Manolo Jewelry

Elizabeth Taylor, living legend, philanthropist, AIDS activist, perfumer, hopeless romantic, and the owner of one of the most staggering jewelry collections ever, has passed away of congestive heart failure at the age of 79.

Her heart, her all-encompassing, all-loving, heart was the source of much joy and much misery for her.

May she be at peace, and may her legend live on even after all of us who were here during her lifetime are long gone.

Cheers, Liz. You were one of the great ones.

LPA

So the Grammys tend to be known more for wackitude and big upsets (who knew that Bieber fans were so bloodthirsty?) than for elegant, gorgeous accessorizing.

And much like the wackitude tends to upstage the elegant, the “big names” tend to upstage the lesser-known folks on the following day’s fashion pages.

So, in the spirit of celebrating (or in some cases, kicking) the underdog, let’s take a gander at some looks from people other than your JLos and your Rihannas and your Lady Gagas, shall we?

N’Dambi:

Smart girl. Her dress is already sequined up and her hair makes a big statement, so she kept it simple with the jewels. (In other pictures, I saw that she did Too Much with the shoes, so we’ll just ignore that and focus solely on this picture, m’kay?) I love the teeny little diamond helix piercing — it just adds that subtle bit of edginess. Don’t believe me? Put your thumb over it in the picture. Makes a difference, no? Now, let’s wipe our greasy thumbprints off of our monitors and keep on going.

Mya:

I’m not sure what to think about the dress. It looks a little bit too much like a Project Runway challenge, involving the use of remnants of 19th century bonnets for my liking. However, I love the earrings, and love that she wore her hair back to show them off.

Paz Vega:

I wouldn’t want MUCH bling with a dress like this, but a subtle pair of earrings would have gone a long way towards this look. As it stands, Paz looks like she’s wearing the world’s fanciest hospital gown. One stumble, and we’re talking MAJOR wardrobe malfunction here.

Alicia Arden:

Good lord, what in sweet Rose’s marmalade is this? The earrings don’t go with the necklace, which doesn’t go with the bracelets, which don’t go with each other. Not that everything has to matchy-matchy, but this looks like Alicia just decided to throw on everything in her jewelry box, just for s**ts and giggles.

India.Arie:

I love you. Don’t ever change.

And, just to leave you on a high (and squashed) note, I bring you Gramma Funk:

I guess that’s one good way to keep anybody from stealing your necklace: wedge it so tightly between your breasts that a thief would require a crowbar and some WD-40 to jimmy that sucker loose.

Bisous!

LPA

Greetings, my dears!

I hope that all is lovely and wonderful with each and every one of you.

Remember WAY back when, when I made mention of my mom’s charm bracelet, and how I didn’t want to tell her that I’d love to have it some day, for fear of appearing grasping?

I could kick myself right now.

She hocked it.

Don’t worry — she didn’t hock it because that was the only thing standing between her and a steady diet of ramen noodles. She simply figured that neither of us girls had ever shown any interest in it, and she hadn’t worn it in years and years, so why not be rid of it.

I could CRY. Seriously. She had charms on there from when my sister and I were born. She had a charm from when she graduated from nursing school. It was the ONE piece of jewelry of hers that I actually coveted.

So I’m a little bitter right now. But I’m also determined that I WILL have a charm bracelet, damn it. And if I can’t have my mom’s, I’ll just have to get my own.

One can always buy a pre-charmed (so to speak) charm bracelet, if you like the look, but don’t want the time, bother and expense of slowly filling up your bracelet with charms.  This one from Lily Pulitzer is rather adorable, and it does still have room for charms if you want to add something more personal. Plus, it’s on sale:

I also think this one is really neat. The Feng Shui of the charms is supposed to increase the energy in your life.  So it IS a little pricier than coffee, but it doesn’t have the diuretic effects…so it’s a toss-up, really. However the fact that it’s 77% off certainly sweetens the deal, no?

Or, you could do what I’m probably going to do, and get one that’s mostly blank, so that you can add on your own charms. I’m loving this David Yurman one. The fact that it’s silver AND gold makes it a lot more versatile with regards to what charms you pick for it, I’d say.

So what kind of charms would I put on there? Well, I’d want them to either have meaning, or be ones that I just think are delightful. This Eiffel Tower charm would be a must-buy, as it would remind me of the lovely 24 hours I once spent in Paris.

Of course, with charms, you can’t go wrong with Tiffany. They have got a broad selection of gorgeous things. How dinky is this oyster charm? It  opens up, to reveal a pearl inside! Swoon!

I’ll also be getting some sort of charm that reminds me of my son. I’m not sure yet what to get though…but that’s half the fun, isn’t it?

If you had a charm bracelet, what charms would you want on it?

Bisous,

LPA