Bad Trade for Beads

Apparently Stella McCartney is still under the delusion that bead are really really valuable.

Stella! The Dutch really didn't get Manhattan for $24 in trade beads and neither can you!

Look at this necklace, currently on sale at Net-a-Porter. It's originally priced at $285. Dollars.




Let's go to the close-up to see how ridiculous that is...



Those are regular old seed beads. And not that many of them. And not in a very intricate pattern. Just strings of seed beads attached to a ribbon. I could go to Michael's and get the materials for this necklace to the tune of about $20.

I had this in mind when I went to Target yesterday. And while I wasn't actively looking for jewelry, they had a ton of really cute pieces that would go well with the ethnic/safari style. I bought two necklaces, two bracelets and a carved wood ring. I need to take more photos, but here's what I'm wearing today.

This necklace had a ton of strands of bronze-y brown beads in graduating layers.



I really liked this woven bangle and it goes perfectly with the dress I'm wearing today.



It's kind of hard to tell, but this is a carved wooden wring. The top is a beveled rectangle and it has a great spotted pattern. Plus it's large enough to make a statement but not overly showy. Plus it's pretty comfortable.



The other necklace was a long black and tan beaded necklace and a tan multi-beaded stretch bracelet. I'll be wearing them soon I'm sure.

What's great is that there are literally TONS of pieces on line (although I couldn't find the ones I bought) and they are all very inexpensive. My necklaces were around $15 each and the ring and bracelets were $8.

So, again, Stella must have lost her mind with this one.

Never Forget! Elephants are Awesome.

I'm not sure if I can directly contribute the growing trend of jewelry featuring elephants to the growing interest and awareness of the Indian and Asian markets or if it's because the everyone is as smitten as I am with the new Hermes campaign "Hermes Orange, Indian Pink" (which is gorgeous by the way - check out all the ads), but they are definetly on the rise.



I love the Hermes brand. They are one of the final true luxury brands that care about craftsmanship and are less of a company of sell-outs.

Anyway, I just got this fun little elephant necklace from Target mainly because it had a vintage-y feel to it, but also because it keeps with my accent colors for Summer.



But when I was reading my Lucky magazine this weekend I saw a whole slew of elephant pieces. They featured this ring from Palm Beach Jewelry. They have a bunch of other elephant pieces too.



They had this ring from Moss Mills -





I loved this bracelet from JCrew but I don't think they are carrying it anymore. I'll be you could find a vintage piece like this.



I did a quick search eBay and found this mother-of-pearl necklace. I've seen lots of these in jade too.

What I like about the elephant motif is this it looks vintage but also has a modern Asian feel too. Exotic and safari-chic.