I don’t remember the year, but I have this childhood memory of my mom getting a brooch from some relative for Christmas. The thing was just ugly. A jumble of beads and ribbon, a lot of pink and primary colors, and two tiny theater masks had been glued onto the monstrosity. She loathed it, and there and then is when I gave up the institution of the brooch. I left cameos and pins out of it, and I never wore a brooch.
Until now.
This summer I inherited a lot jewelry from a relative (not the one who had given my mom the awful brooch!), and became the skeptical yet curious owner of a handful of lovely vintage brooches — something I had long avoided learning how to wear. After some searching the internet and keeping my eyes peeled, I found a thousand ways girls like me have creatively worn their brooches.
The History of the Brooch:
Brooches (or broaches) have been around since ancient history. The Romans would secure their cloaks and clothes with them (togas, anyone?), calling them fibula. (The fibula’s descendant is, you guessed it, the safety pin.) Think Roman, bejeweled Vivienne Westwood.
Today, brooches are excavated in archaelogical digs across the planet, and although they are one of the best indicators the particular date of an ancient find, a brooch from 1,000 years ago wouldn’t be all that out of place on a cute sweater today. Seriously.
A Brooch’s Bottom Line:
Brooches are all about combining function and beauty. If you have to pin something together, down, across, or up, why not use a beautiful jewel to do it?
Below are two lists. One suggests uses for a brooch that combine both function and beauty — the traditional usage of a brooch, shall we say. The second list is uses of a brooch that are purely for aesthetic value, no function required.
Let’s get on with it!
Functional:
- Nip a blazer in
- Hold a sweater shut
- Use as a clasp for a ribbon belt
- Wrap a winter scarf around your neck and secure with a brooch
- Slip on a silk head scarf and pin in place at the back
- Take a long thin nice scarf and throw one end over the shoulder and secure where the pieces intersect with a pin
- Make a layered ribbon bracelet and secure it with a brooch
- Place front and center, to secure the neckline of a wrap dress or shirt.
Decorative:
- Pin on the side of a turtle neck
- Top a hat with an outrageous decoration to make even Robin Hood jealous
- Spruce up the lapel of a blazer
- Use a cluster of pins to make a lapel where a lapel would be
- Secure it on a necklace of several strands of pearls or beads
- Put a brooch, and perhaps a few more, on the straps of a bag
- Attract all eyes to the neckline of your favorite winter wool dress
- Attach to a headband, off to one side
- Pin the collar of a cowl neck sweater in place.
A Few Last Tips:
I was raised in the South, and while I imagine a progressive woman can wear a brooch on whichever side of her body she chooses, I wear them on the left. It’s proper, traditional etiquette.
And one more thing: Maybe instead of always trying to “hide the safety pin,” we could all try a brooch once in a while. If you don’t feel think the brooch is strong enough to hold something in place, use safety pins, and then cover the metal evidence with a brooch.
As for a vintage brooch that by some happy circumstance has come into your possession with matching earrings, it’s crucial to style them right to avoid looking “dowdy.” My solution has been to tone down my outfit’s complexity — say, basic black pants and a purple cowl neck sweater — but make my hair and overall aesthetic a little more professional punk rocker. Like a high pony tail with a teased-up bump in the front. It’s as close as you can get to a faux hawk in the office!