Wednesday, January 12, 2011

What I'm Wearing Wednesday

I love black clothing, It's slimming, a simple staple in a non simple wardrobe.  Today I broke the mold of wearing black and wore a cream colored top. To go with this top I wore the following bracelet.


This was from my Grandmothers and I consider it vintage. It is not signed but it is very well made and I love the detailing.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Monet Fantasy

In a past post I showed the following Monet vintage necklace that I bought in a antique store and took on vacation. I knew that there has to be at least earrings but had no clue as to what to look for.

Then I finally found this ad and the mystery was solved.

This ad is from 1956 and the model in the image is Susy Parker.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

A feather in your cap (Part Three)

To finish off my bird trio I had to cover fashion. Fashion has also had a long history with birds. You see shawls with birds, dresses with birds, some as prints some as the actual feathers. Many are quite tasteful but here are some Don'ts:

Don't wear a whole bird on your head.


Don't wear a bird in your hair. We don't like rats nest in our hair why would we want a bird nest?


And never ever ever make and wear a whole bird dress. Sorry Bjork I know your talented and I love you music but this is too much!



But what can you do now? You could wear a hat with feather Like this. I know I would.


Or you can remove the bow and feather and replace with a brooch. Mind you I would probably purchase a black fedora.

(Vintage Boucher brooch)

(Vintage Sarah Coventry plumes see ad below)

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

A bird's-eye view (Part Two)

The world of birds in art is wonderful thing. One of the most famous illustration books sold at the highest price. In four minutes worth of bidding the John James Audubon "Birds of America" sold for more than $10 million. I’ve seen a few of the images online and it’s very impressive. Here is one he did on the Red Winged Blackbirds.



Now in the perfect world of art and jewelry you get the following Takahashi Birds that are hand carved and hand painted. I just love the detail.




But be careful of fakes the bottom hummingbird is a fake you can tell the difference allot of fakes are not as glossy like the goose shown above or as detailed.



Tuesday, January 4, 2011

That's for the birds. (Part One)


In my own small way I'm going to do a tribute to the the red-winged blackbirds that fell from the sky and died on New Year’s Eve in a mini three part post, setting aside the What I’m Wearing Wednesday and focusing on humanities enjoyment of birds.

Many people have many ways of enjoying birds, now of course we enjoy them many different ways, from watching them, having them as pets, jewelry, art, writing and singing about them.
One of my fondest memories is that my grandmother loved to watch the humming birds when she was staying with us. One got trapped in the laundry room and when I finally caught it just stayed in my hand. So I brought it over for her to see.

(Not my hands or image, but that should be a Rufus male which habitats Oregon)
My grandmother also had many bird pins and while the images below are not of those pins I could see her wearing these.

(Jomez vintage pin)

(Boucher vintage pin)