How To Wear Estate Jewelry or Not Your Grandmother's Pearls

Pearls, as we all know come in a variety of sizes.
So...what is the correct size to wear?

Our favorite pearl expert at  Passage des Perles blog addressed this question today
She likes her classic pearl strand in size 9 mm and larger,
and agree with her that larger sizes are appropriate for women of a certain age
like me.

I like all pearls, the classic single, double and triple strands as well as opera length.
Who doesn't?
Some my find them boring, but I don't.
But that's not to say that I don't also adore pearls used in edgier more contemporary jewelry designs
such as this Tahitian Pearl negligee pendant necklace

Here's the close up

The necklace is designed with faceted fancy colored diamond beads from which two large Tahitian pearl drops (16 mm), hang unevenly and thus the name negligee...as if this was the base of a bow tied loosely.

Totally wearable or over the top...

What do you think?

September Stories and Garden Galas

Over the summer I like to take a break from serious reading.
What about you?

Here are some of the books that I've read in the last month.

The George R.R. Martin series starting with the Game of Thrones.
If you like an epic story with political intrigue among competing clans, characters with unbridled ambition who are willing to destroy all in their paths in their lust for power, kind of like Washington D.C., these books are for you.
Consider them to be a sort of a Lord of the Rings type fantasy, except darker, much darker.
Jill, has read these books too and she's as anxious as I am for the final book to be released.

The 19th Wife, is the story of Eliza Young, the apostate renegade wife of Brigham Young who publicly denounces polygamy, cleverly interwoven with a murder mystery involving a contemporary 19th wife of Fundamentalist LDS cult member.  Ebershoff combines the development of Mormonism in 19th Century with the cult's bizarre behavior in the 21st Century. Of particular interest to me was the history of "hand cart" migration of European immigrants.  Their treatment was deplorable.

If you enjoy well written historical fiction you will like Cleopatra's Daughter.  Did you know that Roman women worried about stretch marks from pregnancy?  I didn't either.

I'm a huge fan of the New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva.  He writes amazing international thrillers centered on a main character who is an artist and art restorer.  I recently finished The Rembrandt Affair and Portrait of a Spy. If you like thrillers, I highly recommend these books, but start from the beginning of the series because the story and the characters evolve with each new book.

When not reading it's been all fancy pants parties and soirees for me.

Well not really but I was happy to attend the 100 anniversary gala for the Friends of Virginia Robinson Gardens.  It was a beautiful event held in the gardens of Viginia Robinson's home, the first estate built in Beverly Hills in 1911.

Look how pretty the tables were under the lights suspended above the lawn.  And I loved the way that pink shawls were provided for all the ladies because it was a little chilly after the sun went down.

The guests were treated to a water ballet as pre-dinner entertainment which I thought was charming until the silk chiffon of  the hem of my dress sopped up water left by the swimmers on the brick path next to the pool. Luckily, no permanent damage was done, because I really loved my dress.

You might think that my gown was a little too 'mother of the bride-ish', but I thought that it was rather Edith Wharton-ish.

My peeps from Patrick McMullin liked it too...and why will they only sell hard copy prints instead of digital jpegs?

I thought that the french blue color of my dress was perfect for this suite of moonstone and diamond jewelry as you can see from the before photo.

And here is the after photo...specifically after a couple of glasses of wine photo. 

The jewelry looks good but what's up with my shiny forehead?

We've been busy buying at Beladora and hopefully I will be able to show you some awesome Art Deco pieces soon.

Starting Off September With A Sofreh

So September has finally arrived
and so by the way, has Summer.
Finally, we have what I have longed for, hot sunny days and evenings so lovely that you can sit out doors comfortably without a sweater.
Of course this late summer heat has had its drawbacks too with the power outage that affected large parts of San Diego, Orange and Riverside counties.  That's millions and millions of people without air conditioning in temperatures in the high 90s and low 100s.  But as one blog commenter wrote, the power outage was taken in true laid back Southern California style. Instead of riots in the streets, neighbors came together for barbecues and beers.


Well anyhoo, getting back on topic, I had the pleasure to attend a full on Persian wedding last weekend.  It was amazing and kudos to Mariam, the mother of the bride, who organized this lovely event.  Layla, the bride, a school friend of my daughter, was lovely.

Obviously, the wedding was very different than a traditional Catholic or Protestant wedding that I am used to so I wanted to share some photos, but do forgive my lousy photos from my iphone. So instead of the bride and groom standing before and alter they are seated next to a dressed up table with the traditional Persian sofreh which holds specific symbolic items. 
The wedding ceremony was conducted in Farsi and I have no idea what was actually said. An interesting element was when the female relatives held a lace cloth over the bride and groom and did this thing with large cones of sugar which was meant to sweeten the marriage.

So after the approximately hour long wedding ceremony I made my way up to the bride and groom to congratulate them and to check out all the ceremonial stuff which sits before the mirror which symbolizes bringing light and brightness to the future.

The table was decorated with lots of frippery and frou frou

So here are the contents of the sofreh.

A specially baked and decorated flatbread "Noon-e Sangak" with blessing "Mobaarak-Baad" written in calligraphy on it. The writing is usually with either saffron "Zaffaron", cinnamon, Nigella seeds, or glitters. This symbolizes prosperity for the feasts and for the couple's life thereafter. A separate platter of this flat bread, feta cheese and fresh herbs are also present to be shared with the guests after the ceremony, to bring the new couple happiness and prosperity.

A basket of decorated eggs and a basket of decorated almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts in the shell to symbolize fertility.

A basket of pomegranates and/or apples for a joyous future. Pomegranates are considered heavenly fruits and apples symbolize the divine creation of mankind.

A cup of rose water extracted from special Persian roses "Gol-e Mohammadi" to perfume the air.

A bowl made out of crystallized sugar "Kaas-e Nabaat/Shaakh-e Nabaat" to sweeten life for the newly wed.

A brazier "Manghal" holding burning coals sprinkled with wild rue "Espand" a popular incense. Wild rue is used in many Zoroastrian ceremonies, rituals and purification rites. It is believed to keep the evil eye away and bring on plenty of health.

A bowl of gold coins representing wealth and prosperity.

A scarf or shawl made out of silk or any other fine fabric to be held over the bride and bridegroom's head throughout the ceremony by various happily married female relatives (mostly bride's close family members).

Two sugar cones "Kalleh Ghand" made out of hardened sugar to be used during the ceremony. These sugar cones are grinded together above the bride and bridegroom's head (over the scarf held above their heads) throughout the ceremony to shower them in sugar (symbolizing sweetness and happiness).

A cup of honey to sweeten life. Immediately after the couple is married they each should dip one pinky finger in the cup of honey and feed it to the other one.

A needle and seven strands of colored thread to figuratively sew up the mother-in-law's lips from speaking unpleasant words to the bride! The shawl that is held above the couple's head throughout the ceremony is sewed in one corner by the needle and threads.

A copy of the couple's Holy Book is placed on the spread. For Christian couples, it would be the Bible, for Zorastians Avesta, For Muslims Qur'an, .... This symbolizes God's blessing for the couple. Some couples use a poetry book such as Khayyam's poetry collection or Hafiz poetry collection instead of a religeous holy book. Traditionally "Avesta" the ancient Zoroastrian holy book was used by the majority of Iranins and Bible by the Iranian Christians during the ceremony and readings were made from it. Eventually Qur'an replaced Avesta for most wedding ceremonies after Iran was attacked by Arabs and forced to accept Islam.

After the wedding there was a hour long reception with hors d'oeuvres served and then the guests moved into the dining room.  The tables were set simply except for the elaborate flower arrangements.

After about another half an hour, the bride and groom entered and did some kind of Persian-ish  dance thing and then they had their traditional first dance. And so commenced a few hours of dancing to both Persian and American music.  (FYI, I love Persian music and dancing.  It's so sexy.)

Meanwhile, the bride and groom worked the room and greeted their guests.

Here is the lovely Layla with my daughter.
I loved her emerald and diamond necklace and earrings.
(Did I mention that not only is Layla lovely, she is super smart too and just took her medical boards)

Persian women dress to impress and we did too...or at least we tried.
What can I say, we are joiners.
My daughter wore a long bronzy-gold gown with a jewel toned silk shawl.

And gi-normous diamond jewelry.

Unfortunately, I was utterly under dressed in my blue silk suit

and I hate to say it but even my sapphire and diamond jewelry was understated.

Next time I will know to pull out all the stops when it comes dressing up for a Persian wedding.

And speaking of dressing up...I sashayed around Rodeo Drive a bit on Thursday night for Fashion's Night Out.  Bvlgari, Breguet, Cristofle and Etro hosted special receptions for the Beverly Hills Women's Club and I managed to make it to the Bvlgari party, then it was off to dinner at Mortons. Every once in a while, it's great to go to dinner at some place traditional like Mortons....don't you agree?

Personally, I think that the whole Fashion's Night Out concept is a little lame.  What do you think?

Tonight, I'm off to the gala dinner for the 100th anniversary of the Virgina Robinson estate and gardens in Beverly Hills. 

Tomorrow will be a quiet day at home, god willing, with plenty of down time for remembrance of those we lost a decade ago.

What are you up to this weekend?

Away To Rancho Bernardo For a Wedding in a Winery

Sorry about the slacking but it's been one of those weeks...and it's only Tuesday!

Last weekend while Tabitha was off grouse hunting and FF was celebrating her birthday with her fellow Leo's, I was off on a road trip to the Rancho Bernardo Inn.

To be honest, it was nice

but it didn't look anywhere as awesome as in these photos that I snagged off of the interwebs.

I certainly never saw a pool that looked anything like this.

Nor did I see a jacuzzi that looked like this.
Somehow I missed all these scenic spots.
Well no matter, I wasn't there for spa vacation. I was there for a late afternoon wedding at a local winery.
I took some nice photos of the reception on my iPhone but I've been unable to download them, so all I can show you is this bird cage thingy table decoration.  Pretty isn't it?

This was my summer wedding in a winery garb, a Tracy Reese silk chiffon dress, a vintage Celine handbag and some new strappy sandals from the Kitson outlet store in Beverly Hills.

I wore some pink sapphire and diamond jewelry too.
It was pretty.

It's hard for me to believe that the summer is almost over.  It seems to have flown by.

Fall 2011 Jewelry Trend - Vintage Brooches

I just opened my new issue of ELLE magazine
and look what I found!!!!

Vintage Brooches from you know where

Check out the Beladora Press Page to see more jewelry in the fashion press

and on the red carpet

And, there's going to be more coming up this Fall!

Well We All Slog On...

Yes, I know

This week there's not much to be happy about

Wall Street is Crashing...again

US faces a downgrade on debt

Europe is on the brink of a major financial collapse

Consumer spending is down for the first time in two years

Gold Prices reached another record high

Unemployment is through the roof

$13 Trillion Dollars of Debt will soon overtake the US GDP

So why am I smiling in my vintage silver jewelry?

I'm smiling because it's summer...still

and because my brother and my nephew will be in California this week
and because my entire family is getting together for a barbecue

and because while we are always in some sort of economic crisis or another
we just get used to it and slog on

I'm also smiling because at Beladora.com we are in the unique position of being able to offer
jewelry by uber trendy designers
whose jewelry is sold at Barney's New York
such as Pippa Small, Renee Lewis and Aurora Lopez Mejia
at a fraction of the Barney's price
(the jewelry is not uploaded to the website yet...but I'm telling you about it first)

Aurora Lopez Mejia jewelry in 18K

and because at Beladora2.com we've got fabulous vintage sterling silver jewelry which looks great and is priced for these tough economic times

Vintage Silver Jewelry

On we shall slog

Because Five Minutes Early Is On Time

Thank you Lisa for doing the serious work of reminding us all that
Five Minutes Early Is On Time

And if anyone needs any help with making sure that you can get to where you need to be on time
Beladora.com is just beginning to feature vintage timepieces and clocks.

And right now I'm liking this watch

David Yurman Diamond Watch in 18K and Silver

Do you still wear a watch or do you depend on the clock on your cell phone?

Back to Business and BHB and Beladora

Well, the much dreaded Carmageddon turned out to be really nothing at all
no 20 mile traffic jams, no wild west road rage shoot outs.
People stayed home, traffic was nil and
Los Angeles turned out to be lovely place over the weekend.
Maybe Caltrans should shut down the 405 freeway every once in a while.

Have I mentioned that I'm happy to be home
and especially excited to be back in Beverly Hills at the Beladora HQ
doing my estate jewelry thing
because I just love the accessory that keeps on giving
as these things happen
when gold reaches a new high of $1600.

Yes, I know you love your Jimmy Choo shoes and your Hermes belts
but I prefer an accessory that goes up in value while I wear it!


Being tan, rested and jewelry-less in Mexico was great
but now it's back to business.
Take a basic white shirt, a Michael Kors pin stripped pencil skirt, a deep tan
and add estate jewelry....gold estate jewelry to be exact.

I'm totally loving this Carlo Weingrill choker necklace

I love super comfortable flexible jewelry that doesn't have clasps or hinges,
don't you?

And I love to wear ancient coin jewelry
because it lets me channel my inner 1960's jet set socialite babe alter ego.

This necklace makes me imagine a life of lolling on the yacht

on the shores of Sardinia, Santorini or St Tropez.

And then there's the basic bracelet

This solid gold link bracelet by the French jewelry house Fred

is the type of piece that I would love to wear everyday.

Do you have one signature piece of jewelry that you wear everyday?

Voloptuous Vixens in Italian Vogue and Gilded Greecian Goddeesses in French Vogue

Did you know about the new issue of  Italian Vogue?
I didn't but I read about it on The Sartorialist today.

I'm not so hot about the way the model was posed on the right side of the cover

But I do think that these girls are beautiful

What do you think about the magazine using voluptuous models?


Have you see this month's French Vogue?
I thought that homage to Linda Evagelista photographed by Mert and Marcus was rather clever.

I also liked the fact that the entire issue was devoted to Greece

especially now that the country could benefit by some increased tourism.

There were lots of shots like with models in bathing suits and major gold bracelets.

I don't know anyone who actually wears such big bling on the beach

but it makes for a beautiful image.

And then in perusing the magazine, imagine my surprise when I saw this exact image on one of the accessories pages featuring Greek Jewelry.

I was thrilled to see our image in print in French Vogue...

but it would have been nice for Beladora to have been credited.

Admittedly, I snag images for BHB all the time and I rarely credit the photographer or the source

so I guess turnaround is fair play.