Today we are combining two old things — one very old, one only a few years old — with something new for a very ladylike ensemble. Such a lady!
This dress predates this blog by several years. I’ve shown it previously with a black jacket, white blouse, and tall boots for a professional look. A look that also calls to mind our favorite religious dynasty. . . The Mathers.
This blouse actually features a large pussy bow, but I did not want the bow to compete with the Star Attraction, so I tucked the ties inside the collar of the blouse. You’ve seen the bow here and here.
I think you can probably understand that the whole point of this outfit is the Star Attraction: my birthday brooch by Allison Hilton Jones.
I saw Allison’s imaginative, lively pieces at the Smithsonian Craft-2-Wear show in October and ordered a piece as a special present to myself for turning 50.
Side note re dress: In previous posts, I have not worn this dress belted. But after last summer’s revelation (I can add a belt to a dress that is decorated with vertical and horizontal piping), creating a little more definition at the waist seemed like a good idea.
When I told Allison that I wanted to go with white concrete — most of her pieces are made with grey concrete — she expressed some reservations. I persisted because I had an idea fixed in my mind: that white would really pop against all of my dark winter clothes.
And what additional color did I select to pop against white and dark colors? Yellow-orange!
My vision has been materialized!
I think the white pops wonderfully against the black dress. But, as always, you are the jury.
You will need to come closer to appreciate the subtlety of this piece. It’s both obvious and subtle.
The concrete is not perfectly, uniformly white. It has some flecks of grey in it.
Allison pours the concrete into a silver frame, allows it to cure, and then sands and polishes it until it’s as smooth as glass.
The concrete is not perfectly, uniformly white. It has some flecks of grey in it.
Allison pours the concrete into a silver frame, allows it to cure, and then sands and polishes it until it’s as smooth as glass.
I don’t usually show full-size photos, but this brooch is so special that I believe it deserves full screen coverage.
Note that the exterior felt ball is on a curved stem. The stem was supposed to be straight, but got a little bent in shipping. I could easily straighten it — it’s malleable — but I’ve decided I like the curve.
Best of all, this brooch is attached to my dress with four tiny, but very strong, magnets. The perfect solution — Why has this not been the law for years? — to prevent a brooch from stressing (or even tearing) your clothes. This is Allison’s innovation and it is pure genius.
Question, Dear Readers: Something has gone kaflooey in the relationship between this blog (or possibly WordPress) and Google Chrome. When I look at these posts using Chrome as my browser, all photos are full screen and there is no text running alongside them. Photos that I arranged side-by-side do not appear side-by-side. All of my careful WordPress column formatting is gone! But my posts do look correct when I access the site through Internet Explorer. Has any other Chrome user observed a change in the formatting?
* “The Officer” is a Starfleet officer, of course.
Dress: Theory; Blouse: Michael Kors; Shoes: Fratelli Rossetti; Bag: Coach; Brooch: Q Brooch by Allison Hilton Jones
Another cheer for Allison Hilton Jones! And thanks (??) for this very dangerous post that makes me think I might need another piece…
Magnets are genius! I have beautiful brooches that I don’t wear as often as I’d like for fear of damaging my clothes.
K (and other readers) you can convert your brooches to magnet closure – MagnaPin is the name brand product but there are probably alternatives.
This is BLOWING MY MIND. MagnaPin could change everything . . . Thank you, Molly!
Also, why didn’t I invent MagnaPin?
Everything looks as usual in Chrome on my end, and that brooch is really something special! I have one standalone a magnet attachment to use with brooches but it doesn’t fit all pins – making the brooch with magnets included is brilliant.
Star piece-makes the outfit!
All looks well for this Chrome user. The first 5 photos alternate sides (with text in the other column), followed by the 3 close-ups that are indeed larger, with text underneath.
I LOVE magnet attachments. I encountered them first at a networking event for name tags. So much nicer than the clip style, which are awkward at best and near-impossible if you’re not wearing a jacket with lapels!
Wow, wish I could edit the above. No, I did not attend a networking event in which name tags were seeking to make professional connections.
I love your original syntax! I have attended conferences at which I felt the name tags were more successfully making connections than I was.
Fantastic brooch. I am viewing in Chrome and all is well.
Magnet attachments are indeed genius. I wish brooch designers would adopt them. Love the brooch. Your blog posting is appearing correctly in both Chrome & Safari.
Dear, the site looks fine to me in Chrome as well. I think maybe it’s just that Chrome on your computer needs to be reinstalled. I’ll do that for you tonight.
To readers: the brooch feels as cool as it looks. I was *really* surprised to learn it was made of concrete. Concrete jewelry!? But that’s The Directrice, always surprising us.
I love, love this pin
Nice birthday present! I agree about the bend. The last thing you want is to be bending the thing around and have it snap off. I think the pussy bow tie hack was a great idea. The magnet idea is clever, but I wouldn’t wear it to an airport. It would certainly beep when going through security.
The blog looks the same to me in Chrome as in Explorer, or MS Edge. Some photos have text along side them, others are the full screen size. None have two photos side by side.
I am looking at this brooch and loving it! And I am looking at this blog on Chrome and there is no writing to the side of any photo. The photos take up the whole shebang and the writing is above and below them. Maybe The Photographer needs to reinstall my Chrome, too.
For what it’s worth, I did not receive my usual Directrice post via email. I happened to google you to see if you’d written anything new, and you had. It didn’t come to my inbox automatically yesterday.
Hi Hope, that is odd. You’re still listed as being on the mailing list, but the last mailing you got was on Jan 19th. When the next mailing goes out, we will check to see if your name is on the list as it should be.
Thank you!
Check your spam/junk folder, too, Hope. Directrice emails sometimes land there (and need to be liberated) even though you may regularly open my emails and AI ought to be able to tell that this blog is SOLID GOLD .
I thought ‘golden wattles
in spaaace’ when I saw your lovely brooch. I have tried to copy you and your readers a picture of our Australian blossoms in my comment here, but can’t seem to get that to happen (the Photographer could probably make that work). The flowers are little bright yellow pom poms.
Fascinating solution to fastening. Love the ingenuity