Jewelry Shopping Trip

I've made absolutely no secret about how much I love accessories.  They're fun, always fit no matter how tight your pants might feel after that giant burger and cheese fries you just had for lunch, and such a fast and easy way to totally change up an outfit.  I probably get my love of accessories from my dear Aunt Tone, and I'm actually reminded of a good accessory story.  My mom and my aunts went to Ireland about 10 years back.  I guess Aunt Tone packed all the wrong season of clothes (too hot or too cold - knowing Ireland, probably too cold) so she ended up with only one outfit that she could actually wear for the entire trip.  Fortunately she had enough accessories with her that she could actually pull off wearing the same thing everyday.  The moral of the story is that accessories are great for stretching one piece to create several different looks.

Today while walking home from my lunch date with a girlfriend (and aforementioned giant burger and cheese fries, mmm) I decided to stop at my neighborhood accessory shop.  Embellish is literally right around the corner from my apartment.  It moved into the neighborhood at the same time that my fella and I did, and I'm pretty sure I love the store and its super-cool owner more and more every time I go in there.  Sadly it's not too often since I can't afford things like $40 earrings or $90 necklaces too often.  So whenever I do go to Embellish, it's for something special.  Although I do window shop there just about everyday while walking my dog, and when they're actually open (as opposed to during our 6am walks), Jude loves stopping there for a treat.

I stopped in today to get some ideas for how to accessorize a certain black, satiny dress hanging on my closet door.  I didn't really intend to buy anything, but I'm clearly incapable of leaving that store empty-handed.  After spending about a half an hour looking at every piece in the store and trying on at least 5 pairs of earrings, here's what I came home with.

These recycled aluminum earrings made by New York-based Jillery.  At $52, they're probably the most expensive pair of earrings I've ever bought myself, but Embellish's lovely owner gave me a 20% discount and they're so pretty that I guess I don't mind having spent the money.  I mean they're recycled - that's something, right?  And they're super-versatile.  They look great with my dress, but being both silver and gold, I can pair them with just about anything.  Exciting.

In the vein of jewelry from Embellish that's made in New York (although she does carry a lot of great Chicago artists like K-Amato, Roulette 18 and Stylish Girl), I thought Rad_in_Brooklyn might be especially interested in another piece I have.  Here is a necklace that I got for a gift this Christmas.

Today the store owner told me the story of these necklaces.  They're made by a Brooklyn-based designer named Bora (who I had a really hard time tracking down with Google... I hope this is the right Bora).  He has two cousins in Turkey who hand-paint the ceramics and then send them to Bora.  Bora then does the metalwork.  He doesn't have a store or much of a formal website, and Embellish prefers to buy pieces from him in person while in New York.  So needless to say, they usually fly out of the store.  I first had my eye on one last May and finally got it for Christmas, and it was well worth the wait.