I know, I know, the line usually goes something like “not your grandmother’s
pearls” – but in thinking about jewelry, I believe there comes a time in our
lives when we move out of the disposable jewelry and clothing category and step
up to the investment clothing and real jewelry category. I’m not saying that we
limit ourselves to just wearing precious stones and own just one or two pieces
that we wear every single day; but I do think that, as women, we want to not only
make a statement with our jewelry – we also want to leave the right lasting
impression with it all.
At some point in my life I decided that the impression I
wanted to leave behind was not being just part of the herd wearing
cookie-cutter looks in both my clothing and my jewelry. I’m not sure when the
switch from wanting to wear something because my friends all wore it to wanting
my clothes and my jewelry to paint a picture of uniqueness came along. Maybe
ten or so? I know I was a bit younger than most – just because I was so lucky
to have clothes that never came off the rack. I’ve prattled on about that many
times so won’t put you into a snooze by going into the details again. What I
will say though is that my collectors, whose ages run the gamut, love having their
individual and unique styles; and that, I’ve been told, is why they keep adding
pieces from my designs to their personal jewelry collections and when gifting it to their friends.
While it would be far more cost-effective for me to produce
hundreds of the same design – to date, it just doesn’t work that way with me. As
someone who hyperventilates when I walk into a retail store that has hundreds
of the same item proudly displayed on the walls, racks and tables, the thought
of seeing hundreds of my designs lined up might cause me to flip into major
anxiety mode. I know, I may be shooting myself in the foot with it all…but,
while I’ve been invited to go the mega-mass production and merchandising path a
couple times over the years…I have always politely said thanks so much for
asking…but no. (Not going to lie…I did explore the opportunities before nicely turning
them down! After all, along with being a rockhound and jewelry designer, I am a
business woman with the ol' MBA. Who knew? Maybe someday there will be a very small chain of boutiques who carry my jewelry? Time will tell and I promise you'll hear it here first.)
So all of this brings me back around to my original thought
– when stepping into the conference room would you want to be wearing the same
ten dollar fast-fashion necklace your twelve-year old daughter is wearing as
she steps into the classroom on her first day of middle school? I know, we wish
it wasn’t so but research shows it does happen – when meeting someone new, we
are judged in the first few seconds before we actually get to say a word. Knowing
that…isn’t it more fun to feel unique and confident in your overall style? A
bit of an energy boost without a triple espresso, no? While we know there is much more to us than how we look and what we wear – the way we choose to put our personal look together does say a lot about who we really
are, doesn’t it?
P.S. I’d love to know what you do to tweak your
style in order to denote the strong and fashionable woman you are. For me, I
have always loved lots of bracelets, usually on one arm, piled high, quite bold
and a bit noisy. Not surprisingly, I have been told on more than one occasion over the years that my jewelry was the first thing people noticed when they met me for the first time. My jewelry has become my calling card of sorts. Yours?
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