decodence

i'll say it, i love decadence.  why wear one bracelet when you can wear ten?  why not drape yourself in jewels even though you're going to work and not working a red carpet?  why drink orange juice for breakfast when you could be having a mimosa?  there's probably no decade quite as decadent as the roaring 20s (except for maybe the 80s but i prefer my decadence sans shoulder pads) and nothing quite captures its spirit like the great gatsby.  i fall more in love with the book with each read and to me there will never be a greater daisy than mia farrow (sorry carey).  but since you can't seem to turn anywhere lately without seeing gatsby inspired something here are some of my favorite picks for injecting a little art deco decadence into your jewelry wardrobe.  and in the true spirit of decadence i say one just won't do.  to having it all!

one: zelda vintage necklace from AHAlife.
two: dannijo mariella earrings.
three: pamela love double empire cuff.
four: house of harlow black diamond aven cuff.
five: eddie borgo lattice ring.
six: henri bendel skyline deco ring.
seven: lulu frost immortality necklace.
eight: danielle queller jet feather earrings from roseark. (sadly decadence doesn't come cheap.  here are two similar earrings from boticca and river island for decadence on a budget).
nine: tiffany ziegfeld collection pearl tassel necklace.  (too decadent?  here are two similar necklaces from ralph lauren and j.crew that won't break the bank).
ten: style queen kiki headband.
eleven: alexis bittar siyabona panther hinge bracelet.  (consider this a starter kit for the panthère de cartier).

blue period

maybe it's the texas in me or the 1/8 cherokee that i completely made up or maybe you can just blame it on cher, but i can never get enough turquoise.  and if you ask me, when it comes to turquoise the bluer the better.  i love it as a subtle accent to gold and silver or piled on in bulk.  it's hard to go wrong with turquoise and it adds an instant pop to any outfit.  when wearing turquoise i try to hold back on the western wear so that it doesn't start to veer into costume territory.  for this particular outfit i paired it with a leather skirt because i love how the earthiness of the turquoise juxtaposes with the toughness of the leather.  i went with a blue shirt to pick up the tones in the jewelry but i think it would look equally good with a white shirt to really let the turquoise do the talking.  because turquoise has a lot to say and most of it is about how awesome you are.

shirt: club monaco slim fit oxford, skirt: the reformation hanna skirt, shoes: zara ankle strap sandals.

necklaces: vintage silver collar, vintage pendant, far and wild turquoise spike necklace.
rings: double finger turquoise ring, pamela love single cage ring.

watch: breitling navitimer.
bracelets on right hand: far and wild laotian silver cuff, vintage silver twist cuff, vintage turquoise cuff, vintage silver cuff.

anarchy on the red carpet

unless you live under a rock you probably know that the met gala was on monday night to fête this year's costume institute exhibit, punk: chaos to couture.  and even if you are living under said rock you can probably imagine the effect that such a theme would have on the outfits for the occassion.  if your answer involved studs, metal, and mohawks you pretty much nailed it.  i personally couldn't get enough of the theme and seriously can't wait for the exhibition.  little known fact, my AP american history term paper was on the history of punk rock.  so you just might say that this event combined the chaos and couture that i've loved for a long time now.  i loved seeing the different iterations of punk on the red carpet.  some people went for it all out (see sarah jessica parker and madonna) and some people hinted it at with small details (see nicole richie's hair and jessica biel's sneaky faux septum piercing).  i think the theme gave the haute couture set a bit of a sense of humor for the night and the result is ample inspiration for trying the punk theme on in some capacity this spring.  i think my favorite look of the night, and of pretty much every met gala, was gisele's mostly because my brain isn't comprehending how i'm not seeing her lady parts and i'm a sucker for a side part.  what were your favorite looks from the night?

all photos from style.com and ny mag.

Treasure Hunting with Miranda

Miranda Levitt
Actress

" I have this jewelry box that I don’t really use anymore because it broke but I was like maybe I’ll try and fix it.  I tried to fix it a little bit with this binder clip and some glue.  It’s just a cheapy thing from Urban Outfitters that I bought when I was 18 and I was like this is so cute!  Isn’t it funny when you look back and you’re like what was I thinking?  Like this is hilarious.  It’s a Chanel ring that I bought when I was buying all of this Chanel jewelry at one point in my career as a collector.  My Chanel phase must have been when I was about 18 or 19.  Some of it was gifts and some of it I bought for myself.  These earrings I found on Ebay and I was so in love with them and like these have to be mine.  It was one of those things that at the time I was like I’m gonna love them forever and they’re gonna be so important to me and then a week later I’m like I don’t really care about it.  My boyfriend at the time bought me this Chanel necklace.  I can track all of my exes through jewelry.  Even the ones that didn’t give me jewelry I can remember what I wore when I was with them.  Like this whip ring from Kiki de Montparnasse was from an ex.  It’s sterling silver with rubies.  They have whips that you attach to it and he was gonna buy me one but then we broke up.  I got this Hermes cuff for an anniversary.  It’s suede and you can see what it was once like on one little part of it.  It was this bright pink and it was so pretty.  It’s so destroyed but you know it’s a sign that it was really well loved.  I wore it a whole lot.   I also have a collection of mini switchblades.  My dad gave one to me and one to my brother and I stole the one from my brother because I was like you’re gonna lose this so I’ll hold on to it til you’re older.  Luckily he forgot about it.  I wore one on a necklace for years.

I go through so many phases.  I went through this phase where I wore all Victorian jewelry.  I would buy it at estate sales and online.  I had one of these Victorian pearl collars when I was a kid that said Miranda inside of it.  As a kid my name wasn’t super popular so whenever someone found something that had my name they would buy it for me.  My grandfather found the pearl collar at a flea market and bought it for me.  I left it on a lamp one night and it burned so I bought this one on Ebay to replace it.  Ebay is a goldmine for me.  My whole life is Ebay.  I just got a happy ten year anniversary email from Ebay the other day and I was like oh my god this is the longest relationship I’ve ever had!   This was my great grandmother’s lion pendant and she gave it to me because I’m a leo like she was.  This was my grandmother’s charm bracelet and I think that there’s a sister bracelet to it that actually has charms but this one doesn’t.  I used to wear this with these two gold bangles every day and one of them fell off at Black and White and I went to the bartender and I was like look if you ever find it call me and he called me as I was leaving the bar and he was like I found it but it’s destroyed and I was devastated.  This diamond ring is amazing and it’s like 100 years old.  My grandmother’s grandmother gave her this when she turned eighteen and my grandmother gave it to me when I turned eighteen.  I have this gold and opal Victorian ring but I’ve heard that you’re not supposed to wear opals if they’re not your birthstone.  I met this guy when I first moved to New York who is an opal miner from Australia.  Every time he comes to New York he has like a safe with him of these huge, incredible opals.  He doesn’t believe any of the superstitions about opals.  This cocktail ring I bought for myself for my 21st birthday.  It’s gold and sapphires and such a neat shape.  I used to wear it a lot but I don’t wear much gold anymore.  Most of my jewelry is gold because I went through a major gold phase.  During my gold phase I also wore a lot of rosaries because I’m a bad Jew.  I think everyone goes through a rosary phase as a coming of age thing.  This glass rosary is definitely the oldest thing I have.  This is from Italy from the late 1800s and my great grandmother brought it over to America with her.  In came in this amazing silver case, which I now use as a pill case.

Recently I went through more of a silver phase.  This horse hair bracelet is one of my favorite things.  It’s from California and I definitely wore this everyday with the silver Pamela Love claw earring.  I got this earring twice because I lost one my first one and had to buy it again because I loved it so much.  This cuff is Elsa Peretti from Tiffany's and I literally never take it off.  I love all of her stuff.  I found this turquoise and silver ring.  It was at a guy friend of mine’s house and he was like, 'I don’t know, some girl left it here' so I totally took it.  I feel like a lot of my jewelry has been found.  This silver and black necklace was my dad’s and my mom’s and my parents fight over it all the time.  My dad claims that he bought it for my mom and my mom claims that she bought it for herself.  And it’s really a funny argument because I’m like who fucking cares it’s mine now!"