Tony Duquette Collection for Coach

Coach has teamed up with late designer Tony Duquette's former business partner to create an exquisite line of limited edition jewelry that is currently available in Coach stores.  Tony Duquette was an iconic American designer of the 20th century.  Based out of Los Angeles he designed clothing, costumes and sets for the movie industy, interiors and jewelry.  His fine jewelry line is still sold in stores today, but the collection at Coach is mainly Swarovski crystal studded whimsical costume jewelry inspired by his signature designs, including sunbursts, flowers and insects,

There are four rings in the collection that are not costume.  They are gold plated sterling silver with semi-precious stones.  The four rings are:  rose quartz, clear quartz, malachite and amethyst which, in my opinion, is the most stunning.  There is also a grasshopper stick pin made with lapis.

My advice is get yourself a piece while it's still in stores and on line.  The prices are very reasonable and the pieces are definitely collectible.  Each piece is marked 'Coach' and comes with a felt pouch with a sunburst design and the names of Coach and Tony Duquette.  There is also a book about the collection for sale.  My top picks are the sunburst pendant necklace and the sunburst amethyst ring.  I have been drooling over sunburst wall mirrors for a long time and now I can wear a fabulous miniature replica of one around my neck (sans the mirror--the center is open)!

Tony Duquette for Coach Sunburst pendant necklace 

Tony Duquette for Coach cage pear pendant

Tony Duquette for Coach bouquet ring



Alternate view of the ring

Tony Duquette for Coach flower charm bracelet

Tony Duquette for Coach Amethyst Sunburst ring

Protective felt pouch says Coach on one side and Tony Duquette on the other

Hermes Petit h collection

No brand is perhaps more synonymous with luxury and exclusivity than Hermes.  Famous for their iconic colorful silk scarves and elusive Birkin bags Hermes introduced a new line called Petit h in 2011.   The Petit h line features several thousand pieces crafted from items intended for their regular line that were imperfect and thus did not pass muster to go into the retail stores.  For example, a scarf with the tiniest mark of ink on the silk can not be sold, so those scarves have been redesigned into accordian necklaces for the Petit h line.  Another example is scraps of leather leftover from making bags have been turned into Petit h charms. 

Two views of one of the Petit h scarf necklaces

Because the Petit h line is currently crafted from discarded and leftover material from Hermes' regular line, Petit h items will be constantly changing.  The line is making the rounds of various Hermes stores around the world and was in New York at the Madison Avenue boutique in November.  Sure to be collectors' items, I hope you were able to scoop up a piece or two at the time.  If not, look for the line in Hermes boutiques around the globe and hopefully a return to New York in the future. 

A fun twist of Petit h, is that when you buy a piece you can choose a small leather disk charm to be added to your package.  I chose one in traditional Hermes orange because it's their signature color.  The saleswoman was wearing one as a bracelet and suggested I could wear mine that way as well, using the attached Hermes ribbon.  For now mine is still on the box.  I want to keep it in pristine condition, because for me the entire Petit h item with all its accoutrements is a collectible investment.

Petit h leather charm

Below are two articles about the Petit h line if you are interested in learning more about it.  If anyone would like pdfs of the articles let me know and I can email to you.

Article 1

Article 2, page 1

Article 2, page 2

Article 2, page 3



A Gem From Barbara: shopping at Trifari

When I was working at Mademoiselle Magazine we were allowed to shop at a discount in the showrooms of some of our advertisers.  For a young woman in her early twenties, such as I was, that was a great help.  One of the showrooms I visited was Trifari, the jewelry company.  Trifari made beautiful costume jewelry that was perfect for a working girl to wear.  Trifari is still in business today, but it is not owned or operated by the same people it was in the 50's and 60's when it produced the high quality costume pieces that made it an iconic costume jeweler.

Sets of jewelry were very popular in the late 1950's and early 60's so I bought a long faux pearl necklace with two complementary sets of earrings, and a strawberry pin with matching earrings.   It's been fifty years and I'm still wearing them!  That is surely a testament to the quality of Trifari jewelry.

Vintage Trifari pearl necklace and earrings

      The necklace is long and studded with faux pearls

Vintage Trifari strawberry pin and earrings

Loving the raised details

Reader Submission

It's always nice to know people are actually looking at this blog, and even nicer when a reader contributes a photo of an accessory, because I want the blog to be interactive.  I think accessories are fun and it's interesting to see the unique items other people have.

My friend, Christine, sent this photo of the Liberty of London for Target tie she bought for her husband when Target debut their Liberty line a couple years ago.  Considering most of the stock sold out very quickly she was lucky to get this!  And, her hubby was lucky, too!

Liberty of London for Target necktie





Blue Phase

Jazz musicians play the blues, soulful crooners sing the blues, artists have their blue period and I apparently am in a blue bag phase.  I love the color blue, but don't wear a lot of blue clothing for some reason, or maybe no reason.  I can't think of one.  I suppose my blue bag obsession could be my way of making up for the lack of blue clothes.  Anyway, for the past year I have bought several blue bags, all in various shades of blue and craziest of all, they are all Michael Kors.  It seems that every time I go shopping I stumble upon a blue Michael Kors bag 50% off, which fortunately is not very expensive.   It doesn't matter if there are other colors that would fit better with my wardrobe, I buy the blue one.  It seems I even bought two in the exact same style.  So, not expensive, very roomy, nice shades of blue....if only I had clothes to wear them with once in a blue moon.

Michael Kors bag in light blue

Same style Michael Kors bag in royal blue

Come Fly With Me

One of my favorite new shows is Pan Am on ABC.  I'm not sure the ratings are great, but I've been enjoying it because I used to run a private club for the aviation industry and the Pan Am Association used the club.  The Association was basically a group of Pan Am alumni who  had great loyalty to Pan Am.  There definitely was a culture at that airline that many former employees did not want to lose. 

I'm also a fan of shows and movies set in the 50's and 60's, like Catch Me If You Can.  I love the uniforms the stewardesses wear in the show...yes, that's right, stewardesses, not flight attendants.  I know the pc term today is flight attendant, and that's the term I normally use, but you'd better not call a former Pan Am stewardess from that era a "flight attendant," because you will be corrected and fast!  Back in the day it was extremely prestigious to be a Pan Am stewardess or a pilot.  Of course, back in the day air travel was a little bit more luxurious than it is today. 

Watching the show and seeing the stewardesses carrying their Pan Am bags reminded me of all the really cool airline swag I've collected over the years, much of it accessories.  Some of it I got as a kid and some of it I got working in the industry.  I didn't even realize how much I had until I started digging it out.  It's all collectible and I'm guessing more valuable if it's from a defunct airline.

My favorites are the bags.  I love them and was thinking I should use them, but I don't want them to get damaged.  I have one from SAS from when I was a kid traveling alone to Norway to visit friends.  I think the airline gave me the bag because I was alone, or they might have given it to me because I got stranded by myself in Denmark on my 12th birthday on the way home.  Not a fun experience for a child.  But, in true SAS fashion they took very good care of me.  They hired a babysitter, put us up in a luxury hotel and took us to the Tivoli Gardens amusement park for the night.  The second bag is a special limited edition from Jet Blue from when the airline was very young.  Jet Blue used the club a lot and I got to know some of the employees and one of them gave me the bag.  I was instructed to keep it quiet though, because they weren't being widely distributed.  It's been about ten years, but shhhh.....

Vintage SAS travel bag

Limited edition Jet Blue travel bag

The flip side...

Fairly common in the airline industry are the pins/buttons.  Airline people hand them out pretty readily and everyone collects them.  I used to get a lot of them and sometimes, I'd get duplicates that I could trade or gift.  Some of them have really special meaning for me, like the one given to me by Russian Cosmonauts who were visiting the club, and the ones from the U.S. Air Force/Air Mobility Command when I took a trip with them and visited two Air Force bases and got to fly the boom on a refueling tanker while we refueled the stealth bomber in midair!  Other cool ones are from Boeing, Boeing Security, Delta, the Department of Transportation (DOT), and Jet Blue to name a few.  If you are familiar with Jet Blue you will notice that the two buttons pictured have the same patterns as the tails on their planes.  As you will see some of them are still in their sealed plastic wrappers.  Whatever came sealed, I left that way.  If you are a collector you don't remove them, because the value is highest if they are in mint condition in a sealed wrapper. I also have my vintage wings from traveling as a kid.  One says "Jr. Stewardess" and another says "Junior Clipper Pilot" If any of you still have your wings, send photos!

Vintage "wings" from Pan AM, United & Delta

Assorted pins from the aviation and aerospace industry

Once in a while, because of my position, I would get something kind of neat, like the Jet Blue bag.  On one occasion I was working on a huge event involving Boeing so when my counterpoint on the Boeing end came in he brought me a cute bracelet and a lovely silk scarf.  (Boy were my employees jealous!) The bracelet was made especially for Boeing and came with a little card that tells about the bracelet.  Again, a very important addition if you are a collector because it authenticates the piece.  The scarf has a vintage Boeing aircraft on it, in fact the first aircraft Boeing ever made.  (The diagonal striations on the scarf are wrinkles, not damage.  It's in perfect condition.  If I wanted to wear it I would iron it, but I didn't want to fool with it just to take a photo.)  If I ever have enough wall space I might frame it and hang it.  I think it's a great conversation piece.

Boeing bracelet

Close up of the airplane charms

Card with the bracelet

Back of the card

Boeing scarf

The next time you travel don't forget to ask the airline for souvenirs.  Many of them operate on shoestring budgets these days, but I'll bet there are pins floating around and if you ask you might get.  With the frequency with which airlines come and go, that pin might be a collector's item sooner than you think.













Hermes Ties That Bind

Yesterday Liberty, today Hermes & Chanel....My father loved his Liberty of London ties always, but on a trip to Europe he bought himself some Hermes and Chanel ties and Hermes became another favorite for him.  It was great, because we had a second gift option for him for Father's Day!  He ended up with a small collection of beautiful Hermes ties that are now vintage.  They're not as brightly colored as the Liberty of London ties, but they are very elegant and come in a range of interesting patterns.  Many of the ones pictured here incorporate a horsey motif, either horses themselves or cleverly intertwined bits and bridles. 

A selection of vintage Hermes ties

A few more that need to be pressed

The presser arrived and at first he appeared to be helping by patting them down

(notice the position of his paws).....

But, alas, he was actually flattening them to make a comfy bed for himself and was caught sleeping on the job.  It's true, you can't find good help these days.  Thankfully, he didn't harm them, because these are the ones I want to sell.

 

There are a few vintage Chanel ties thrown in for good measure.  Of couse they have the double C logo incorporated into the patterns.  Interestingly, while the Hermes ties are all made in France, the Chanel ties are made in Italy, even though Chanel is a French company. 

Vintage Chanel ties

I'm looking for ideas of what to do with the Hermes ties.  I once saw a skirt made out of them, but I don't have enough and I don't want to wear a crazy, multi-patterned garment, even if it is Hermes.  Maybe a teddy bear made of the ties?  If anyone has any suggestions let me know.  Below are close ups of the Hermes ties: