Andrew Prince Jewellery

Oh it was such a fun day in the shop yesterday, as Andrew Prince popped by (you might remember him from the earlier blog post Andrew Prince – Downton Abbey).

I was sitting at my desk in the shop when Andrew suddenly said: “Don’t move, I am just putting a little something on you”.  Now, one of my absolute favourite things in this line of work is of course trying on all the beautiful pieces, so I just sat there quietly until he had finished fiddling around with the necklace – and then I looked in the mirror, expecting a little something dainty:

Andrew Prince Jewellery

Yes, I should know by know that Andrew doesn’t do little or dainty – he does fabulous, glorious and exquisite, and all of his pieces makes you feel like you are the Queen of the World.  There is a thought behind the placement of each and every one of the pearls, red stones and the glorious sparkle, and I love how it all comes together in this necklace to create such an impact piece!  Oh well, just another day in paradise!

I hope that you are having a lovely day in the sunshine my dear – and don’t forget to put on your favourite pieces of jewellery!

South African handmade vintage necklaces – chapter III

Oh I couldn’t help but create another colour boost-post after this glorious summer!  We are back in Cape Town where we made the acquaintance of Jeanette, the necklace designer from last year’s two posts: South African handmade vintage necklaces – chapter I and South African handmade vintage necklaces – chapter II.

Rose quartz gives this necklace such a soft, romantic look

A closer view of Jeanette’s design

I have two more necklaces from her collection to show you today – a pink and a purple one and they are both just radiating colour and joy!  This first one contains the lovely gemstone rose quartz.  Rose quartz is a very special crystal when used in healing because of its powers to attract and keep love.  In feng shui it is used as a love cure.  It is believed to help healing the heart from pain and disappointment, and dissolve painful memories in one’s love-life.  It is a happy and loving stone and it embraces all kinds of love: family, friends, love for yourself and romantic love.  It also brings peace to us by relieving stress, bringing forgiveness, easing feelings of guilt and bringing families together.  What a precious little stone it is indeed!

Handmade necklace, Cape Town

And then there is this purple necklace in which Jeanette has used beads in various shades that complement each other and tousled around to create an illusion of movement.  She also incorporates parts from vintage pieces of jewellery to give the necklaces another dimension of charm and uniqueness, which we just love.  So thank you dear Jeanette for letting us look closer at your beautiful pieces.

A very happy Friday to you as well my dear!

A Decades of Elegance necklace

Happy Monday my dear!  The sun is out and the days are getting longer which is just fabulous, and to bring even more sunshine into my home, I bought these beautiful roses that you can see here are just soaking up the rays of light:

Winter sunshine

Now I have quite a few questions from you guys whether I intend to start designing my own jewellery for Decades of Elegance.  It is definitely something that I would love to do one day, and I can’t imagine anything more amazing than creating a range of jewellery that bring our thoughts to the stunning decades-gone-by: rose gold that subtly shimmers around a pearl, art deco inspired earrings and rows of pearls à la Coco Chanel… yes, that will definitely have to happen one day.

On Saturday however, I found myself with some extra time on my hands and a few scraps of vintage jewellery from one of the Portobello Market-traders, so I started playing around:

Such an inspirational collection of things: vintage jewellery, silk ribbon…

I took a silk ribbon and joined all these beautiful pieces of costume jewellery together and ended up with a statement necklace in silver, gold and rose gold.  I love mixing these metals, as it gives you so much more colour-freedom with the rest of your outfit:

Decades of Elegance-designed necklace

I am wearing it here with a white lace dress and an oversized jumper in a soft mother-of-pearl colour.  This outfit is my absolute favourite, and I just alternate between different coloured jumpers, mostly greys, golds and soft pinks.  I just find that gold jewellery goes so beautifully with whites, although now I suspect that I will be throwing in more silver and rose gold to create this beautiful combination!

I would love to hear your thoughts – is this something you would wear, and if so, what would you wear it with?

South African handmade vintage necklaces – chapter II

I thought this grey November morning would be the perfect time to invite a bit of colour into our lives!

We are back for the second chapter of Jeanette’s handmade necklaces that contain the most exciting pieces of vintage jewellery.  Jeanette sells them at various fairs down in Cape Town and as mentioned in the last post, they are approximately £30 each so do let me know if any one of them takes your fancy:

These blues look so beautiful next to the ocean

Pearls and stones are dancing around the neck of the lucky lady who get to wear this beauty

A lovely little butterfly detail by the clasp

I think this blue necklace was just so pretty, with its wide range of blue nuances and little details like the small butterfly by the clasp at the back.  The size and colour of the stones vary greatly and give the necklace its unique look.

A beautiful green colour is represented in this necklace

Then there was this sweet green necklace, accompanied by all the different colours of the rainbow!  You can see above how well it goes with turquoise, and of course also with cream which would pick up the beautiful pearl.  This necklace has only three strands and is perfect for the more dainty ladies.  It is such a wonderful piece of art and would stand out beautifully against a very simple and elegant dress, or with a simple silk blouse and pencil skirt for day at the office!

South African handmade vintage necklaces – chapter I

I met this wonderful designer in Cape Town a few weeks ago, Jeanette, whose designs I have been longing to present to you every since.  She makes statement necklaces out of pieces of vintage jewellery, gemstones and various metals – and may I just say that she has quite an impressive circle of admirers, including some very fashionable ladies in the States..!  These are all for sale so get in touch if you love them – they are approximately £30 each.

I had the opportunity to rummage through her collection and this is what I found:

A South African handmade black, white and silver necklace 

Jeanette wore this necklace to an auction viewing the other week and looked just fabulous!  Sophisticated yet fashionable – we love!

You probably already know from my vintage snake necklace that I have a huge soft spot for black, white and silver jewellery, so no wonder this pretty thing was the first one that I laid my eyes (and hands!) on!  It goes perfectly with all colours really, and looks especially striking when worn with a black, white or silver dress.  Just add a blazer or suit jacket and you have the perfect look to go from casual to a cocktail party!

The next colour that I fell for was this stunning creation of orange and gold

I couldn’t help but ask this lovely young lady to model it for me…

Some beautiful South African colours that go so well with the necklace…

Oh and this one is also a favourite of mine, with its happy, vibrant colours and fabulous vintage details.  This one will go beautifully with you outfits in gold, brown and white.  It is lovely for the blondies as it will reflect beautifully with your locks, but I can also see it worn by you brunette beauties – as it will stand out so nicely against your colour palette!

I teamed it up with a simple white t-shirt from COS and a brown leather jacket.  Some skinny jeans and heels and you are ready for a shopping round on King’s Road! 

We have another post coming up, as there are quite a few more colours to go through in Jeanette’s collection: a sea green beauty, a pink one with stunning rose quartz stones and a blue necklace which went perfectly with the Indian Ocean background in the photos!

Happy Friday my dear and see you again on Monday!

Annie Vintage on Portobello Road

The other week I popped by Portobello Market, as I had heard of a fabulous vintage jewellery shop called Annie Vintage:

Vintage bracelets at Annie Vintage on Portobello Road

Annie’s collection is perfect for those of you who adore Serena van der Woodsen’s style in Gossip Girl.  There is an abundance of statement jewellery, gold coloured chains and lots of colourful stones that would go so well with a pair of skinny jeans, a nice white blouse or t-shirt and some killer heels – or a pair of boots once autumn is here again.

Vintage cameo pendants – love the beautifully designed dancers.  As always with vintage jewellery a lot of thought and time have gone into creating the pieces

Stunning vintage necklaces

I just love this necklace, it makes me think of Audrey Hepburn with her wonderful sense of style.  It would add just the right kind of glamour and style to an office outfit so I would wear it with a white blouse and a black pencil skirt, or with a little black dress.

Extraordinary vintage necklace

Vintage necklaces and bracelets

These chunky pieces are the perfect addition to for example a simple black maxi dress.  I usually wear one piece of jewellery and keep the rest quite simple.  So with a vintage pearl necklace I would wear a small pair of pearl earrings.  If my earrings are quite prominent then I might wear an eye-catching ring, but I would tone down (or most likely skip) the necklace.  I was told the other day that this is how the French ladies do it, and we know how impeccable their sense of style is, so if you follow this philosophy you just can’t get it wrong!

Vintage earrings of all styles and colours 

Oh it is just amazing being able to rummage through these boxes of vintage earrings.  I am a huge fan of pearl earrings and I can already see a few that I would like to take home.

Vintage bracelets with the most intricate designs

Annie Vintage by ch Chelsea Gallery on Portobello Market

You can find Annie Vintage on 69 Portobello Road, so do head over there on Saturday to perfect your vintage jewellery collection!

Saturday street performers on Portobello Road

Dazzling rhinestones and mother of pearl glamour

As I am away travelling all day tomorrow I wanted to treat you to an early Friday post dear.

So the other day we had the loveliest picnic in Hyde Park, with the sun shining so beautifully through the foliage above.

I had brought along a few Decades of Elegance treasures that we were rummaging through, and we ended up trying them on – more or less all at once!  A trip to Portobello Market earlier that morning had resulted in two stunning Art Deco rings, that you can catch a glimpse of in the photo above, and posts on those beauties will of course be coming up soon.  Oh isn’t it just so much fun to try on glorious pieces of jewellery and learning what works for you?

Now one of my favourite things about this job is seeing someone put on a piece, which then transforms in front of your eyes to look as if it was made for that person.  This is what happened with our mother of pearl necklace when my friend tried it on.  She is a true Nordic beauty and you can see how the rainbow of colours from the rhinestones sparkle so beautifully with her complexion.

Even though the necklace is quite the statement piece, it also has that understated elegance, which will perfect for example a white shirt and pencil skirt office outfit.  It will also look gorgeous with a little black dress, and add that extra hint of glamour to your cocktails with the girls.  These are the best kind of pieces, as their versatility make them such wardrobe essentials.