Double Happiness

Bluebirds have been a symbol of happiness and hope in many cultures for thousands of years. This little pair are billing and cooing, so they are surely very happy.

I found this in a thrift store quite a while ago; I think it is probably from the 1980s. I collect brooches, but I prefer vintage plastic or enamel over rhinestones. However, when it is a novelty shape as opposed to an abstract, I do like the sparkle of rhinestones.

At the time of purchase, I put it into a zipped compartment of my wallet, and forgot all about it. As I’ve switched back to a tiny vintage crocodile leather wallet that can hold only a couple of plastic cards, I only recently went back to the longer wallet to look for a not-oft-used card, and rediscovered this brooch inside! It’s like being twice-surprised by a sweet find.

Photo: Today

Faux Thirties Style

Lapis lazuli is a metamorphic rock of deep blue that has been prized for its colour since antiquity. In Egypt, lapis lazuli was a favoured stone used in jewellery and ornaments, such as scarabs, and Cleopatra herself used powdered lapis as eyeshadow! Not as surprising as it might seem at first, for the same was used until 1826 to make natural ultramarine pigment for paint.

This little trifle I picked up recently in a thrift store is a double-strand faux lapis lazuli choker. It has no maker’s mark on it, and I can’t imagine it was expensive when it retailed, although the fact that it is knotted between each bead is an indication of better quality.

French postcard: (from left) Irene Wentzel, Miss Russia in Paris in 1930; Ingeborg von Grinberger, Miss Austria; Rie van der Rest, Miss Holland. Image from Pinterest

I’m always on the lookout for 1930s style items, and I am more partial to the costume jewellery styles of the era than the fine jewellery, which often seem too ornate for my taste. I prefer opaque stones in any case.

A lot of 30s daywear was high-necked, featuring interesting necklines, collars and sleeves, so very often women did not wear a lot of jewellery, and it is not easy to find pictorial examples. Here are a couple below, however, of Miss Europe candidates of 1930: Miss Russie is wearing a choker; and the April 1930 cover of Vogue magazine.

Vogue April 1930, illustrated by Jean Pages

Photo: September 2019

Hybird

I love a little word-punning! This cute beaded and sequinned parrot is a hybrid brooch and hairclip, which I have dubbed a clooch … I fully expect that word to take off and quickly become ubiquitous in the sartorial lexicon.

I found this clooch in the jewellery boutique, Lovisa, and was taken with it because I love birds in general. I am yet to wear it, but will more likely do so as a brooch than a hairclip, since I wear hats all the time. Additional bonus: it was $6 on sale, very cheep-cheep!

Photo: September 2019

Nonpareils

How utterly fantastic are these earrings from Lovisa? I pounced on them as soon as I saw them in the shop because they look like freckles! If you are not Australian, that observation may bewilder you. Freckles are a chocolate drop smothered in hundreds and thousands, or, as I only just learned, nonpareils, as they are called in North America.

I call these earrings nonpareils: delicious candy for your ears! And now I want to eat a freckle as well.

Tiffany Surprise

Look what I got! A Tiffany & Co surprise! … But wait … No, it’s just a little trifle from a thrift store!

Recently I bought a pair of carved blue shell earrings in a thrift store, and while I was paying for them I expressed my concern that these fragile earrings should not break on the way home. The sales lady agreed, and said she would find a box for me. She disappeared under the counter for a moment and when she popped back up, lo and behold she was holding a Tiffany & Co box in her hand! We were both quite tickled by the incongruity.

I have already worn these once, but I did not notice until after I photographed these today that one of them is actually damaged – one of the flowers is missing a leaf. I suspect the ladies in the op shop didn’t notice either, as the break is quite neat and not immediately obvious. The shimmering, reflective surface is quite distracting too.

I guess I am the April Fool after all! (But I still think they are pretty.)