gold - The Seventh Sphinx

I recently picked up the dress from Curator I mentioned admiring a while back. I consistently like this long, loose, belted tunic style—vaguely Athenian or sprite-like—especially for summer.

A contrasting belt could add interest but this look is more about simplicity. And this jungle green, jade color I find so lovely, it’s almost a shame to break it up. It’s some kind of hi-tech imitation silk that drapes beautifully.

I hunted around for ages to find this bag, a French style straw market basket with dual leather straps. It seems like it should have been a straightforward hunt (presumably in France it is) but I didn’t find that to be the case. There was often something that didn’t ring quite true about most of the ones I found, as if they were poor translations of the authentic thing. This one is from Harabu House.

This is NARS Taj Mahal blush again, which loving.

Mabel dress from Curator SF, Harabu House market basket, Skagen watch, Kara Ross bracelet, scarab pendant. On the lips, Tom Ford lipstick in Wild Ginger. So glad to break out these gladiator sandals again, which are still everything I want them to be.

There is a natural simplicity to this look that is ideal to me. Everything comfortable and earth-toned yet with a sense of being purposefully chosen that pulls the elements together into elegance. This is one of my ideas of elegance, anyway, the simplest and therefore often the best kind.

I often have detailed visions of what I would like to wear and do. This little manual vignette is one I have been wanting to complete for a number of years now, as it took some time before I could find suitable candidates, satisfactory actors for the roles I had in mind.

That I like pearls has been established, and a pearl ring, an extremely simple one, has been on my mind for a long while.* I settled on this 10mm beauty from Pearl Paradise. A single ivory-toned freshwater pearl of excellent quality mounted simply on a plain gold band.

*An ornate one has been on my mind, too, separately. Admittedly.

The other part of the vision was a micro-pave band (what is in the land of engagement rings known as an eternity band) to stack with the pearl solitaire. These are tiny, relatively inexpensive diamonds (eBay). I am not especially attracted to diamonds, what with their problematic history and origins (and I like a bit of color), but I wanted something set like this…and bands like this set with alternate stones (and set in gold, platinum, or some other hardy, long-wearing, tarnish-resistant metal) are quite rare. So, diamonds it was. It took a long time to find a design that wasn’t framed top and bottom, or otherwise too bulky, or otherwise too ugly.

The gold plated wire band on my forefinger is incidental (not part of the original vignette/vision), from a set of stackable knuckle rings in all sizes. I often gravitate toward simple bands like this, so unobtrusive and easy to wear. Almost like wearing nothing but critically not quite like wearing nothing.

It must be due to marital connotations that the ring finger is known as the ring finger but I agree: I like to wear rings on this finger. I am going to look married… but this is a coincidence that cannot be helped. There is a wabi-sabi balanced asymmetry to a spot of adornment there (I wear a ring on the ring finger of my right hand as well). And this finger isn’t first into the fray (especially on the left hand for right-handed me), so a set stone, something with a profile, is less likely to be in the way there.

I have a hazy, alternative version of this vision wherein there is also a gold thumb ring, a plain band. I can’t see if it is on my right or left hand that it is meant to go. Will have to experiment there. The thumb ring, done well, has an elegant edge to it. There is a purposefulness and an approachability about it. I think it’s only a matter of time.

Tag: gold

the maxi

the pearl solitaire