costume

Perhaps this is obvious to everyone else, but I think not. So often people wear ridiculous costume jewelry without any sense of how . . . well, ridiculous it looks.

There's a difference between wearing a piece that clearly isn't meant to look real, and one that is and fails. This post addresses the latter.

How to pull off costume jewels:

1. Don't go too big. This is the biggest mistake people make--they buy something humongous that they could clearly not afford if it were real. The bigger the stone, the less likely you are to have been able to afford it. You want to try and find stuff where the stone is just larger than what the average person could buy, so that it makes an impact without straining credulity.
2. Silver tone is easier to pull off than gold. Fake gold shows its wear quicker, and also more often looks "off" in color. Platinum and white gold and silver and surgical steel, on the other hand, are interchangeable enough that the average person isn't going to be able to determine the difference in a cursory glance.
3. Look at the craftsmanship. Costume jewelry often looks costumey because of shoddy construction. Examine the piece closely--are the stones set crookedly? Are there little bits of solder where there shouldn't be? Are the prongs straight and even? Is the metal properly polished? You might not consciously register these details, but the eye does catch them, and then the piece reads as cheap. (Incidentally, these are things you should check for when buying real jewelry, too.)
4. Examine the cut and color of the stone. I think it's rare that colored costume jewelry is convincing; cubic zirconium, on the other hand, is easy to come by in a decent quality. The cut should simulate a real gemstone; often, costume jewelry has fewer facets in it than a real stone would.
   
5. Wear it casually. Normal people often wear costume jewelry when they get dressed up; it's almost expected. Rich people are insouciant enough to throw diamonds on with a pair of jeans.
6. Don't wear too many pieces or fake stones in a single piece. Go for one or two stones at absolute most. Again, if you're dripping in so many fakes that you'd have to be a sheik to afford them all, no one will believe that they're real. A minimalist bezel-set pendant is easier to believe than a pair of chandelier earrings.
   
7. If you can, go for high quality costume. You can get real stones set in sterling; it saves quite a bit of money (gold is at $1500/ounce right now!), and looks very nearly as good. Gold vermeil (sterling plated with real gold) is also a good option, as long as you're wearing the piece only occasionally, since eventually the plating will rub off.
   

A side benefit to this (the main benefit being that you look nice) is that shopkeepers are more likely to treat you with deference if you're wearing good jewelry. I'm not sure about anyone else, but I enjoy being treated like I could drop several hundred dollars on a whim.

chains and things

This is the top of my jewelry chest. I thought it sort of poetic-looking, and it was entirely unintentional--I didn't specifically position any of it.

I'm a naturally nosy person, and I assume most people are too, if they're being honest with themselves. I especially enjoy poking through other people's jewelry and hearing the history behind pieces, so I thought I might explain the stories behind these.

The picture is a couple in an Argentine tango pose. I bought it in Flagstaff, long before I really learned anything about the dance.

I don't remember what wine we were having that night, but it's in a Ridel crystal goblet that Colin got as a present from a friend. Now that we have them, and have discovered that the wine really does taste better out of them, I don't want to bother with our glass goblets.


A better shot of the surface.

The chest itself was a present from my friend BreeAnna. She claimed she really didn't want it (although really--how could anyone not want a giant jewelry chest to fill?). Now I need to either purge some of my jewelry or get a bigger one.

I'll move clockwise from the top right. The box was a gift from my father when he went to Saudi Arabia for three months on business. For a long time, he had a tradition of bringing us something little home whenever he went away. I was in high school, and used to him traveling quite often, but three months was the longest I had ever gone without seeing him. Because the trip was so long (and, perhaps, because it was so exotic a locale), he brought us quite a few things.

The pink rose pendant was also a gift from my father, this time from when he went to London. It came in a green box that said Herrods on it, and he told us it was a famous department store in England. I made sure to go when I finally made it over there. My sister got a pansy, but I haven't seen it in years.

The starfish was from Target for ten bucks. I bought it because I had been trolling the Tiffany's website and fell in love with the Elsa Perretti starfish, and since $150 for sterling was something far beyond my college-student budget, I jumped on the knock-off. It's bigger than the Perretti versions, but I've decided I actually like that better. That said, though, if anyone wants to get me the diamond version, I wouldn't mind in the least.

The faux pearls are opera-length, and supposedly from the 1930's. I got them at a vintage store in Sedona the last time we went up. Again, childhood tradition dictates that one buys oneself a souvenir on vacations. I actually walked out of the store without buying these, but went back at the last second to purchase them (which I am very glad of). They're quite heavy.

The silver flower necklace was a bridesmaid's present from Leeann, whose wedding was about a year and a half ago. It's one of two pieces I have from Tiffany's (the other also from Leeann, come to think of it. She spoils me).

The glass mouse and the fish were also presents my dad brought home from the Saudi trip.

I paid ten dollars for a strand of lapis lazuli at the gem and mineral show and made that necklace. The gold-tone beads between the lapis were from a necklace my mother owned in the eighties that I dismantled. Again, very heavy, but I love the stones.