they throw in every possible amount of stone, so you can go from subtle sparkle to POW depending on your piece of choice. the silver and gold are both lovely - but i am in LOVE with the rose. it is the most amazing color ever - and sets of diamonds beautifully. i am currently attempting to work out a way to justify this necklace... and then to make things simple, if you are in the mode of hinting, they have kindly created a gift page full of delightful goodies.

and now for the best part. A) it's that time of year, that Valentine's day time of year. so you can either hint to another or be in love with yourself and splurge. and B) for the entire month of February - 50% of sales on Ippolita.com go to a relief effort for Haiti. and you KNOW how much i love that. shopping plus charity equals SUPERFANTASTIC. on a site like a friggin candy store of beautiful shiny things, it's nothing short of heaven.

bulls and bears of shopping

i've yammered on in the past about "investing" in pieces. and it's not me doing the thing i do so well - justifying purchases... that is a horse of another color, and one that i shall not speak of at this time... i do that mainly for tim anyway. :)

if you are into fashion, into style, into looking good and being smart - then listen up. you can absolutely buy some stuff at lower prices. most especially - trends. it's truly not worth spending a lot on a trendy piece - because by its very nature, it will be out of style next season. so as much as i may drool over all the studding - i'm not out buying the high end bits of it... may lust and love, but most likely will not buy. so - trends, and then t-shirts, undies, socks, things like that, you can also get away with not spending a lot - because they are replaceable, they get worn out. but certain things are truly worth spending for. things that you know you will wear forever. a good coat, a good bag, good shoes, good jewelry, the perfect pair of black pants... there honestly aren't that many examples - those are the examples in my own closet.

a good way to calculate whether something is an investment worth indulging in, is by doing the "cost per wear". for example - this bracelet by Ippolita - i bought it right before i was laid off almost a year ago. oops. oh well... so for the sake of argument, let's say it was 300 days ago. (that's almost a year) and i wear it pretty much every day - which means it's already being worn at a dollar a day cost wise. gimme another year (and i'm sure i'll keep wearing it daily) and we're down to 50 cents. so -- what i'm saying is - that for less than a cup of coffee, i get to wear this beautiful thing every day. makes sense, right? and i make coffee at home, any way. voila!

you can't apply this to purchases made on a whim - it seriously does have to be a piece you LOVE and will wear all the time - doesn't have to be daily - but all the time. (thank god for ebay - so the mistakes that are made can be sold!!) shopping on a whim in general is a bit dangerous... do the day rule - if you see it, wait a day. if you really love it, you'll make the effort to go back.

so THINK when you shop. a 50 dollar bag that falls to shreds after wearing it twice is not a good buy... spend wisely and you will spend happily. and you can tell people you're an investor.

stack attack! ring a ding ding

not that i would, because i am a lady, but at least it would be pretty and sparkly if i flipped someone the bird.

giggles aside, let's talk stackin' again, shall we? as you may recall, i'm a creature of stacks. i love my jewelry and i have a tendency to love to wear it together. it's like a happy little decorative collection on my body. over the course of quite a few years, i've hunted and scoured and found little rings to stack. i'm all for the big "statement" ring - have a few, but i am a ritualistic lover of teeny tiny rings that i can pile on my fingers.

this is my happy stack left hand version... the two bottom rings are from Ippolita. BEAUTIFUL jewelry - and they recently came out with a sterling silver line, and a rose line, which is a mix of silver and gold, making a gorgeous colored metal that is less pricey than the straight up gold. it's really pretty and it mixes well with both silver and gold. (which is good for mixy me) the plain thin rose-gold band is from Fragments, and the diamond band is from the now gone Fortunoff. (cue sad violin music here - Fortunoff was a damn good jewelry store, victim of the times)

like with the necklaces - i say to all you stylies out there - get out the jewelry box and pile on your rings. play around with different stacks on different fingers until you find what clicks. very often you might have two or three rings that you normally wear separately that end up looking amazing stacked together - so experiment and play. stack and style yourself silly! it's good clean fun.