Outfit for a Thursday: Brooch Engineering

I have owned this thick black shawl-collared jacket-like cardigan from Banana Republic for ages, though, never had worn it as regularly as the simple and timeless style warrants because the button enclosures were a bit loose and, invariably, after a few minutes the cardigan would be draping agape, forlorn and dejected. Throughout a busy, long day, certainly many clothing pieces have to be slightly readjusted, for either comfort or function or aesthetics; spending a predominance of the day re-buttoning, however, is not pleasant. Embarrassingly, it took me a few seasons before I came to this subtle and brilliant epiphany: use a brooch to keep the jacket closed. Easy adoption and absorption of engineering principles mostly runs through the veins of my family, though, I suppose runs more vigorously within my siblings than within myself.

This delicately ornate golden flower brooch was a surprise gift from a friend of mine at university; we lived together in a suite of five girls during our sophomore year. She was an interior design student, whose fastidious and glamorous and seemingly effortless style, at once condescending and accessible, I had always admired. So, when she placed in my room a few brooches she no longer wore, I was ecstatic and grateful. Amidst my mountains of costume jewelry, certain individual pieces, particularly those I have had for longer, are neglected. This is definitely one of them. Now, with my innovative solution for my superficial sartorial woe, I will be displaying this flower more frequently.

Prone to wearing an amalgamation of rather neutral colors, I paired the black cardigan with a bronzed brown skirt, with just a hint of gold thread embedded throughout. I also chose these bronze-gold rhinestone earrings, also rather intricate in their make, and a bit evocative of the voluptuous folds of flower petals. One of the pair is missing a single rhinestone; I wear them anyway, without care. There is probably a metaphor embedded in here, encapsulating my personality: glittering, complex, but missing a single rhinestone.


Saturday morning coffee soundtrack: Symphony Number 4 Johann Brahms