Heavy Metal

When I think of spikey jewelry I think of heavy metal head bangers, goth gear, and S&M accessories.  Definitely not my fashion influences.  But, when I spotted this bracelet at a boutique in Katonah called Ruby Sue, I changed my mind. 

 

Spikey and sparkly bracelet

I love how it's glam and edgy at the same time, and it sparkles, which is like catnip to me.  I've been wearing it around with very casual summer clothes to give my outfits a little kick, but it would also be stunning with a little black cocktail dress...or a little black whip and thigh high boots, you decide, just don't send me the photos ;-)

A statement piece



A Gem from Barbara: The NYT Features Mademoiselle

I've already posted a couple times about my experiences working at Mademoiselle Magazine when I was a young woman in my 20's and how I remember seeing Ali MacGraw around the office.  Interestingly, the cover story of the Styles section of the New York Times this past Sunday was about the experience of a woman who was a Mademoiselle guest editor for a summer and the connection she felt to Sylvia Plath.  My time at Mademoiselle was about my love of fashion and writing, but this is still an interesting read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/fashion/my-mademoiselle-summer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Summer Colors

I think I've established that I'm currently obsessed with the color chartreuse.  Don't ask me why, but I just love it, maybe because I love green and yellow and chartreuse is in between the two.  Anyway, it is one of my favorite colors for summer accessories and vibrant purple is the other.  I wasn't trying to style any outfits today, but I just happened to lay some things around as I was organizing and I realized how amazing my new summer tote looks with an old umbrella and even older wallet.  While in color combining mode I realized  my few recent purchases, except the bag, are all purple and then realized they look smashing together as well. 

The chartreuse tote was hanging in between my brown wallet and near my umbrella stand when I noticed that this umbrella pulled in all the colors and looked fab together.  It's so true that if you buy accessories that speak to you, in colors you love, you will be able to coordinate amazing outfits without even trying. 

New INZI tote, ancient Louis Vuitton wallet and last year's Missoni umbrella (from TJ Maxx!)

Turns out Monty & Dusty even have coordinating cat toys!

And, of course, there's a coordinating necklace.....Not planned at all, but this very inexpensive necklace that I picked up at my favorite jewelry "chop shop" (no longer in my neighborhood) last year is a perfect pairing with the tote, but not too matchy-matchy.  The necklace reminds me of the style of collars the Egyptian pharaohs wore.  It also came in shades of blue and gray, but liked this color palette because it's summery and matches my eyes.

Necklace with multi shades of green, including chartreuse

So chic!

Purple, in all its glory, is my other favorite right now.  It's such a rich color that, historically, it is the color of royalty in many cultures.  It has so many luscious shades, that it looks good on everyone, you just have to find the shade that suits you best.  I recently purchased a few items, not intending to start a purple collection, but I'm feeling the purple vibe right now.  It appears that even Blogspot was so bowled over by the color purple that it can't see straight and refuses to post my best photo right side up, despite my repeated attempts (see below). 

Although I haven't had the time or the money (thanks to Monty's medical condition and bills) for much shopping lately, I went antiquing with a friend a couple weekends ago and we visited a little shop that sells vintage jewelry that was recently recommended by several people, called Jewel Diva (they have a web site that can be Googled).  We were sort of antique window shopping and I was doing some research for this blog and for what I hope will become an Ebay business, when the earrings and bracelet below caught my eye and I thought they were worth the value.  The bracelet was unsigned and pretty reasonably priced.  The large earrings are Larry Vrba (more on Vrba in an upcoming mega post I'm working on) and, while not cheap, still a fairly modest splurge.  The resin necklace is from a stylish new boutique in Katonah called Ebba.  Very inexpensive and came in several fabulous colors, including chartreuse, but the shopkeeper and I both thought the purple looked better on me.  I wasn't even considering the earrings and bracelet when I bought the necklace, but they are a great match and I plan to wear them (not all at the same time) this summer to breath new life into a festive maxi dress I bought three years ago that has a lot of purple and gold in the pattern. 

Resin link necklace, unsigned vintage bracelet & vintage Larry Vrba earrings

Right side up, but the lighting is masking the true vibrancy of the purple

Vintage Larry Vrba earring

So reflective!  Turns out Holly's cage was in the perfect sunny spot to clip an earring

Unsigned vintage bracelet with faux royal purple cabochon stones

Resin necklace with multi shades of purple

And, as a postscript, bright purple and chartreuse look smashing together, just don't overdo it!

Chartreuse Summer

Chartreuse remains a popular color this season and is great for summer, because it's so sunny and bright.  I'm thinking of it as the new neutral, because it pairs well with so many other colors in my wardrobe.  I know I've written about it before, so forgive me, but for some reason I'm a little bit obsessed with chartreuse right now.  Maybe because when it first started getting popular I decided I wanted a bag that color and have spent months hunting for one that is both functional and affordable.  Chartreuse is having a moment, but like most moments in fashion it's probably going to be fleeting so I didn't want to spend a huge amount of money on a bag that would look fresh for just one or two seasons.  Even at TJ Maxx the chartreuse bags were kind of pricey for a one seasoner.  Then, like kismet, I looked up and there it was, the answer to my chartreuse fantasy in a little shop in Katonah:  a roomy, unstructured tote bag that comes with a shoulder bag snapped inside of it!  And, it seems to be vegan, not that I would eat it, but a cruelty free added bonus!  This bag will be making its maiden voyage today, assuming the weather holds.  Check it out:

Chartreuse tote bag

View of the inside with the bonus shoulder bag snapped in

 Shoulder bag can be worn seperately or used as a make up bag inside the tote

(tempermental blogspot has rotated this photo so it's sideways)

I'm not that familiar with this brand, but so far so good.



Treasure Hunting

Sorry for the radio silence on this blog for so long! It has been a month since I last posted and it had been several weeks since I posted before that..so long that I had to think a minute to remember my password to get into this blog!  I've had a very sick pet needing care 24/7 so I'm about six weeks behind with everything in life, including this blog.  He's doing better so I'm working on catching up.  I was working on several amazing posts when he (Monty) got sick and I hope that by this weekend I can start getting them posted.  I apologize to everyone whose accessories I photographed or was supposed to photograph in the past two months.  I will get to it all eventually--I promise. 

I finally had a chance to step away from my home care pet triage unit and have a few hours of fun this past weekend so a friend and I went down to Chelsea to go antiquing.  We hit the Chelsea Flea and a vintage jewelry booth at an indoor antiques center and even a thrift store.  I'm going to save the photos of what I got for a later post, but my friend, Kara, got the two fun vintage pieces below.

Vintage Eiffel Tower pin, purchased by my francophile friend.  I love this momento of the City of Lights and how the rhinestones look like little lights.

Vintage 18K gold snake ring with diamond on the head

The snake makes a cool pinky ring

Antiquing is so much fun!  I love the hunt and bargaining for a better price...."the thrill of victory the agony of defeat".  When I was a kid I had a friend whose mom used to like to go to garage sales and she would call it "sale-ing".  I remember I was at their house one time and the mom asked if I wanted to go "sale-ing" with them.  Of course, I thought she was asking if I wanted to go sailing, but we had fun anyway.  My dad used to make the rounds of antiques shows, flea markets and garage sales.  He was a serious collector and dealer as a second business and he would get there at 6 am!  Sometimes I would go with him, but not at that hour.  I wish he were still around;  I would gladly get up at the crack of dawn to go with him now.  I know he would have been an amazing partner in my hunt for vintage jewelry.  I'm hoping to do some more "sale-ing" this summer, assuming Monty stays well.



Something Old, Something New

This is just a quick post because I haven't posted in a couple of weeks and want to share something with the accessories loving crowd.  One of my beloved pets has been very sick and in the hospital so I haven't had a spare moment to blog.  Barbara even drew some sketches of vintage bracelets and I haven't had time to post them.

Joyce Brooks of Black Tie Magazine (www.blacktiemagazine.com) gave me this beautiful bag earlier this week and it matches perfectly with a very old pair of shoes that I love but don't wear much anymore.  Now that this purse has breathed new life into the shoes I can't wait to wear them again.  The bag and shoes are such a perfect match they look like they are by the same designer, but they're not!  I think they both have Middle Eastern flair.  The purse has little coins hanging from it and they make a sound as they hit into each other that reminds me of a bellydancer.  The shoes are by Giuseppe Zanotti and must be at least ten years old.  Thank you Joyce for rejuvenating a favorite pair of old shoes :-)

New Middle Eastern style purse with my old shoes

A perfect match of colors & style

A closer look

Bag detail

Zooming in on the shoes

Watch Week At de Grisogono

A couple of weeks ago I attended a special event at de Grisogono as part of Madison Avenue Watch Week.   Madison Avenue Watch Week is a collaboration between fine watch boutiques on Madison Avenue and The Wall Street Journal and de Grisogono had a special exhibition of their timepiece collection. 

Last time I visited de Grisogono I focused mainly on ladies' watches and bejeweled cuff bracelets (see my April 1st post), so this visit I took a look at some of the pieces in their men's collection and found some very cool things.  The first watch I looked at had a wood face which was unique and gave it an organic feel, but the gold frame kept it classic.

de Grisogono watch with wood face

Then Store Manager Daniel Morales took off his watch to show me how the face flips over so it can keep track of three time zones.  Pretty nifty, especially for businessmen who do a lot of traveling.  Here's a video below.  It's a little noisy in the background because it was a fun event with lots of people, but you can see the demonstration.

Three time zone watch by de Grisogono

After that I got a close up look at the Meccanico, the first watch to ever have a digital time display run by a mechanical power supply.  The face of the watch shows the time in digital and analogue.  The band is black rubber and looks very sporty.  Despite the casual style of this watch, it is so special that it comes with a pricetag of $500,000!  If you live near a de Grisogono boutique you should go in just to see this rare watch.

The Meccanico

Of course I had to try on one ladies watch because I can't resist sparkly diamonds:

A beautiful, girly watch for me...lots of diamonds

And, just like during my last visit, Sales Specialist Jose Dominguez brought out some fabulous little animal themed sparklers, this time men's cufflinks.  They were adorable and would make a nice collection. I think women can wear them as well.  I loved them both, but I think my favorite were the pink pigs.

Cufflink with chick face on one side....

...and chick posterior on the other

Supercute pig cufflinks with face and backside on each cufflink

Finally, just as I was getting ready to write this post I received a copy of the May issue of Avenue Magazine and found photo coverage of the last event I attended at de Grisogono, including a photo of me!  It's the event on the bottom of the page.  Click to enlarge.

Avenue Magazine May 2013