Looking back at our February Brooch Wearing Challenge

Opal and Diamond Brooch from Richard Ogden in the Burlington Arcade – we adore!

What a lovely month February has been!  I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into when I started the Brooch Wearing Challenge a month ago, but it turned out to be such a wonderful little jewellery journey, with so much positive feedback – and so many fabulous brooches!

Vintage SIlver and Marcasite Brooch, Decades of Elegance

A friend of mine who is a beautiful opera singer was really excited to hear about it, and said that she always struggles to find brooches that will go with her performance outfits.  “A brooch is perfect to fasten a scarf with over an evening gown, but you just don’t see them around these days!”  Fortunately I was able to direct her to the vintage fairs and antique shops for some stunning brooches that are just waiting to start a new life with a new owner!

One of our lovely readers shared her vintage cameo brooch with us, from Decades of Elegance

Another way to wear a cameo brooch 

It has also been lovely to talk to vintage and antique dealers who sell brooches, as they often have an abundance of brooches and know so much about them – and can give you great tips as to how they could be worn!

Vintage Brooches from Arabella Bianco

And this little experiment has also reinvented a bunch of my own outfits, as they go through such a transformation when a brooch is added!

My woollen dress got a whole new life when I added this Scottish vintage brooch from the Decades of Elegance collection

A Romantic Gold Coloured Vintage Brooch with a Pearl

From the blog post Day 2 of the Brooch Wearing Challenge – Vintage Chanel Brooch And what better way to revive some old Hollywood glamour, than wearing a vintage Chanel brooch and red lipstick – as shown here by another one of our lovely readers?

So thank you all for taking part in this lovely challenge in so many different ways.  And it doesn’t of course stop here – feel free to send over your photos of you wearing a brooch whenever you like so that we can all enjoy a bit of beautiful jewellery and get some new style ideas!

How to wear an Onyx brooch

And so we have reached the last day of our February Brooch Wearing Challenge – except that I will prolong it by making a compilation of all the styles in Wednesday’s post!

Black Onyx Brooch worn with a Blouse

These photos of a brooch worn with a blouse were sent to us by our lovely Indian Princess S, who previously modelled some glorious pieces for us: Your Secret Jewellery Collection – the Indian chapter part I and Your Secret Jewellery Collection – the Indian chapter part II.

A closeup of the lovely brooch worn with a Peter Pan-collar blouse

She is wearing a black Onyx brooch in a cluster design, a brooch style that was very popular in the 1950s.  You will be able to see for yourself the next time that you visit a vintage fair, as there will be cluster brooches covering the jewellery stalls!  Just to give you an idea, this is a snapshot that we have seen before, from Arabella Bianco – and you can count the brooches that resembles the one above:

Vintage Brooches from Arabella Bianco

As for the stone Onyx, it is believed to help relieve fears and worries, and to make you feel comfortable in yourself and in your surroundings.  It is also thought to keep strong emotions and passions at bay, as it promotes self control (1).  Furthermore, it helps give a positive outlook on life – how wonderful indeed!

An Onyx cluster brooch worn with a Peter Pan-collar blouse

So my dear, take out those old brooches that have been sitting at the back of your jewellery box, and reinvent them!  On Wednesday we will take a look at all the different styles that we have seen here on the blog throughout February, and hopefully you will get buckets of inspiration on how to wear your own in the most fabulous way!

Sources:

1.  Crystal Wellbeing  

Rachelle’s Beautiful Bespoke Cakes at the Vintage Wedding Fair

Rachelle’s Wedding Cake Heaven….

So I visited the Vintage Wedding Fair in Chiswick and the first stand that I reached was Rachelle’s Beautiful Bespoke Cakes, that looked more like works of art to me.  Rachelle specialises in making bespoke cakes for weddings, and we can see here that her creations span wedding cakes, cupcakes and macaroons.  She will also design beautiful cookies for you if that is your preference, and you have to check out the sweetest Mini Cakes on her website!

The sweetest collection of cupcakes for those who want to venture away from the traditional wedding cake – or you can always have these on the side!

Rachelle works very closely with you to make sure that you get exactly the designs that you want to for your wedding day and you can find Rachelle’s website here.

Romantic Macaroons for the dessert table…

And below is the brooch inspiration for today:

Vintage silver and marcasite brooch worn with a white and gold scarf

A close up of this lovely vintage brooch

I thought that this look was suitable for the vintage wedding fair, and adding a brooch to a scarf that you have had forever is the perfect way to make it feel brand new again!

Day 1 of the Brooch Wearing Challenge – Scottish Vintage Brooch

So February is here and we are all bringing out our favourite brooches and coming up with new ways of making them work with our outfits.  They have been out of fashion for quite some time, but believe me – once you start wearing them you will notice how versatile they are.  I will tell you in a later post how I reinvented a knitted hat the other day that was far too big for me, by using a lovely brooch!  That’s another story though – this is what I am wearing for the first day of the Challenge:

I am wearing this Scottish vintage brooch with a beautiful green stone for the first day of the Brooch Wearing Challenge!

Here you can see the whole outfit – a dress from All Saints where the draped collar was perfect for fastening the brooch.  This is the famous Ring Room at Richard Ogden by the way!  

So for my first day of wearing a brooch in the shop, I have chosen this little beauty, that you might recognise from previous posts:

Green Scottish Vintage Brooch from Decades of Elegance

It it most like a Scottish design and has a beautiful paste stone with a foiled back, which the clever designers tend to add to give the stone more colour and sparkle.  I have also worn it as a hairpiece before, it is just important to secure it properly so that it doesn’t fall off!

Hairdo with a Green Scottish Vintage Brooch from Decades of Elegance

And so many of you have gotten in touch, sharing your thoughts on wearing brooches and telling me how inspired you are to wear your own that have been tucked away in a drawer for years, so I am really looking forward to getting your photos!  Please send them to info@decadesofelegance.com

Happy Brooch Wearing February y’all!

My February Brooch Wearing Challenge

 

Vintage Brooch in Silver with Blue Topaz

Good morning my dear, I hope you are having a fabulous week so far!  So I have been thinking about brooches a lot lately, as customers at the antique shop bring in their antique and vintage brooches on a regular basis and want to break them apart, because “no one wears brooches anymore!”  Well, fashion comes and goes, right?  I am certain that brooches will make a comeback, and how sad will we be when we have broken them all apart and turned them into eternity rings, necklaces and earrings!?

Vintage Silver Brooch with Marcasites

So I have taken on the challenge of wearing brooches twice a week in the shop, to hopefully inspire our customers to keep their beautiful pieces in their original design.  One day I saw this stunning 1920’s Art Deco diamond brooch, that the owner just didn’t know what to do with!  Let’s stop this nonsense and bring them back into fashion, shall we?

Vintage Cameo worn as a hairpiece

And please feel free to join me!  Do you have any brooches lying around?  If you do, then please wear them and send me a photo, as I would love to share it with all you other readers.  Also, do you have any suggestions as to how I can wear my brooches at work throughout February?!  I am thinking fastening my scarves with them and also wearing them as hairpieces.  I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!

Vintage Brooch worn as a hairpiece

Messy Side Ponytail with a Vintage Pearl Brooch

Over the weekend two lovely ladies, that you already know from the blog, came to London on a surprise visit!  We had a fabulous time with afternoon tea (review coming up – this place is just amazing!), shopping, dinner and cocktails – which obviously called for some dressing up:

Messy side ponytail with a vintage brooch

So for the afternoon tea we had to make ourselves look terribly pretty, so I put my sister’s hair up in a messy side ponytail and we the adorned it all with a vintage pearl brooch with marcasites:

Hide the pins and hairband by wrapping strands on hair around and across them

It is a really easy hairstyle to do as well: curl you hair from the ears down to create some texture, then twist the front part of your hair back above your ears, and fasten with some hair pins.  Gather the whole ponytail on one side and fasten with an elastic, which you then hide with the help of curls and hair pins.  Lastly you add the brooch by securing it behind one of the hair pins.  You can also glimpse a pair of vintage-style marcasite earrings with a faux pearl, as they went perfectly with the brooch.

A romantic detail is always a lovely addition to any hairstyle – in this case we chose a vintage brooch with pearls and marcasites

And here is the full look!  A white lace dress with that fabulous Peter Pan-collar – a second hand bargain from Mary’s Living and Giving Shop in Parsons Green; a pair of black tights and the most stunning black heels – such a lovely mid-winter look on a beautifully sunny day:

Peter Pan-collar dress in white lace with black heels