Amulets and Breastplates

A few months ago, before I went into yellow alert budget crackdown mode (sorry NYC retailers, it had to be done), I bought a necklace from one of my favorite shops, Diana Broussard. They have amazing things, if you haven't been there, but what I like best and think are most unique are their massive necklaces that (almost) could act as shirts. When you put them on, you feel protected, almost as if you're wearing an aegis or breastplate (sans Medusa head). A new kind of power dressing!! Good for dealing with these rough workdays on Wall Street now.

Most of my favorite pieces of jewelry are my favorites because of their meaning - and I feel like that meaning gives the piece a sort of power, like an amulet. The two rings I wear every day (one of which was a 16th birthday gift and the other I bought when traveling on my own in Australia before moving back to NYC from Europe) remind me of different stages in my becoming an independent adult. Other pieces remind me of people I love and times I have spent with them.

Some of them have wonderful stories that I feel are kept alive by wearing them. My grandmother gave me a needlepoint brooch from my grandfather's Aunt Mary, who wasn't really his aunt, but who raised him while he went to school in Buedingen and almost adopted him. I visited her when I was 3 and she was no longer living in the big house, but was moved to a smaller cottage. She was a bit embarrassed that she was in the smaller house and was really too old to take care of the lawn, which was overgrown with weeds. According to my grandmother, though, 3-year old me thought the masses of dandelions and wildflowers were absolutely beautiful and told Aunt Mary, who always had a soft spot for me after that. Now I have a soft spot for the brooch as I really only remember Aunt Mary through that story. (It's the brooch in the photo; the blue necklace is from Diana Broussard, and the green Kia Ora jade heart is also from my grandmother and has its own story.)