79 - Okay, let's talk about jewelry.

ripped tee shirt - boyfriend's, vest - vintage, shorts - wholesaledress.net, shoes - jeffrey campbell, bag - military surplus, headscarf - vintage (tied into knot), sunglasses - from ebay, jewelry - konstantino + diy + flea market + random

I realized recently that I never talk about my boyfriend on my blog. Now, usually that would be just fine -- it's a fashion blog, who cares about boyfriends, right? However, it is worth noting that roughly half of everything I wear comes from my boyfriend. He is my size (we are both very tiny), and he has impeccable taste and an addiction to vintage. This tee shirt, for example, is a very old, soft graphic tee that he wore to the bone. All of his tee shirts end up tattered and torn because he just wears them to pieces. How he managed to rip the sleeve is beyond me. I'd like to think that it was something terribly exciting, like a near-miss at a knife fight in a 7-11 parking lot. I'm sure it was something painfully boring, like "I walked into a sneaky low-hanging tree branch that caught the shirt and snagged it".

This information, prompted with a healthy number of requests, has prompted me to do a post about all of my jewelry, since a good chunk of it is really his anyway.  I was dreading doing this, as it is such an undertaking, but I just couldn't escape it any longer. So now, I present to you my jewelry collection, grouped by origin...

Boyfriend Jewelry

I call it his fancy lady jewelry, for when he wants to be a fancy lady. The LA letters are designed and made by him, in bronze, wood, and resin. Pretty sveet. This is only the portion of his jewelry that I wear regularly; he has gobs and gobs more, and his closet would make you sob tears of joy and incredulity. Seriously, whenever I'm like, "Gee, I wish I had a...", he disappears for a few minutes, then emerges with like twelve options of desired garment.

Work Jewelry

You probably know by now that I work for a designer jewelry company called Konstantino. These are my Konstantino pieces, and I am just wild about them. Everything above is sterling silver & 18k gold, with some pieces in turquoise, rhodolite garnet, and black onyx.

Handmade Jewelry

All of the chain pieces on the left were constructed by me. I use the term "constructed" loosely here, because really it's just me with bits of loose chain and jewelry pliers, affixing random trinkets onto things. Thrown in the mix there is a Japanese coin that my dear friend Brian brought back for me when his band was on tour there, a tiny pair of scissors that Brian found at a flea market, and a green miniature pocket knife that my mother bought for me in Montana. The pieces on the right were all made by my Great Great Aunt Fran, a wonderfully wacky woman who liked to craft jewelry and pillows and kooky little dolls.

 Flea Market Jewelry

This is all of my flea market/Santee Alley jewelry -- egad, right? These are some of my favorite pieces, if you're ever in LA, send me an email and I will tell you where all of the best jewelry vendors are at the Melrose Trading Post flea market. All of the rings were between $5 and $10, save for the five-stone sterling silver & coral ring, which was $40.

Hand-me-down Jewelry

All of this jewelry was originally a relative's. My great grandmother was a fashion model, and when she passed away, I received most of her costume jewelry.

Vintage Purchases

Right when I finished taking pictures, I found a hunk of other vintage jewelry and I am so disappointed that I didn't photograph it! C'est la vie. Anyway, the above is all secondhand jewelry that I have purchased at non-flea market places, either from shops or eBay.

Gifted Jewelry

These pieces were all gifts from someone! The etched sterling silver bracelet has a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote on it, and it was a gift from my mother when I graduated from high school.

Regular Ol' Purchases, New Jewelry

And here is the last grouping, jewelry that was purchased new from regular ol' shops like Forever 21, J. Crew, costume shops, and little boutiques.