It’s Definitely Summer

APPARENTLY one swallow doesn’t make a summer. I have two here. And we definitely have summer here in Melbourne. It is a sweltering 33°C inside my apartment, and finally with nightfall the temperature has dropped to ‘only’ 36° outside.

These little stud earrings that I bought on eBay remind me of the swallow necklaces that were all the rage when I was quite young. I recall a school friend having a little enamel pendant swinging off a silver chain, although I’ve never seen anything like it in all my vintage trawling since. Probably if I did I would be disappointed – rose coloured glasses, after all, so these will have to suffice … Ice? Who said ice? Did I mention it’s hot out?

Cupid’s Arrows

I’ve added a few more shiny things to my jewellery box, with this set bought on eBay. While I don’t like real diamonds, I do adore a fake, especially when it looks like a fake – the bigger, glitzier and kitscher, the better. Cute, fun, bright, sparkles! So big pink and white rhinestone hearts shot through with Cupid’s arrows are absolutely perfect. ’Cause I wear my hearts on my ears and around my neck, not my sleeve. 

Something Blue

One night a few weeks back I was feeling a little blue, so I decided to cheer myself up with something nice from Etsy. I didn’t want to spend much, so these cute little periwinkle blue ribbon hair clips from UK store ffflowers hit the spot. I call it chic and cheerful shopping, and they look just darling with my bob.

Jolly Jewellery

I bought this humorous set of skull and crossbones jewellery on eBay. The skull and crossbones are most strongly associated with poison and danger, or of course the Jolly Roger, the pirate’s flag. “Danger! Be scared!” this symbol says, but I do like the way the irrepressibly wide grin and rhinestones contradicts this message. There’s a naughty twinkle in their eye that belies the warning. Too cute!

Tribal Pompoms

It is no secret that I adore pompoms almost as much as I love stripes. (Hmm, striped pompoms … there’s an interesting proposal.) I am not sure whence comes this delight in pompoms – they are cute and full of movement, and are usually colourful, yes, but I am also drawn to their connotations with tribal style.

Thai hilltribe girlsSoutheast Asian people groups incorporate pompoms into colourful headdresses; they are also seen in Chinese wedding and opera hats. Latvian Irita Too is creating some extraordinary tribal-inspired headgear for label UTHA – you can shop her Etsy store. Probably appealing to music-festival revellers, but much more fun to wear stalking the city streets to shock those staid suits striding by one’s side.

UTHA pompom ear warmer, availble on EtsyChinese opera hatFor my last birthday, my sister Blossom gave me some money (mysteriously, she finds it difficult to choose presents for me), some of which I used to purchase the pompom necklace (top) from Quick Brown Fox. Initially, I thought it was a headband when I reached for it – and it would be easy to convert – but it is a fun piece to wear around the neck. And happily, later on I did find a vintage 40s pompom headband too.