“Words, mademoiselle, are only the outer clothing of ideas.”
―
Agatha Christie,
The ABC Murders
As a writer Agatha Christie was certainly aware of the importance of clothing in conveying her characters personalities. She often described clothing in great detail and Hercule Poirot, arguably her most famous creation, certainly had a distinctive style. As a vintage lover I'm a big fan of both the Poirot stories and the television show, the show in particular is a major source of 1930s style inspiration for me. That is why I was so excited to discover the adorable Dandy Pin sold by Le Petit Pot on Etsy.
This little gentleman really reminds me of my favorite detective and I think he nicely accents my outfits. I felt a bit like Ms. Lemon when I pinned him to a polka dot Anthroplogie dress I got on sale last year. I think it has a bit of a 1930s feel to it.
I wore my pin for a nice Sunday walk in the park with two of my sweet pups and my lovely husband. I've been trying to make an effort to dress up a bit for one day of the weekend. It just gives the whole day a nicer feel.
Le Petit Pot's customer service was also excellent. My first pin arrived cracked, through no fault of the seller, I believe it must have been crushed in the transport from Spain to the US despite the bubble wrapping. Le Petit Pot sent me a new pin free of charge and it arrived promptly. The shop has adorable, and affordable, jewelry so be sure to check it out.
Lots of vintage lovers collect jewelry from Victorian necklaces to Art Deco earings to Bakelite bangles. My personal vintage jewelry favorite is the humble barrette. Barrettes have a lot going for them from a collecting stand point, they are pretty inexpensive to collect and they are plentiful since they were manufactured in large quantities. My collection is still small, since I only recently started collecting barrettes, but I am hoping to keep expanding it. I particularly like pre-1960s barrettes, and I'm partial to anything with dogs on it. So far these are my favorite barrettes.
I got them from the lovely Etsy shop Rose Bud Cottage which has all kinds of gorgeous vintage hair accessories. I took some not very good selfies of the barrettes in my fairly unruly hair. If like me you are not adept at styling hair and are eternally in awe of the elaborate vintage hair styles shown on style blogs and you tube then barrettes give you a chance to easily add a little vintage flair to your locks.
Another vintage barrette source on Etsy is Sophie's Hats and More. This shop has a lot of barrettes and hair clips made from recycled vintage jewelry. I got this yellow barrette made from a broken Bakelite flower.
I like how something damaged was given new life in this barrette.
Of course if you frequent flea markets that would also be an excellent source for vintage Barrettes, and it most certainly would not be hard to recycle broken vintage jewelry into new barrettes with the help of a hot glue gun and a plain clip. Whatever vintage jewelry you collect its fun to think about who might have owned your treasure previously and to cherish a little piece of history all your own.
