My kind of vintage

I miss my grandmother. She had an extraordinary beauty both inside and out. She was kind, charitable, polite and had a wicked sense of humor. She was very beautiful and had a chic style.  The first thing to come to mind when remembering my grandmother’s style was her scarves. She always wore a scarf when she left the house. Though she had brooches in her jewelry chest, she pinned every single one of her scarves with a pearl head straight pin. Her scarves ranged from long to short, colorful to neutral, silks to polyester and solids to prints.

She has been gone a little over a year now, but her scarves still have the scent of her favorite perfume on them. I will wear these scarves from time to time, but I have yet to master the look such as she did.

My grandmother’s jewelry armoire was a treasure chest. My mother and sisters and I went through it after she was gone and had the best time playing “dress up.” My grandmother had plenty of luxurious items, but her armoire consisted mostly of costume jewelry. Plenty of pearls (she mixed her real set with her faux), gold chokers, crystals, long beaded necklaces, charms, bangles, chunky silver jewelry, rhinestones and more.

When looking at her jewelry or wearing it, I try to remember each piece on her. Whether it is a real memory or my imagination, she wore her jewelry with panache.

Her closet consisted of a little bit of everything. Over the years, her closet has seen a variety of fabrics such as denim, jersey and silk and styles such as embellished jackets, fur and printed blouses and colors such as neutrals, jewel tones and pastels. I do not recollect one specific style over the years; her fashion sense concentrated around classic staples with “at the moment” trends to add flair.

She understood fashion trends. She and I would discuss trends we would see in some of our fashion magazines, mainly Vogue or W but also Elle or Harper’s Bazaar as well. We would talk about what we loved, hated, who in the world would wear such things, and anytime she ran across a fabulous pair of shoes in a magazine, she would mark the page so I could see it and we could discuss footwear trends as well.

She taught me a lot, not only about style but also life in general. I miss her like crazy, but I know she lives on in memory, photographs and of course, her fashion.