Brooch love

It occured to me the other day, while rummaging through my jewellery drawer (I actually need an entire drawer, in addition to the 4 boxes I have to house the larger, more fragile peices) just how many brooches I own. Even though I already have more than I can count, I am drawn to them like little treasures and have an inability to resist buying more. At any given time I have several pinned to blazer lapels, tshirt collars, hanging off necklaces, or arranged beside candles and mini eiffel towers on any bare surface in my house (I’m a complete hypocrite for telling the clever boyfriend to clean up his piles of books and journals, when I myself leave enormous trails of brooches, necklaces and shoes all over the place). I love that each one has a little story of it’s own – I buy them at special times and in special places, and if vintage, I like to imagine where they have been before they came to me. And somehow they make every outfit feel a little more like ‘me’.

I have a particular weakness for vintage silk floral corsage brooches, whimsical gold numbers (found trawling through market stalls, tiny antique shops, my mother’s old jewelry boxes or ebay), and Chanel’s seasonal releases (it takes all my willpower, when peeking into their jewel trays each season, to resist buying every single one).

Some of my favourites: black beaded corsage (gift from a friend), camellia and pearl encrusted logo (both purchased from Rue Cambon), and a vintage tiny no.5 bottle – all Chanel

Vintage silvery gold branch (gift from LBF), giant Louis Vuitton ‘love’ brooch (which I obsessed over for weeks and then found in the LV Shibuya store on a trip to Japan), vintage oversized pink corsage (which always makes me smile when I pull it out every Spring, without fail), cream and silver sequined flower, and an antique rhinestone starburst from an aristocrat’s estate sale.

Is there a particular item you’re unable to resist and keep buying over and over again?

Love, Miss B xx