1925 diamond, onyx, and platinum bar pin, $13,995.00

A pin is a simple way to change the look of the most basic outfit. Pins or brooches are timeless and classic, but not always easy to find; right now, bangle bracelets are all the rage, which makes a really cool pin even more of a find.

That’s not to say, though, that finding a great brooch is impossible — you just have to know where to look. I have a soft spot for vintage pins, both because the craftsmanship on older pieces of jewelery is often far better than what you find today, and because an antique or vintage piece will certainly be one-of-a-kind, at least in my circle of friends. Keep in mind that vintage and estate and antique can mean very different things; vintage and antique are often used interchangeably to refer to pieces manufactured 20 or more years ago (a pin made in the 1980s is thus “vintage”). Vintage can also be used to reference a specific time period (Victorian or Art Deco for example). Pieces that are dramatically older than the 20 year mark (say from the early 1900s) may be referred to as antique rather than vintage. Estate jewelery, on the other hand, is pieces that were previously owned; some estate jewelery may be very old, while other pieces may be recent.

Pricing for vintage pieces depends on several factors: age, materials, and manufacturer. Pieces like the brooch pictured above will be out of reach for most of us, because of the price. The good news, though, is that cool vintage and vintage reproduction pieces are available at all price points.

Although I must confess that I am in love with that bar pin. Truly and deeply.
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I love jewelry; I love how easy it is to take a basic jeans-and-tee outfit and dress it up with the right pieces. But it is also easy to fall into a rut with your jewelry. Ever notice how every time you get dressed up, you put on the same earrings and necklace?

Next time you go somewhere, try something different. Try adding a pin. You heard me! PIN. Brooch. Something sparkly and shiny and exotic.

It’s easy.
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I was recently telling my neighbor about my whole socks-are-against-my-religion thing (on a day when the temperature dropped I swear to you TEN DEGREES while we stood in her driveway) and she was coming up with all sorts of great solutions for me (because I was wearing a dress and no tights and was moaning about how COLD I was) (although in my defense the temperature went from the low 60s to the low 30s in about three hours that day so bare legs were SORT OF appropriate, for a little while at least).

Where was I? Oh right — what to wear if you don’t want to wear socks.
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I wear glasses — more specifically, I wear a pair of glasses that I bought in 1997, and occasionally another pair from 1999. Mostly, though, I wear contacts, because I really desperately need new glasses but I can’t bring myself to spend the money on the frames. And because my kids both wear glasses and good lord are little kid glasses EXPENSIVE.

Recently, though, the very pretty Mir introduced me to Zenni optical, where I have frittered away a substantial portion of the past couple of days looking at frames FOR UNDER $20.00! I don’t even know how that is possible, but there it is. You can read Mir’s full review of her new Zenni glasses at WantNot, and then you can fritter away YOUR day looking at totally cool frames for UNDER TWENTY DOLLARS.

Dude.
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I love handbags; I love them even more than I love shoes, if that is possible. A bag is a terrific place to test out bold color or texture. A bag is an easy, and inexpensive, way to change your entire look. And no matter how much bean dip you ate during the holidays, your bag still fits come January.

Work It, Mom! loves bags, too, and they have paired up with the lovely people at CareerBags.com to give one lucky winner a BRAND NEW bag, suitable for work and weekends. To enter, join the Career Bags group at Work It, Mom! and upload a photo of your bag.

Complete rules and all the Fine Print can be found here.

Come for the contest, stay for the contents of my handbag!

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Because it is Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for ALL of you, with your witty comments and your lovely work clothes and your terrific shoes, I want to share this with you: Steve Madden has a Design Your Own Collection option.

You heard me: DESIGN YOUR OWN SHOES. You’re welcome!
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I am so glad you posted about finding the right bag for your shape. I had just been thinking of bags but I had a different question about them. I am trying to find the universal bag. The bag that goes with absolutely everything, that is nice enough for work but casual enough for the weekend. The biggest dilemma I have is what color to get. I have a ton of black bags and a few brown ones and then some random colors (mostly orange). But I always find myself changing bags whenever I change jackets or my clothes have a specific color scheme.

Can you please tell me what color bag to get? Would it be ok to get a nice bag in a color like orange or green or should it be a basic like black or tan?

Or are we all just relegated to having to constantly switch bags?

Nadia

Oooooh, good question. I’ll bet Nadia isn’t the only one wondering about this. How many of you are carrying a basic brown or black bag all the time because you’re not sure how to make a colored bag work?

I thought so.
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I love handbags. I could stop shopping completely if it weren’t for handbags. I have wee little evening bags and gigantic tote bags; I have bags in suede and leather and canvas and nylon and silk. I have an exquisite beaded bag, and a crazy Vera Bradley paisley bag.

I love bags.

The secret to a really successful handbag, especially for the office, is to choose one that can hold all your stuff AND that is the right size and shape for YOUR size and shape.

Let’s start with the stuff that needs to go inside.
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I know it can be hard to imagine what certain pieces look like together only from the description, so when Kelly asked for pictures of various accessory options, it seemed like a good idea. I dug around in my closet and came up with a few things that I really wear (all of which, oddly enough, are from either Ann Taylor or Ann Taylor Loft).

I’ve stuck with necklaces, both because a necklace has the biggest impact in an outfit and because a necklace is the easiest thing to wear. It won’t get in the way when you are on the phone or talking with clients, it’s not noisy, and you don’t have to take it off to work on the computer. I also like a necklace because you can find both mass produced and one-of-a-kind pieces at a variety of price points; Target carries some great necklaces, and craft stores and art galleries will often have original pieces with low price tags.

Let’s look at four options — tee with a lightweight necklace, tee with a bulkier necklace, dressy jacket with artsy necklace, and tee with pearls — and talk about how to make each look work for you.
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So you got up this morning and you put on your Uniform, the outfit that will carry you from carpool drop off to a meeting with a client to lunch with your boss to a two hour conference call in a FREEZING cold office, back to carpool and on to a playdate at the park and then out for dinner because it’s Friday and no one cooks on Friday night.

Right?

And at some point during your day, you have looked in the mirror and thought, meh. Because often that Go To outfit, that Uniform, the one you don’t have to think too hard about because you know it’s appropriate and comfortable, is kind of … well, kind of boring.

Right???

Let’s talk about accessories — specifically, jewelry. Because one well-chosen bit of bling can take that Uniform from boring to brilliant, without any extra effort in the morning.
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