VeraMeat

I received a Facebook invite this afternoon to a sort of shopping party in Beverly Hills at Vera Meat, a NY-based jeweler (whose last name is Balyura, not Meat) who designs really reasonably priced, charming little pieces and who I oddly just read about in Nylon a couple of weeks ago.

Since the party is this Friday in California, I declined (I'm no jet-setter, friends), but commented how much I wished I could make and it and, lo and behold, the friend who'd invited me said she could give me a generous "friends and family" discount. Twenty minutes and several Facebook direct messages later, I had bought two new rings.

I've been really into smaller, delicate rings lately--especially after my boyfriend bought me this little lovely over the holidays. This time, though, I wanted a couple of statement-making pieces to combine with  my signet ring and two others I like to wear: a small, twisted silver-and-gold band and a brass cast of my friend's stunning wedding ring.

Here's what I landed on (I was also in a bit of a rush, since I had told the aforementioned friend that we could leave for happy hour very, very soon).

I'm usually very much a cat person, yet none of the cat rings really spoke to me. However something about this kissing bunnies one did. It's cute, but not overly precious--well, not to me anyway.

Now, the second one is definitely not precious. Maybe it's because I've been in a hip-hop loving mood lately, or maybe it's just because I fancy myself street-tough sometimes (I'm not, but I think living in Brooklyn as a child makes it seem like maybe I could be?), but the instant I saw this dollar sign ring, I was already imaging how sick it would look with a blood-red matte manicure. And maybe a knuckle tattoo.

It's rad, right? Well, I think it is. Both rings are brass gold, which is fine with me, both price-wise and in terms of worrying about loss or damage. I'm not sure I'm the type that should own "nice" things. I tend to destroy stuff.

I'll update with photos once I receive my little treats. And thanks to me sweet friend, Elfee, for making it happen!

Blitz Kids

After watching one of my favorite Eurthymics videos this morning, I fell into an internet rabbit hole which led me to a great BBC documentary about the start of the New Romantic scene in late '70s London. Gender-benders and androgyny have always fascinated me, so obviously I found this super engrossing--not to mention the scene was the spark of inception for so many bands I love like The Human League, Culture Club, and Duran Duran. Plus, Bowie and Roxy Music were sort of the guiding light of this movement (can I call this a "movement"?) and that factors nicely into my own musical trifecta of Bowie/Bolan/Eno.

Magazines like i-D and The Face were started solely to document the status quo-shaking style that came out of the New Romantic scene. It gets a little sad at the end (think aging, rehabbed scenester in a cringe-worthy "comeback" performance), but otherwise it's really fascinating little piece on a period of music and fashion that I think still affects our culture today.

And here are a few videos from some of my favorite bands that the Biltz Kids era spawned.