Finally opened the new issue of Vogue today over breakfast and read a few of the articles that caught my fancy. One of them was about jewellery boxes and how pieces of jewellery charted the writer's life, like little markers in her journey into and through adulthood.
It reminded me of how, when I first got my allowance in the UK, I decided to buy an item of costume jewellery from the shops every month to build up a collection. Back in my childhood I'd collected a few items of plastic beaded jewellery, brightly coloured items. There was a necklace and bracelet with hearts and stars in lovely skittle colours. I also had some pieces of ethnic jewellery from Indonesia - gifts from a Chinese tutor who went travelling there quite a bit. He must be really old now.
I went to my current jewellery box, a denim box with a single tray and inbuilt mirror under the cover. It was embellished with flowers and indian-style mirror pieces. It was a Christmas present from Jon's mum. It must have been the second Christmas we shared. Looking over the pieces I'd not touched for a while now but had carefully stored in this little denim box, they were indeed like little pieces of memories that I'd had since coming to the UK. There were the rings. A tarnished butterfly shaped ring that I wore in second year, almost all the time. That reminded me of being with Jon, those first days where I'd wanted a keepsake. I'd bought another similar ring studded with acrylic gems as well but that I didn't wear so often. It was rather bling. There was the Swavarowski sky blue crystal ring that Zhiying had made for me, along with a few other rings, all too large for me to wear but pretty things I'd bought anyway.
There was the dusty pink antique gold-coloured butterfly necklace with jewelled flowers that I'd worn for my 21st birthday in Paris, with Jon. It was one of the necklaces that I'd worn a lot of the time when we went out. Like the mint coloured crystal floral earrings which were sweet and easy to wear with everything I had. Then there were the scarlet bead and jewelled square pendant necklace and the matching earrings that I'd worn to Jon's 21st birthday bash in the summertime. He'd bought me a lovely Karen Millen dress with a crimson floral and tropical foliage print. I felt like a star and that was the first time someone said that I looked glamourous.
That dress I wore again to Final Fling, where I wore the diamante earrings from Oasis and a bracelet from Dorothy Perkins with the crystal butterfly necklace I'd received from my mum for my 21st birthday present. Jewellery has always been a big part of growing up, where we'd wear gold bracelets, necklaces and earrings during Chinese New Year. We'd have to go to the bank safe to take these out for the special occasion. My sister and I could choose a piece each once at the goldsmiths and I remember choosing a bangle with a butterfly clasp. I still have it and I probably can still fit into it, even though it might be a little tight now.
And it was in Paris 2003 that Jon and I went to Printemps and I bought an elaborate Victorian-style necklace with lots of beads and charms and a jewelled pendant which I still keep in a little box separate from the rest of the jewellery ... there was the crazy jangly necklace from Angela after she'd come back from Spain, the little enamel butterfly earrings from CJ from her travels (I can't remember if that was before or after our misunderstanding and when I'd had a bad EQ situation) and the lovely pearl drop earrings from June, when she returned from her journey of self-discovery. There are a couple of earrings from Kaini - she'd bought them for me on her travels to India. A baby blue beaded necklace from Anna was a birthday gift and there was another black crystal bracelet from Zhiying and the gothic style burgundy beaded choker that I never wore but always fingered with care, imagining the lush gowns and outfits that would go with it, Murano glass earrings from my sister along with various strange and quirky pieces from her travels around Europe, a chunky substantial ethnic rope choker from Roma when she came back from India ...
I don't wear jewellery very much since the breakup though I've managed to enlarge my collection through gifts from friends and family. My mother gave me a pair of diamond studs when I turned 23 and I wear them whenever I need some warmth and strength. Who would have thought that the hardest substance in the world could bring some comfort? A mere stone, polished and cut to perfection. Diamonds are a girl's best friend.
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