Back In Black! (You Knew That Title Was Coming...)

For Black Friday, the last two items in the bejeweled back series...   

Are these fallen stars worn by a space princess or a noose and barbed wire?  Mandy Wu's compelling piece confounds and alarms at multiple levels.  

As different as day is to night, Alexa Leigh's sweet rhodium and diamond chain will decorate your front and the back simultaneously, sparkling coming and going, attracting attention to the nape of your neck and the delicate ringlets at your hair line.  

Hopefully, this week's obsession helped you rethink the jewels in your collection.  Tie your opera- length beads into a knot and drop them down your back, suspend a pendant between your shoulder blades, hang a chain where no chain has gone before.  If you like the results, send me a photo at ifpthenqpq@live.com, and I'll post it later.    

Back Again!

And here are enough necklaces and brooches (and the one by Arianna Cerrito is both) to last a week.  Look at how different they are from each other!    

Anna Molinari

Baharat

Sagan

Theresa Brar

Sharmirazloom

Zorah Rahman

Ivana Spoljaricpravinakit

Arianna Cerrito

Back to the Obvious

Most harnesses and body chains lack subtlety and style- they are oversexed and tacky.  

However, Cornelia Webb's harness of silver and pearls, seriously accentuates the sweep of the back and the shoulders.  Completely appropriate for public wear, it scandalously hints rather than screams.

Cornelia Webb

Ware's beautiful jewelry slyly approximates an angel's wings; this is a harness  of necessity- the wings have to stay on somehow.  
 

Ware

Designs by Sonia's necklace approaches the same vibe from the opposite direction- it is NOT a harness.  Don't go there.  Seriously- get your mind out of the gutter.



Designs by Sonia



September 11

Today...

Please pray for the families of those who lost loved ones in NYC, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. on September 11 in 2001.

Please pray for the service members, CIA, FBI, police, members of the public, and all others who served and are serving, protecting the United States from further attacks. 

Please explain to your children why September 11 is important- they did not see the planes slam into the Twin Towers, and pray for our unity as a nation to defeat those who want to hurt America and Americans.  

Please be kind to each other in remembrance of the kindness of strangers during our grief.  

Looking Back ...Looking Forward

The back bejeweled is subversively erotic.  Nothing is censorious.  Skin and muscles offset metal and stone, inviting sensory exploration.  Naked skin is not necessary; a clothed, bejeweled back decorates and calls attention to a normally unnoticed portion of the body, like being let in on a secret.   

This week celebrates the decorated back, from juxtaposing backs for fronts to sell jewelry to "conventional" back jewelry, like harnesses or vertebrae, to those pieces that rethink the back's space with brooches or necklaces to leave an  impression going as well as coming. 

Today it is about the back standing in for the front...

Koshi

Africa Rich

Dreams of Norway

Kitten Hawk

Miyudecay

Michelle Oh

Pipe Dreams

Rene Walrus

Bevel

 

Black Friday

An old, sweet bangle... a circa 1868 Austro-Hungarian black enamel and silver bangle,  elaborately engraved.  The engraving on the inside reads: "Herbert Beaumont Leadam - Dec. 5. 1868 - Of such is the kingdom of Heaven."  Wear it and remember Herbert and whoever it was that wanted to keep his remembrance close. 

www.bellandbird.com

A Tale of Passion

I have a passionate relationship with Bogetta Veneta...usually passionately angry.  Grossly overpriced and invariably inaccurately marketed, Bog V rakes in the cash misrepresenting its jewelry in a way that would put a small jeweler out of business.  That makes me crazy!  And the prices Bog V charges...whew!

So imagine my embarrassment when I fell madly in lust with this necklace.  I love this piece!  It makes me swoon with desire.  The big stones, the in-your-face outrageousness ("Of course it's fake- duh!"), the pop-in-your-mouth color- love it all.

I don't love the price, a whopping $2,000 for silver and CZ.  Snort! As if!  And Bog V did not change; it markets the CZ stones as zircon.  Danger signs all over the place, as there always are with Bog V.  Sigh.   

But I love this necklace enough to look for something reasonably priced like it.  I do not support buying knock-offs; that is taking money out of someone's pocket.  Usually artists who develop jewelry charge higher prices for better items.  To illustrate this point, I recommend you  read about Wendy Brandes' ongoing issue with Top Shop.  Top Shop stole her swear rings idea and design, selling cheap junk after her initial risk, capital investment, and marketing. Click on the link to her blog on the right if you want to follow the ongoing issue OR order the real deal from Ms. Brandes.

ANYWAY- September's InStyle, like a fairy godmother, showed me the necklace of my dreams.  R.J. Graziano's necklace is not a rip off clone, but something similar that feeds  my lust for sparkling, colorific, "duh!" inducing bling without making me feel broke and stupid.  It's on the web from $110 to $45 or you can call the company at 212-685-3737.  I can get two, and still feel smart.  It's like discovering Bog V's gorgeous necklace has a smarter, kinder brother who wants a healthy relationship.  Beautiful sparkle and money in my pocket!  Sweet!    

Ebay!  Cool!

Bog V... we knew this would never work between the two of us.  Thank you for helping me grow and mature as a jewelry fiend but I'm taking R.J. home.