Brooch-ing The Subject: The Real Deal
(Ha! Far be it from me to resist an obvious and bad pun!)
I’d just finished a very long post complete with images and links, and as I was putting on finishing touches, Blogger ate it. Whole. In one bite. So due to time constraints, I’m recreating it in two or three parts. This is Part 1.
Ever since I pinned that image above, I’ve had Brooches on the Brain. And they seem to be having a Fashion Moment, as evidenced by the prominent display at our local Nordstrom’s. If you’re looking to freshen up your jewelry collection, why not try a brooch or three? And for those who have sensitivities to some metals, brooches are a great option for some sparkle that doesn’t need to come into contact with skin.
While individual pieces rarely go out of style, to keep the look current opt for larger, bold pieces or group smaller pins to create impact. I love the denim+sparkle look above, but really any jacket, dress or top with enough body in the fabric to hold the weight of the pins can be a great backdrop. Keep the rest of your jewelry minimal, and let the brooch(es) steal the spotlight. I’d avoid single demure pins or matching earring and brooch sets, as to my eye they can look dowdy (leave these for the kids to wear ironically). Don’t be afraid to mix styles and metals! (And to my shorter sisters, remember to wear your brooches high up, almost to the shoulder which draws the beholder’s eye upward.)
If your budget has room for the Real Deal, Beladora II has some really unique and fabulous vintage and antique brooches. Many of these are a smaller size, but could be grouped together by theme, as with these bee brooches…
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| Sapphire and Diamond Bumblebee Brooch |
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| Vintage Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald Bee Brooches |
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| Antique Victorian Seed Pearl Brooch |
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| Vintage Tahitian Pearl and Diamond Brooch (Somebody catch me, I think I’m going to swoon!) |
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| Vintage Pearl Sunburst Brooch |
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| Vintage Garnet, Pearl, Diamond and Turquoise Brooch Isn’t this stunning?? |
Next up: big, brash and bold!
Do you wear brooches? Any favorite styles or ways to wear them?
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I’m craving a brooch just now, there must be one thing in the air.
I have a thing for vintage brooches and the photo’s you have shown are just delicious! I have a few small pieces that I never used to wear because they got lost on a lapel or blouse but I started wearing them on my cuffs and they are just perfect there. My favourite is a small white enamel and diamond (very small diamonds-dust really) butterfly that looks great on a black or grey sweater in the winter. Your brooches look beautiful against the denim. I look forward to the other two posts.
Cindy
Chanel’s window here in Paris features brooches worn at the bottom of (thicker) scarves. It’s on my to-do list to try this look as soon as the weather’s cool enough for thicker scarves.
Love the jean jacket idea for a brooch. I do wear brooches, big blingy ones at that! I’ll have to take a look at some of my smaller ones and see if they could be grouped, great idea.
I have a few from my mother in law’s collection and one or two small ones (a bee, small jet and rhinestone purse), but I haven’t worn them in years. Love the suggestion to wear them on your cuff. The bee shown above are delicious and probably out of my price point, but I would love to own any of them.
Ouch! I feel your Blogger pain! It was trying to do something really odd with my photos and my last post had to be built again from scratch.
Love these brooches, especially the bee.
I recall wearing very small bar pins at the neck on a collar back in the 80s. (Remember that style? Loved it. I wonder wear those pins are…)
I recall my mother wearing a circle of pearls (she adored her pearls), but it was more a pin than a brooch.
Both my grandmothers, on the other hand, wore brooches – no doubt their habit in the 1940s and 50s and simply continued. Cool things – and somewhere I have an elaborate brooch of my dad’s mother with a small watch imbedded and I’m quite certain that somewhere I have a large costume “bow” brooch of some sort that was my other grandmother’s. They would be fun to wear, but I don’t have that sort of lifestyle at the moment, and I always worried about ruining the fabric with any sort of heavy pin.
I suppose that heavy wools would make a brooch less (potentially) damaging. However did women manage them, without ruining their dress, jacket, or blouse?
Try using a small piece of heavier fabric as “backing” and very carefully wiggle the pin through the weave of the top fabric. It works for the heavier old brooches that I’ve inherited.
Must say I love the trend of grouping brooches. I also do this with my mother’s old clip on earrings (marquisite ones she bought in 1950s Italy) – mostly on necklines or pocket edges. Another way to wear them is to gather generous necklines that would otherwise show a little too much skin, thereby making a dress or top office-appropriate rather than risque.
Mother wore Sherman rhinestone brooches and I have a few myself.
Carole Tannenbaum has done up a fabulous book which is worth browsing she sells through Holt Renfrew in Canada.
Those bee brooches are beautiful!
Vintage pieces are my favourite and I shop in the antique malls and ebay for interesting fun pieces.
Darn that blogger for eating up your post…
have a great week!
I have a couple stunning brooches from my mother, but I don’t like to poke holes in my clothes, and I’m afraid of them falling off of a coat or scarf. Amazingly, hers came with a folding “thingie” (can’t remember the correct name – maybe a “bail”?) that you pivot out from the back of the brooch in order to thread a chain through. So, I bought a couple of silk cords and I wear the brooches as long necklaces. They look terrific with sweaters, don’t make holes in my clothes, and I’m not afraid of losing them.
Gorgeous brooches. I am not sure what happened to your post on Blogger, but if it happens again, sometime you can click the circle arrow at the top of your post as you are writing it. That takes the post back one step. My computer is constantly erasing paragraphs for no reason and if I press that button the erased paragraph magically comes back! I have had entire posts accidentally disappear because of my stupid computer and once I learned that trick I have had no problems with getting them back! Saved me a lot of tears 🙂
Thanks doll,
The Glamorous Housewife
As usual, you are right on trend with this post!
The Wall Street Journal just covered the topic.
I love you brooch choices!
The bees are adorable and the vintage garnet, turquoise and pearl would look great with this season’s jewel tones.
Bravo Pseu and as always, thank you for thinking of Beladora!
I saw those in the Nordstrom catalog and thought to myself, “where is that stuff from my mother-in-laws?”
Given that the style of the broochs is a lot fussier than what I normally gravitate towards it seems worthwhile to dig broochs of-old out before parting with any current-day cash.
What kinds of modern looking jackets could I pair them with so as not to look like a re-run of MIL?
I love brooches. I’m trying to find a roundish crystal one to attach to a shiny black headband I want to make to wear to a wedding. Last year the stores were brimming with them (cheap, too!) so I hope to come across one soon.
I wish I had some of those real stone brooches! Love them! Unfortunately my mom & granny’s budgets did not run to precious gems. I did, however, inherit some two dozen costume brooches of varying size, quality, and blinginess. Over the years I’ve added some of my own as well. Where I live, one does not usually wear a brooch in the (6 month long) summer, because it’s always too hot to wear anything sturdy enough to pin it to. So I’m looking forward to some cooler weather, and you’ve inspired me to rethink how I use my brooches.
Any advice on the vintage ones, many of which are missing some stones? Mostly rhinestones, but one of my favorites is a beautiful marcasite monogram piece with my granny’s initials, and it’s missing several of the tiny stones. Still quite wearable, but I’d love to find a jeweler who works on costume pieces, if there is such a person.
Thanks for the grand brooch ideas! I am off to the closet shelf to hunt down those old brooches of my mother’s and grandmother’s that are hidden there!
I don’t think I’ve ever worn a brooch. Very much not me, but I do like the idea that ParisGrrl described.
I have the same question about heavy brooches that BigLittleWolf has. I have a couple of very heavy German brooches that are old family pieces and I don’t know how to use them without hurting a lapel or damaging the pin part of the brooch.
Sam
Before I retired, I sometimes wore my mother’s brooches on a suit jacket lapel or to anchor a scarf. I life in Hawaii now and have a much simpler lifestyle, but I could definitely see wearing them on a denim jacket or a light wrap. I also like stickpins because they don’t damage the fabric as much.
Hello, again, My Fellow “Great Mind.” I love your choices and your tips, as well. I haunt vintage and consignment stores for one-of-a-kind brooches. My absolute favorite is one I found years ago of Dorothy’s ruby slippers. Every time I wear it, I get comments. It’s a great conversation starter. And then, when I’m ready to go home, I just click my heels together and say, “There’s no place like home….there’s no place like….there’s no place like home.”
Looking forward to your next installment.
I approve brooches. Very fitting for a woman of a certain age. Lifting effect. Right now I only have one, yes only one.
I don´t like anything artificial, nor antique. I was lucky not to inherit any jewelry.
Brooches! I have so many, and they’ve been suffering from lack of exposure. Thank you for reminding me of their importance in your usual clever manner. You’ve inspired me to pull them out and give them their deserved attention.
This is a trend I’m happy to see come back! I’m particularly fond of wearing them on jackets or heavier sweaters, but love the idea wearing them on a scarf.
I have very fine pieces of vntage costume jewelry belonging to my mother and grandmother. The brooches are my favorite but, the faux pearl covering on two of the brooches primary settiings is being chipped away. Does anyone know how to have something like that restored?
Brooches were all over the Neiman Marcus Runway Show on Fashion’s Night Out! I immediately went and found mine, but have yet to wear them. You have some beautiful pins here!
I have worn several together on my denim jacket before, like in the first photo – think I need to revisit that look!
That Tahitian pearl brooch is utterly fabulous! I love brooches and they are often very good vintage buys and they are still somewhat under the radar. Many can be converted to pendants, too. I sometimes pin one to the cuff of a shirt, especially in evening, instead of a bracelet.
Your choices are terrific!
Those are beautiful brooches. Thanks for the inspiration and reminder to pull mine out and wear them this season.
Not directly related but … for those in the southern California area, opening next month at the Bowers Museum (www.bowers.org) in Orange county is an exhibition of former US Sec’y of State Madeleine Albright’s brooches and pins. If you haven’t had a chance to read her book, Read My Pins, give it a look as it presents how she used her treasures to “message” her intent to those with whom she negotiated.
LOVE the tourmaline bee!
I have gradually gone jewelry-free this summer – I’ve even stopped wearing earrings.
I think its time to shake it up for fall and open up my jewelry box again!
o wow…great article and wonderful suggestions…i will never forget watching a SITC where Carrie’s date is the city..she ends up at a diner counter with a woman who was her mirror in 30 years…the older woman was still very stylish and was wearing a dark wool french beret with a beautiful brooch on the front side…i rock that idea now when wearing a beret..looks so adorable!