Black & White: Purist or Out of the Box?

Curious…when it comes to wearing black and white, are you a purist and strictly keep it to black and white or are you a “step out of the box” kind of gal? The spectator look, as it came to be called in the 30s and 40s, always looks sharp to me. And for those of you who are thinking that I am really old…no, I wasn’t around in the 30s and while I was here in the late 40s I was way too young to be paying attention to fashion yet. So, yes, I am old…just not that old yet! However, I love watching classic movies from that time – mostly for the jewelry and the fashion. The tailoring and the fit was always superb in the clothes and the jewelry…well, there simply aren’t words.


When I was working on this series of black and white bracelets I was tempted to add just a touch of color to each one. But, I decided to take the purist route and stay with the two-color combo and frost each look with clear crystal quartz gemstones that glisten like melting ice. Glad I made that choice…it turns out I love all the pieces. The contrast of the strictness of the black and white beads juxtaposed with the naturalness of the genuine crystal quartz stones is interesting and fun. In addition, these laminated beads have a very vintage look – taking their inspiration from Bakelite and other “plastic” jewelry. In junior high school, I fiddled a lot with resin and plastics – layering and cutting shapes using my dad’s huge band saw. (Now that's a normal 12-year old kid activity, right?) I was always intrigued by the material and the process of molding and shaping it into something unexpected. I wish I had kept some of the final pieces from back then…but, honestly, how in the world can one save everything without being recruited by the production staff of “Hoarders?” It’s just not possible.

So, I guess I save the memories and when I come across bits and bobs that jiggle my memory, I bring them into the studio and see what happens. I am really happy with this series and I am thinking there may be other “spectator-inspired” looks in the not-so-distant future. I’m scouting for components as we speak, so keep a lookout for those to hit the site/shop early next year. Meanwhile, I hope you love these classic black and white spectator-inspired designs and as always I would love to see pix of how you style your pieces when you get them home. Facebook, twitter, instagram using #tanyalochridge and share, share, share. This big world has become so small in so many fun ways hasn’t it?