Sal.torialist 001: “Brooch-ing” the topic…
….To brooch or not to brooch, that is the question?!
Today is the day I have been waiting for, for a looooooooooonooong time now — finally I get to write about dressing up on a space like this, within the capacity of a long-form essay. Looking back to my younger days, I think what I really wanted, or inadvertently strived to become, was a magazine editor or creative director of sorts. I never drew, painted, or danced fervently, but I was always subconsciously curating, matching and, mixing everything I had. Be it combining thrifted finds (I have been persistently hunting down vintage stores and estate sales from as young as I can remember no matter which country I visit…) or trying to put together a make-believe “fashion editorial” magazine via the austere means of PowerPoint and my rookie, self-taught Photoshop skills, my head is always bubbling over with ideas like these. How to punctuate a monotonous, all-black ensemble with an accent, or how to layer in all forms and situations (PSA to my weather-watchers I got you covered — ♫♫ winter, spring, summer, or fallllll….all you gotta do is call ♫♫), or how to dress like a Miuccia girlie in spite owning zero Prada whatsoever. I’ve never been one for guides or didactic instruction — I’m never going to slap all these links to things I’ve recently purchased to urge you to do the same to “complete a look,” the same way I would not push for 4 anchovies instead of 2 or none at all (for all the anchovy dissidents — I know these people exist and IT! IS! OK!). So this column, while meant to be sartorial-leaning in nature, is also a space for me to share a different, long-standing passion of mine altogether. Dressing up, like cooking, is a very meditative routine for me daily. It’s probably one of the few moments of the day my brain can shut all other thoughts out in pursuit of finding some equilibrium and balance in putting together an outfit. I’ve written about this, albeit briefly, regarding the train of thought (the “push/pull, addition/subtraction, thesis/synthesis of the entire process”) that follows when I am staring at my closet and trying to ignite new life in once-abandoned pieces, just to cite an example. I think the equilibrium is achieved when I know the outfit has achieved all elements I need at the time and then I’m ready&revved to start my day a brand new person in an outfit that was arrived at via a “sum (or sometimes, subtraction) of the parts.” The point is, I’ve always taken so much pleasure in dressing up, and now that I get to write about it, and de-construct how and why I have chosen to wear something today (of all days) just makes me even more excited. So boy am I thrilled for this inaugural piece to kick it all off.
You might have guessed the subject matter we will be dealing with from that corny, poorly-coined title. You will start to realize that I don’t have the driest sense of humor, though I often make valiant attempts to crack one or two such jokes. Anyway, today we have landed on the topic of le brooch. My father and I have (for as long as I was a child trying to experiment with all sorts of outfits — a lot he was not fond of of due to the “over-accessorization”), always have ongoing discussions concerning design and personal style. He, being a professionally trained architect, leans more towards clean, sleek, minimal lines (to reduce it all too simply, but bear with me for this context). I, on the other hand, love the maximalism, pomp and all the ornamentation — bring on all the sequins, ruffles, lace please….! Anyway, we talked a few weeks ago over Northern Chinese food (his favorite lamb skewers!) about this, especially Adolf Loos’ vehement opposition to ornament, who lambasted the pernicious excesses of the Viennese Secession of the early 1900s (a movement I happen to adore, plus all the Art Deco permutations that happened). And I really have been thinking about this a lot in the context of dressing up and, the sartorial decisions I consciously (or perhaps, subconsciously) gravitate towards every day.
You see, I can’t remember a time where I never accessorized. My sister, Sonia often pulls out these ancient photos of six-year-old me always dressed up to the nines — in a faux lace A-line shift dress my grandmother sewed for me by hand, to the intentional choker (see above for choker, albeit paired unwillingly with a pink cheongsam…it must have been Lunar New Year at the time…) I had to wear on my neck.
The brooch, however, has been a relatively new fixation of mine. Every morning as a girl attending school, I grew up having having to pin a badge (I guess it’s a brooch of sorts…) to my sky-blue, belted school uniform….and this went on for ten years from ages 7 to 16. There were somewhat stringent rules around wearing this uniform (purely to instill routine, discipline and decorum which was often belabored in an all-girls’ school…), where forgetting about the badge would mean the accrual of some “demerit points”, which when accumulated, would land you in some sort of trouble, I guess. Obviously, I forgot it some mornings in my half-awoken stupor of trying to make my school bus’ 6.30am pick up time (gosh, I certainly have forgotten entirely about these pre-caffeine mornings). The point here is that after I graduated from this all-girls’ school after ten, consecutive years of affixing an enamel badge (bearing the school logo) on the left side, I stopped thinking about badges or brooches — much less accessorizing with them.
Instinctively, I’ve always dashed to jewelry and boy, have I cycled through the infinite phases of ornamentation and embellishment — from a million feathers on my skirt, to the chunkiest of silver chain bracelets, to none at all, really. These days I pride the accessorized outcome more on my mood and sentiment of the day. Some mornings I wake up wanting to wear my sequin-trimmed black jacquard skirt with my silk ruffle top (sounds like a big NO NO NO for the minimalists or Adolf Loos acolytes out there, huh?!) and other days I’m really far too lazy for any layers at all and just want to roll out of bed in an oversized shift dress I can throw on — nary a further thought. But one thing is for sure these days, I simply can’t abandon the accessories before walking out that door. Maybe it’s the baroque pearl necklace I DIY-ed, or the drop pearl dangly earrings I got at a little store in Essaouira, Morocco one December….I sometimes even wear up to three / four hand accessories on one wrist (usually my right hand) simultaneously. Nowadays, however, I’ve fallen back in love with the idea of Le Brooch. And this is most likely because it’s a conscious, active and highly intentional sartorial decision for embellishment on my part. Rather than being part of a strict adherence to the uniform I spoke of. As you can tell, I really don’t like following rules or order, but that’s another story for another time.
I’ve (re)discovered that brooches can be so fun! I don’t have a very massive brooch collection, but I’ve recently found different uses for them (++ delivering you some bonus, exclusive winter looks since I am now reporting to you live from Seoul) which has led me down a rabbit hole to hunt down more. In my mind, brooches are slightly different than the other jewelry I strap on daily in that it feels more like a seamless part of my ensemble and, an entrant to the conversation that is the outfit I have on today. Whether it be purely for ornamentation purposes, or some functional use in securing a scarf down, I find the brooch a somewhat more intentional and interesting addition to the dialogue when trying to forge some idea, or instill a certain flair (spoiler alert if you haven’t done the thing where you scroll right to the bottom of an article before you really finish but later you get to peep Sonia in a Victorian-looking brooch which is trying to convey this meaning) in a look. I view this in contrast to my modus operandi when it comes to accessorizing with jewelry, which in most occasions is somewhat routine (I need my pearl dosage somewhere, somehow…) wherein you often grab the same few rings and cuffs you wear on a daily basis.
The following, by no means, is meant to serve as a guide but here are some ways I have accessorized, intentionally, with my limited brooch collection of late:
#1: For practical reasons — tying a wool scarf (ft. bonus winter looks)
#2: For another logical situation — securely fastening a free-form throw/shawl situation that just won’t behave
#3: For a slight Victorian accent (ft. Sonia and a rogue Victorian lady)
#4: For some Modernist flair
#6: For a marriage between two separates (in this case to marry le vest and le tank top)
#6: For some dangly, movement-filled fun…or really just no rhyme or reason at all
#7: For a pop of red against a drab palette
#8: For the Calla Lily that will have an eternal life…and again worn with no rhyme or reason at all in true Ornamentalist fashion
Well folks, this marks the end of my first personal style dissertation / dispatch-style column. I may be back here tomorrow, the day after, or next week as your trusty weatherwoman delivering all the personal style sound bites but who knows which hat I choose to put on tomorrow — either way, a recipe or some style recaps await! Not quite the zero-sum game you imagined.
In the meantime, peep these two wonderful brooches (of which, the latter is frankly, unattainable) I am lusting after. If you text me frequently, you’ll know I tend to come with a deluge of “rec(ommendation)s” — and yay we have some brooches here today!
Former:
Latter:
Till next time,
Sarah