A couple of years ago, I picked up a hardback copy of a book by Elizabeth Taylor called My Love Affair with Jewelry in the clearance aisle at Barnes and Noble. It was twenty bucks, but I just had to have it after leafing through the pages. The book is basically a catalog of all of her jewelry and the incredible stories behind each piece. I have read through it so many times, culling ideas for inspiration, that the binding has fallen apart. Any thoughts of replacing the book vanished when I found out that it was out of print and that Amazon had used copies starting at $175 (WTW!). So, my tattered copy is always within reach of my art books, and I've been looking through it more since the recent auction of her jewels at Christie's.
A few days ago, I was lucky enough to stumble upon some incredible vintage pieces at a local thrift store that instantly brought to my mind Taylor's movie Cleopatra. Take an extraordinary historical figure, add some insanely glamorous Kohl eyeliner, violet eyes, a turbulent love story behind the scenes, and some breathtaking jewelry, and you have one great source of fashion inspiration. One piece is an incredible Art Deco buckle, done in the Egyptian Revival style. Even though it will look beautiful on a simple leather belt, I have several antique buckles that I wear as pendants and bracelets, and I think this one will look pretty incredible as a statement piece.
The other piece is this necklace that doesn't seem as old as the buckle, but it is still clearly vintage. I love snakes, and this piece reminds me of the famous headpiece worn by Taylor in the movie. The snake details are very subtle and not quite as over the top as the buckle, but I love that there's a slightly exotic, Egyptian feel to it nonetheless.
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| The inspiration |
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