Monday, March 19, 2007

Something old

My mother keeps her jewelry in a large cardboard shirt box, buried in a blanket chest. It’s not anything fancy—some costume stuff from the 60s and 70s, my parents’ wedding rings (neither of my parents wear them), some inexpensive jade. My mother rarely wears jewelry. But every now and then when I was a kid, she’d pull out the shirt box and show me the things in there. I thought it was all so pretty—glittery and very adult. I particularly loved these earrings:


They’ve been in this little Marshall Fields (RIP) box with that shriveled piece of fluff for as long as I can remember. They’re absolutely fake—whatever their posts are made of rots my ears from the inside out—but when I was a kid, I thought they were the epitome of elegance. The bright gold color and the deep sparkly red, the snazzy modern design: what more could you ask for?

Here they are on: see how they make that cool loop?














I still love them, and I would love to wear them in my wedding.

There are two problems with this plan. First, the aforementioned rotting ears. I can only wear real silver or gold in my ears: anything else makes the pierced holes very unhappy, itchy and sore and, well, seepy. It’s gross. I doubt I could wear these for the several hours of my wedding without some unpleasant results. I am hoping a trip to the Diamond District will solve this problem.

The second problem is what to wear with them? I would like to wear a necklace which matches, something red and gold and glittery. Something pretty substantial (not simply a chain with a pendant) since my dress is fairly low-cut. The earrings’ geometric design and bright red color precludes the sort of delicate white rhinestone-and-pearl stuff that is usually aimed at brides. Something with red beads just won’t work, because the red crystals in the earrings are prong-set. I want then to match.

After many fruitless Google searches (for very generic things like “red crystal necklace” and “red bib necklace” that turned up lots of beaded items), I finally stumbled into the world of vintage rhinestone jewelry. I’ll be honest: I never thought of these earrings as “vintage,” but of course they are. Duh.

Here are some choices currently on eBay:













I like the middle one (with the horizontal rectangles) the best. The third one appeals to the exhibitionist in me, but I think it’s a bit too ornate, both for the occasion, and for the earrings they’re meant to match.

What do you think? The other option, I suppose, is a necklace that is substantial, but only gold, making the earrings the sole color star.

Have I mentioned that I’m obsessed with the fun details that really don’t need to be taken care of right now?

2 comments:

The Beast Mom said...

I like the middle one too. I think you're right that the third one is probably too ornate. But then again, this day deserves some glamor. :)

Are the earrings made of glass or crystal? I know you said they're costume, so they couldn't be rubies/diamonds, although how nice would that be? :)

If you have antique dealers anywhere nearby, you could go check those out too since the good ones always have loads of nice costume jewelry. Or if there are any traveling jewelry shows in town, that might be another option to find vintage items. I've found some really nice (but inexpensive) vintage necklaces/earrings at traveling shows for some reason.

This is all fun to hear about. You brought back memories when you displayed the photo of the Field's box. 1) I used to work for them
and always thought they were a classy store. 2) My mother had sparkly costume jewelry hidden away in small boxes in her dresser drawer. I loved sneaking in there and trying it all on along with her gold strappy sandals.

Thanks for sharing!

-bm
-bm

The Beast Mom said...

p.s. The thing I like about traveling shows is that you can see many items all in one venue and try things on.