Alice & Chains Jewelry Blog

| Jewelry with a story |

A recent trip to the Museum of Modern Art's Fashion: Is it Modern? exhibit brought to light the deeper impacts that lie within fashion even though outwardly it appears frivolous. 

Tee Off

The most iconic American fashion statement - the tee shirt. However you wear it, functionally or intentionally as a statement of expression, it serves a purpose beyond covering your torso. The impacts of a tee shirt can range from social, political, cultural, economic, environmental and likely more. Part of the MOMA's method in creating the exhibit was to prompt viewers to look at fashion with an open eye and question what more lies inside an item. At the beginning they posed the question: When you close your eyes and think of a sari or a pair of chinos, what do you see? 

With MOMA's question in mind, let's apply it to some of their pieces exhibited and see how that applies to jewelry.

Stereotypes, they're for real

Imagery is impactful. How we choose to adorn ourselves not only tells a story to ourselves, but also to the world of onlookers we collide with. For instance, pants suit - what do you see? Prior to the election of 2016, do you think you would have been less likely to image a woman? Did Hilary forever change the landscape of women's fashion by making the pants suit her go to wardrobe? Surprising to me were the results of a Google image search, I thought surely pants suit populate images of women in suits, however if you look below there is a male presence. 

As an illustration of the power of imagery, take a look at a piece from the exhibit below. 

Can you see what influenced me to take this photo? 

The cufflinks. I'm a jeweler, I make cufflinks, but I also wear them. Imagine my excitement to see this Yves Saint Laurent suit from 1966 paired with cufflinks. I wear cufflinks because I've learned there is no better way to show off my craft than to wear it and talk about it. No need to search Google images to know that mostly men will be populated wearing cufflinks. 

36, 24, 36

Beauty is the eye of the beholder - right? Visually and physically we all find different shapes and colors more attractive than others. What we choose to adorn ourselves with changes not only our shape, but also our coloring. If my daughter or husband wear blue, their eyes immediately pop and people comment how pretty their eyes are. Their eyes did not magically change color for an hour or two, the color of their clothing enhanced their eye's color through reflection. The same theory applies to shape of clothing we wear, it changes the shape of our silhouette. 

What influenced me to take this picture?

Honestly - the shadows on the wall. I walked all the way across the room because I found the silhouette attractive. Imagine that? See below. 

The below poster from the exhibit hits the nail on the head. 

How often have you reached for a certain pair of jeans because they fit perfectly and make your butt look-so-good? 

Wait - how does this apply to jewelry? It applies quite specifically to Alice & Chains Jewelry because you go home with jewelry that compliments whatever silhouette you choose. The stone in your ring sits parallel to your fingers, lengthening your fingers. Your earrings dangle at just the right length from each ear lobe to disguise that one is lower than the other. Your necklace touches just below suprasternal notch, accentuating your collar bones. 

In the end, jewelry and clothing are worn to accentuate, attract, and/or make a statement, whether intended or not.