Buried Treasures

Remember the days when you use to sneak into your mother’s closet and try on all her clothes and shoes? My mother had a pair of baby pink leather stilettos that I was obsessed with. As much as I am a clothes horse, I am an even BIGGER accessories lover! Nothing brings me more pleasure (other than my family) than shopping for over-sized sunnies, big bright shiny baubles, and the next must have purse. Accessories make an outfit. Take one pair of jeans and a t-shirt, add different accessories and you can create a month’s worth of new looks. So rifling through my mom’s jewelry box is still a fun way to update my look today.

As a child I would try on every piece, imagining the day I would wear that special set of pearls or diamond necklace around my neck on my wedding day, or hoping that every charm on my own bracelet would have as many stories to share as hers. Why would anyone ever want to stop with their mom’s jewelry box? Not me! I talked my way into both grandmother’s and great grandmother’s treasured pieces too. Luckily for me, they love jewelry as much as me and way more than my mother. I admit I was spoiled by all the beautiful and rare pieces the women in my family collected or inherited over the years. I still relish all the stories behind every piece. Accessories are more than trinkets, they are memories, adventures, and pieces of your own personal heritage to sift through when you’re feeling a bit nostalgic.

To be fair, I did not come by this obsession without influence, my great grandmother Etta must have passed this trait on to me through genetics. Therefore, I am justified in my disease for shiny objects. Etta was a real fire-cracker. She was a flapper, who loved to dance, drink an occasional sherry, but never got too wild. She was full of life, opinions, and sage advice. I can only hope that people will say the same about me some day. Etta knew who she was and what she liked. She LOVED only a few things in the world: first and foremost family, she always wore blue, collected elephants (with the trunk up only), wore jewelry the size of your head, and a pair of 60’s era stained glass sunglasses that every woman in my family coveted. As a child I was in awe at the size of turquoise in her jewelry box. The woman could layer massive pieces of jewelry perfectly. That old saying by Coco Chanel, “ Before you leave the house, take off an accessory” did not apply to Etta. Some people might have called her gaudy, but I loved her for it! I love the individuality that comes with wearing as much or as little as you like. The point of getting dressed each morning is to show the world YOU, whatever that may be.

So don’t forget to search out your families’ jewelry boxes and see what pieces speak to you (with permission of course). My own jewelry box is mostly costume jewelry or trendy things that go in and out of style, but I always rediscover some piece I’d forgotten about. I also encourage you to find local vintage and antique shops. They are an accessories lover’s best friend. Reasonable prices and guaranteed to be unique finds to add to your own jewelry box.

Like we always say here at radXdesign “Everything old is new again.”