This whole getting older thing is getting on my last nerve. I’m not a big fan of getting photographed, but this week, I had to renew my passport and didn’t have much of a choice. When did I start looking like my Aunt Lydia? It seems that I’ve developed the same creases and baggy bits in my face that I remember her having when she was MUCH older. I would like to grow old gracefully, and thought I was doing pretty well. I don’t match my shoes to a purse or lipstick to my nail polish. I mix patterns. I wear white in winter (disclaimer: in New Orleans, it gets cold for about 6 weeks, 8 weeks tops, so really, white AND linen are year round staples), and I don’t make (the ultimate faux pas) “matchy-matchy” jewelry. It’s just not hip.
Or is it?
I have a friend who likes to buy “something to match” when she picks a piece. I acquiesce. I also have an online client who likes “sets” and I make ’em. At first I thought: “That is so OLD LADY”, and an image of the Queen comes to mind…
Queen Elizabeth
Not so long ago, I acquired a copy of Elizabeth Taylor’s book, “My Love Affair With Jewelry”. It was very chic to have a “matched” set of jewels in her hey day. I have to admit, I would have a hard time turning down this Bulgari emerald suite right now, no matter how passé.
Elizabeth Taylor’s Bulgari Emerald Suite
There is also a ring and a tiara to match this “set” AKA “parure”. Parure is a matched set of ornaments; in jewelry, it’s usually referred to when there are three or more matching pieces (used in reference to antique and vintage jewelry – hence my “old lady” images).
That’s it – I am officially old. I’m starting to kinda like the idea. But instead of making an exact replica, I like to use similar components, or colors. After my friend Jane bought this piece:
Checkerboard Morganite Pendant with Hand Carved Antique Australian Opal, Sapphire and Emerald Briolettes
She wanted something to match. I made these:
Rose Cut Aquamarine Earrings with Aquamarine & Emerald Briolettes
My online client bought a pair of earrings with the stipulation that I make a matching necklace or pendant:
Rose Cut Tourmaline & Pink Sapphire Earrings with Pendant
A couple of months later, she bought these:
Stalactite Necklace with Lavender Rose Cut Amethyst Labradorite & Emerald Briolettes – Triple Drop Labradorite Chain. Matching Amethyst Emerald & Labradorite Earrings
Here’s a better shot of the necklace:
Amethyst Stalactite Necklace with Rose Cut Lavender Amethyst Emerald & Labradorite Briolettes
With a ring to match:
Rose Cut Amethyst Ring
Miz Matchy has a parure! My 1st!
Because of this, I am now offering these earrings:
Aquamarine Crystal Australian Opal & Emerald Drop Earrings
And a “matching” necklace:
Fluorite Emerald Raw Aquamarine & Diamond Necklace
Apparently, I can lie like a rug. I’ve had these two pieces (which obviously match) up for sale in the etsy shop for awhile. I’ve been aging (gracefully?) for longer than previously thought.
Rose Cut Champagne Citrine Earrings with Ametrine Briolettes
Rose Cut Champagne Citrine & Moonstone Necklace
So my nieces tried to tell me “not to be matchy matchy”… I like Matchy matchy, it makes me feel coordinated, when maybe all else in my life is not so. I LOVE my matching green necklace and ear rings and ring. They do have a slight unmatchy purple so i guess I can feel a bit more in the
groove. LOL
LOL. I’m with you. I constantly preach against sets for their potential to age the wearer, but people like them, so I make them. I like to think in some cases people simply like the color combinations or overall aesthetic, and want all the pieces, although they don’t plan to wear them all at once, which I actively discourage. One time I made a whole series of sets, thinking that clients would buy them as sets, only to have a client come and buy every single of pair earrings from all the sets, but not the matching pieces. Gotta love it.
Thank you H. I am with YOU too!
I have to agree with the L; in this crazy, chaotic world, it’s nice to have a little harmony — or matchy-matchy jewelry, as the case may be.
Of course my attitude is not surprising, considering I am Lydia’s client who buys sets. I have to say, I love my coordinating stones. Depending on my mood and outfit, sometimes I wear the pieces together and sometimes by themselves.
However, even when I don ring, necklace and earrings at once, I never feel as if it looks “old”. (And, if it does, I’ll blame my almost 50 year old body/face, not the rocks adorning it.)
Perhaps, I’ve never relegated matching to the aged because I’ve always liked to co-ordinate. I was drawn to upscale versions of Garaminals as a child. I wanted my mother & me to wear similar outfits. (She wisely resisted.)
Later, I recognized that the chicest women consistently pulled off eclectic looks. Still, even then I resisted the urge for risk because I realized I was basically a conservative person (EXCEPT politically) with a creative streak.
That’s why sets of Lydia’s sets suit me. They are quirky & imperfect enough that they never look “old lady”! Really, Queen Elizabeth is never going to wear a stalactite or ammonite around her neck. She’d dye her hair and get a face lift before she did that.
And, whose to say those extreme measures are not in my future? For now though, I’ll let my jewels make me feel like the more put-together version of myself.
Miz Kate: I should have had YOU write this post!
Aren’t you sweet! Thanks, Lydia. I always enjoy your posts so much — and of course I love your jewels! I just left a “positive” comment for the pretty, pretty earrings you made me.
Lydia K, you rock.
Janester