Winter White Pearls

Beads, vintage bright bits of gold, rhinestone, opalescent pearl, overrun my bedroom, most surfaces conquered, each tiny jewelry box crammed with a touch of sparkle. It is the plight of a costume jewelry collector. Naturally, this makes selecting accessories each morning a bit of a challenge, one that, when accepted without caffeinated reinforcements, can be exceedingly time consuming. There are perennial favorites, bangles or earrings that are worn at least once a week. And there are those, in some cases literal, forgotten gems, stowed away somewhere, out of sight within a specific drawer, cached behind another bauble, and certainly out of mind. These treasures, when unearthed, months, sometimes years since last being displayed, receive a gasp of delight. If they do not fit into whatever clothes cover my nakedness, a new look is constructed. The abandoned piece donned.

For often arbitrary reasons, loosely grounded in some aesthetic rationale, some pieces I have deemed for winter wear only, some for summer. This particular long, double strand of vintage costume pearls and crystal beads, a delightful find from last winter, have been relegated to icy, chilly, frigid times only. Often, I pair them with a sleek, monochromatic black look: a black cowl sweater, a simple black shift, a favorite cashmere sweater in black. Lately, I have been wearing this necklace with creams, heather grays, and winter white.