This post and giveaway are presented in collaboration with Blue Nile.
Extreme Casual Style benefits from good jewelry. One might even argue that good jewelry allows Extreme Casual to speak Style at all. My particular approach involves earrings, and due to a metal sensitivity, gold ones in particular. But you have all sorts of options.
If you can wear silver, you have access to the iconic silver designers, David Yurman and John Hardy. Commenters here have referred to their collections of said pieces, in particular the bracelets. It has occurred to me that as we age, we want to evolve our old favorites and layer our own aesthetic on the greats. Wear a Chanel jacket with sneakers, or carry Bottega Veneta with UNIQLO gear. True personal style, in other words.
Or, add some additional bracelets to your Yurman and Hardy.
Blue Nile and I want to support your sophistication. You’ve earned it. Let us consider the silver bangle.
You might want two of these, as bracelet bookends. $95 each.
This wider link cuff, of course, is a statement in itself.
Or, moving from Victorianesque to biker-referent, how about multi-row chains? Mixed metals for bonus points. I kind of love this. $85. (I know!)
If you’ve got matching bangles already, try a wide modern cuff. $195
Or something exceptionally modern, pure and narrow. $115.
How about silver beads? Or, take this one.
No, seriously, take it. Our treat.
It’s a fairly heavy chain, with ribbed detailing like cavatappi pasta. Quite delicious. Imagine it with a small Hardy chain. Or the Yurman classic cable. Or on its own. Yours for a comment.
As is our tradition, please tell a little story – maybe just what you wear on your wrist now or have worn in the past? If your wrist sports nothing at all, why? If you do not want to be entered for the giveaway, but still want to tell a story, you are warmly encouraged to do so. In that case please let us know in the comments that you are opting out. Winner to be announced Monday, October 19th.
It’s so great to be back from blog break, gift in hand. Thank you for the kind and generous happy birthday wishes. I hope you all are very, very well.
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86 Responses
I’m forever switching out my favorite bracelets…but one I keep returning to is silver with set semi-precious stones. There’s just something about the colors and simplicity of that setting that keep calling me back.
I have a favorite Pandora bracelet that my kids add to once in a while. I love the silver, but I have very distinct memories of a woman who was like a grandmother to me who wore about a half dozen gold bangles on her wrist, always. They were carved, but she’d worn them for so long that most of the etching was worn smooth. I always wanted her to leave them to me, but I never figured out how to ask.
Well, heck, I’m up for a bracelet! I usually wear a large silver cuff with a square turquoise stone set in the middle, or my Alex & Ani stack of silver bracelets that each have meaning to me. But the would work perfectly with my stack!
I have a Yurman cable with aquamarine ends, an oval loop in two-tone, that I most use to extend my necklace, and vintage sterling labradorite oval cabochons one. I pretty much only wear them for “special”–not necessarily fancy– occasions–not every day, because I wear a wristwatch on my left wrist, and hate to stack, so they go on my right, which interferes with writing. Sigh
Shopping with a friend at one of those huge gold & gem shows held in arenas, I bought a 1/2″ wide 14K gold kind of squared-up bangle for $300 in 1995… everyday that I wear gold, that bracelet is on me! My manicurist recently took my wrist and told me she would give me two thousand for it. Nah. Still love it to this day.
I used to wear my grandmother’s silver bangles from when she was a young 20-something. Some of them she had apparently made herself! Alas, I only have 3 left (of 5) and they’ve become too precious to wear.
So glad you’re back, I’ve missed your posts and hope you enjoyed your break. I wear one very small, unobtrusive bracelet that I keep on all the time. Other than that, bracelets bother me because they get in the way? Love them on other people though. I also don’t like me in silver, but like it on others.
Glad you’re back!
I wear a big digital watch. I need it for teaching, it reminds me of my athletic side, and it’s neither gold nor silver—my father trained me out of wearing gold and silver together. Recently, though, a friend said that was “bourgeois” — to worry about mixing metals. What do you think about that? Interesting that that’s a bad thing. hmm. Anyway, also, a series of wooden beads that remind me to breath, and, often, a narrow leather bracelet with studs. I especially like to wear this teaching, as it feels like a small but reasonably professional bit of my non-teaching style. Finally, a beloved silver bracelet from a beloved grandmother.
Love the multi-row bracelet especially! I love to stack my bracelets, and think I need to add some silver to the mix.
Welcome back, Lisa. We’ve missed you. I want to add thanks for the reference to Deborah Silver and her magnificent garden blog, Dirt Simple. I am mesmerized by her photos and text. What an inspiration!
As to bracelets; I never wore them until I found myself in Oak Creek Canyon and found a treasure of a silver cuff with turquoise and lapis. Breathtaking!. Then in India last year, in a tiny village a jeweler sitting by the roadside making bangles found me again contemplating the issue of bracelets. Bought an armload and wear them a lot. SO yes, count me in.
Welcome Back!
I collect sterling bangles and stack them. I found several in thrift and antique shops which sparked my desire to find more. The bangles mark many special and significant occasions in my life. I have two Tiffany bangles which were gifts from my husband and when I retired I was given a hand hammered bangle from Mother and on my 60th birthday my sister gave me one…they are all different designs. I’d never say no to another!
Please add my name into the giveaway…when I worked in the library a young teacher and I went onto Blue Nile and designed her engagement ring during our lunch break…I emailed her fiancee and the rest as they say is history!!
Does the story have to be about my wrists? Most memorable is that my nana wears a stack of silver bangles at all times. She came for thanksgiving the first year I made a turkey. The night before, she cleaned out that turkey and vigorously rubbed salt and pepper inside that bird with those bangles jangling away. I’ll never forget it! Haha!
I made a conscious, adamant decision when I was about 11 or 12 that I was on Team Silver. I have no idea why. Was I prompted by a magazine article? Song lyrics? Four decades later, I still wince when someone gives me gold jewelry.
I have a stack of bangles…all sterling and they represent milestones and celebrations…birthdays and retirement. Gifts from family and friends.
I started out with a couple that I found in antique and thrift shops and love it when I find another. Perhaps one day my arm will be full!
Several years ago a young teacher and I were on the Blue Nile site on our lunch break and we designed her “dream engagement ring” and after she left I called her fiancee and the rest they say is history!!
Please enter me in your draw.
I wear stacks of silver bracelets on both arms that I have collected over the years and love the look. I combine my Mexican, Greek and Turkish bangles with Yurman, Lois Hill, Ralph Lauren, Ecclissi and many pieces I have picked up at consignment stores. I would love a new piece from Blue Nile to add to my collection!
I’ve got several silver bracelets I wear on a daily basis, my favorite of which is in the shape of a mobius strip, engraved with the first few lines of Shakespeare’s 116th sonnet, “Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments…”, a gift from my husband. I have to take off when I play my guitar, since it rattles against the wood. I’ve been thinking about trying out a chain bracelet to see if it’s any better, and this one would be just the thing. Glad you had a good break. Welcome back.
I never wore anything on my wrists but a watch, the habit a legacy of serious piano playing in my youth. Then two friends gave me a simple Pandora bracelet with a starter bead (the Chinese word for friendship) for my 50th birthday. Later they and I added a few beads with meaning. I wore it every day for a few years (and made a point of wearing it on my 60th birthday).
Meanwhile…my mother died, and I started wearing some of her jewelry (fine or vintage costume), plus an item or two from Etsy. For the last year or so, I have been wearing a simple bangle from the No Regrets project, but the metal is not holding up well. That link bracelet would be perfect and just my style for a signature bracelet.
I’ve had a narrow square cuff on my leftwrist for over 40 years. Purchased in Mexico City for 500 pesos…about $4.00. I saw it, loved it and made my then boyfriend (Mexican) go in and buy it because I knew he would get a better deal. The boyfriend is gone, the bracelet remains. Over the years other silver cuffs have joined the party. Now I have abandoned a watch on my right wrist and have only a pearl and leather wrap there. Have been searching for friends for the right wrist. That lovely heavy chunk link bracelet would fill the bill.
My favorite bracelet is a vintage brushed silver cuff, about four inches wide that is expandable. It belonged to my mother who wore it regularly. I love to wear it and have never seen another like it. I remember her as a stylish woman of limited means but sporting this terrific bracelet.
I enjoy your posts!
I wear very little jewelry but have collected silver bracelets for years. My favorites all capture a time, place or event. They include a silver Tiffany cuff (obtained by exchanging a wedding gift that just wasn’t right – thank you, husband!), a link bracelet made of oak leaves (for the landscape of my heart and home) and a very simple bangle with a bridle-style closure (from a market in Mexico).
I frequently wear a classic 1960sTaxco silver and Mexican jade bracelet that belonged to my maternal aunt. She dressed with verve and was bitingly witty. I spent happy hours in her walk – in pantry, rearranging the contents (looking back, I can’t believe she let me do this) and stealing forbidden silver nonpareils. I admired her very much and like to think I channel her sense of style when I wear her bracelet.
My standard bracket attire for the last 19 years has been a Yurman silver and gold, large cable worn with a yellow and white gold link bracelet that was a 40th b-day gift from my husband in 1996. Sadly, I lost that link bracelet last year so my Yurman sits alone on my wrist. No amount of insurance money has made up for the sadness of losing that memento. We bought it on Capri as we celebrated a very special time. It’s no longer made. I’d love my Yurman to have company again. It’s lonely.
Welcome back from your break!
Such gorgeous bracelets! I have a handful of bracelets that I rotate wearing. I have a Pandora charm bracelet, a Yurmin look like bangle, a Pandora hamsa bracelet, and a few others. Bracelets are one of my favorite pieces of jewelry to wear.
I guess my favorite bracelet is the one my husband purchased at Catier Paris. It’s the authentic LOVE bracelet and I never take it off except for surgeries. They have been quite often lately, sorry to say. But it’s back on my wrist which means my casts are off!
Please exempt me from the give away.
I don’t wear bracelets. If I try, I end up removing them. I admire bracelets on others, particularly artfully arranged sets of bracelets, but even when I assemble a set, I want to remove them. As time has gone by. I’m down to snall platinum hoop earrings with horizontal rows of baguettes, a platinum band set with baguettes along its narrow length, and a watch. I sometimes wear plain platinum hoops, or pearls on a French wire. Most of my jewelry is in a safe deposit box or otherwise stored away. When I am more organized, I will sell it. I find I am happier with fewer things. Have you seen the documentary about Iris Apfel? Her desire to layer colorful pieces on her wrist and neck fascinates me. She is her own work of art. (You can leave me out of your giveaway, though I found it entertaining to read about the bracelets.)
I’m laughing because you’re just like me, the minute I put on a bracelet, I want to take it off. Immediately.
Oooo, bracelets! I have been a lover of such for years. It started with a beautiful gold bracelet that my then husband gave me when I finished my bachelor’s degree at 34 years of age (while working and with small children). I wore it every day for many years. Now I save that one for more dressy occasions but I do rotate through a silver cuff, a gold tone cuff, a leather with metal beads and a Pandora charm bracelet now. Somehow I don’t feel properly dressed for any occasion without earrings and a bracelet. The one in your give-away would look lovely with the gold one that started it all.
I’m so glad that you are back. Hope you had a lot of fun!
Very interesting comments!
Out of the competition:
I like to wear bracelets,gold,silver,cuffs,bangles,crystals…..
Dressing myself for my son’s master celebration lunch in july, I decided to wear gold chain bracelet and gold bangle,unusual combination,some of gifts I’ve got for my diploma in 1982 from my parents and grandparents. I like it (again) so much that I wear them still
Dottoressa
Have you seen your great photo from Conference on Dress like a parisian blog? Cool!
Dottoressa
Wow! Thanks for the heads up! I LOVE Dress like a parisian, it’s one of my absolute favorite style blogs. Alois has taste for miles. I’m excited!
Love bracelets and am definitely team silver :) My favorite is a silver and pearl 2 string with a cross and an angel wing dangling from it.
Would love to be entered into your giveaway-thank you for the opportunity.
Oh, I love bracelets. Gold, silver, Angela Moore, Patsy’s, leather, you name it. It all depends on my outfit and mood. At first I didn’t want to enter, cause I have so many, but the idea of a bracelet reminiscent of cavatapi is too great to pass up. I’m afraid the bracelet story would be a future tense sort of thing. You really do crack me up. To whoever wins this one, Mangia !!
Welcome back.
@Mary anne, Thank you, Mary anne – you made my day!
I have a number of silver bracelets–most of them collected in Santa Fe–and some are vintage. I also have a vintage silver charm bracelet I’ve owned it for 25 years, but I figure it was at least 40 years old when it came to me.
I’m such a severely practical person that I don’t wear bracelets as much as I should. I KNOW that they add a lot to an ensemble. I always admire them on others. I’ll make more of an effort!
I guess I missed your birthday Post!Happy Birthday!!
I wear GOLD but have silver cuffs from Taxco that were my Mothers!I keep looking at two silver bracelets at a consignment store perhaps if I WIN that will make me pounce and WEAR!Let the GOLD GAL WIN!!!!
Since I turned 25 I have been buying myself a bangle for every momentous occasion: each coveted new job or promotion, each of my sisters’ weddings, the birth of each of my four nephews, etc., etc. I started out with silver and progressed to white gold. I love all of them and wear them together. And each time I look down on my wrists I smile at all the memories.
I missed your birthday post! I hope it was a blessed one. Bracelets are my very favorite pieces to wear, especially those with charms. My signature wrist ornament is a John Wind Maximal Art initial charm with a cotton ball pearl. To whomever wins, congrats and enjoy!
The bracelet(s) on my right wrist is ever-changing. On my left wrist, I ALWAYS wear the Tiffany silver heart bracelet that was given to me by my daughter. Along with the Tiffany heart, I added a real four-leafed clover encased in Lucite given to me by my son and a Harley Davidson diamond charm given to me by my husband. I never leave home without it.
I have an anticlastic brass bracelet I like to wear (I made it), but alas, it turns my wrist green… I think it would be better for me in silver.
My favorite bracelet is a heavy twisted gold bracelet that belonged to my mother-in-law? She wore it every day. Everywhere. I remember her holding my little son’s hand as she walked down to the beach. The bracelet hung heavy on her forearm.
When she was ill, she sat down with one of her grandchildren and parceled out her jewelry. She put the bracelet in my pile. I miss her and I love the weight of her bracelet on my arm.
I would like to be included in the drawing.
Thank you for the generous offer of anew bracelet, but also thank you for the opportunity to write about Clare, a wonderful woman.
I wear assorted bracelets in different metals depending on the outfit. However my favorite go-to items are two 14k gold bangles hand-made by the mother of one of my close college friends. They are plain thin bangles but they fit all occasions.
I love bracelets! I have several old silver charm bracelets-they each tell a story. It’s getting harder to find them intact-dealers like to take charms off & sell separately from bracelet as they make more on it but I like the intact ones. I trade off the vintage silver charm bracelets with bangles, both gold & silver, vintage & new!
Welcome back from your break!
Those are beautiful bracelets! I have to say that bracelets are probably the item I wear most often, and I switch between silver and gold- love both. You’re right, that link piece would look great with Hardy bracelet. One of my favorites is a Hardy chain that was given to me by of all people, my husband’s boss’ wife! A very generous gift, as is this giveaway!
One of my favorite bracelets was one of my first – a gift from my dad’s brother. He had two sons and I think he wished he had daughters to spoil. He gave my sister and me filigree bracelets for Christmas one year, maybe when I was nine. I still have mine, and still wear it. I like remembering my uncle, who was a kind and generous person, and he always seemed to enjoy his family and his life.
I wear a stainless steel bracelet with a gold band around it – it’s called “shona bandhano loha” and is kind of like a wedding ring in my husband’s culture. My mother in law gave it to me after my wedding and I only take it off for medical procedures. Am also currently wearing some glass bangles on that arm that I literally cannot take off. They will not come off at all :) I try to remember to wear something on the other hand, these days a gold-plated bangle is my go-to but if I’m feeling sporty then I’ll wear something beaded or my Lokai bracelet a coworker gave me.
Hi Lisa, I love bracelets too, but now only the ones that don’t move around. The stretchy ones, or a big cuff. Just cannot do bangles anymore. Though they are beautiful on others. Hope all is well and you are divinely happy !!!
I used to wear giggle-y stacked brackets — all sorts from cliosine to silver. I have a beautiful silver band from West Africa – a friend brought it back for me (we worked at Peace Corps how after college). But that bangle? We are taking our 2 kids (7&10) to Italy on the 21st and I saw it and thought perfect travel bracelet!! Struggling with clothing choices – neat, packs well and goes from 50’s rain to low 70”s sun….the bangle could pull it all together!
Welcome back, I hope you had a lovely break.
Because I have very small wrists, bangles are usually too big for me, but I love chain bracelets. My grandmother gave me a silver knotted chain bracelet that I wear often and cherish.
The pasta bracelet does look delightful!
Oh! This bracelet reminds me of the bracelet I craved when I was sixteen. The heavy link style was all the rage in Paris, where I’d spent the summer visiting grandparents and studying French and attempting–utterly in vain–to look chic. This silver beauty would go well with my current eclectic mix of bracelets–an incised Taxco bangle, Sami pewter/leather friendship bracelets, Bulgarian crocheted bead bracelets (it doesn’t look as ethnic as it sounds). I do have a silver charm bracelet, also de rigueur when I was a teen, but haven’t worn that for a while. This has presence but isn’t noisy, a no-no with all the concerts I attend.
The first bracelet pictured matches the silver ones I got from my mom. I have 4 of hers, which I often wear with a hammered cuff I made at Camp Kehonka many years ago. More camps should have silver shops! The bracelets I wear the most often, however, are gold-tone scarab bracelets. I have three with different sized scarabs that were my mom’s, and possibly her mom’s, too. My husband’s godmother saw me wearing them. She’s only got a son, and she asked about mine so knew their story, so she gave me two more. I like wearing them together, or sometimes, with cheap faux bamboo wooden bangles. If I didn’t have to be on the computer so much, I’d wear bracelets every day. Bracelets completely change the places you can get away with a white t-shirt and jeans!
I feel underdressed without an armful of bracelets. Wear them daily. Today, on my left arm I’m wearing six thin bangles, three bracelets–one silver that a friend gave me 30 years ago–two with vintage Swarovski crystal balls that I made myself, and two that I recently bought from a seller in an arcade on Government Street in Victoria, BC. Just one on my right arm as I need to wear a watch, and more would impede my computer use. All are either silver or silver accented. I would wear more, but there’s no more room on my arm.
Don’t know if my love of bracelets has anything to do with being raised in a country where some women wore bracelets on their arms and ankles. Heavy, silver ones that made musical notes when they walked.
I’m pretty sure my introduction to your blog was through that Bottega Veneta/Uniqlo review linked above. I was in the market for a navy linen blazer and scouring the internet for reviews of that very IDLF model that looks so great on you. I actually did try it, and then returned it. Those ever-so-slightly cropped sleeves and something about the cut made me look like a schoolboy in last year’s uniform (woe to the woman with short hair, eh?).
In retrospect, a good bracelet might have helped feminize and elevate the whole affair. But at the time I had no bracelets. None! I’m up to one now: a minimalist mother-child bracelet in silver (gifted to me by a friend who found it in my Etsy “likes”). It’s a special, delicate little piece and I wear it every day, but it would be nice to add something with a bit more substance — a bracelet that can hold its own in the company of sturdy boots and chunky sweaters.
I am a bracelet person, although I don’t have all that many….and I lean more toward the single statement piece, rather than multiple stacking bangles. (The odd thing is that I really like how that “look” appears on other people and cannot stand it on myself.)
My favorite bracelet? A toss-up between one my niece made for me and a silver one I bought in Taos many years ago.
So throw my name in the hopper! And thanks–all the stories are fun to read.
My favorite bracelet is the one my mom gave me for my 50th birthday. My mother was a bridesmaid in her sister’s wedding and it was the maid’s gift. It’s a thin gold Tiffany bangle and my mom gave it to me, since it has little baby teeth marks on it, from where I chewed on it as an infant. I wear it almost every day.
Very few bracelets in my box. A favorite is a gold wire cuff, a gift from my husband. It was inexpensive but I always receive compliments on it. I love all the pieces you showed.
Recently started wearing my mother’s gold charm bracelet – small charms, each with deep family significance. This is, I am sure, mostly a sentimental gesture – I like the connections and reminders evoked when I pay attention to the bracelet – but it also is unique and feels like a personal statement while remaining fashionable. I do think there is room for a silver chain bracelet in my life, though – one has to have some diversity.
When I was young I loved large cuffs, but I don’t wear them anymore and have been rethinking bracelets. I have a pair of iron nailhead bracelets by Pat Flynn that I wear regularly because they are small and fit close to the wrist. I don’t like anything too bulky anymore, probably because I’ve returned to writing in an actual notebook, as well as using a computer, and bracelets get in the way.
I’ve been thinking that a silver link bracelet like the one shown would be nice to wear with a couple of other pieces, perhaps my rose-gold link bracelet, either on the opposite wrist, or together with my favorite watch, which has rose-gold and stainless steel on a leather strap.
I’ve always loved bracelets but just sort of stopped wearing jewelry after I retired last year. Now I live in demin, birks, and Everlane t-shirts and I think it’s about time to pull out my favorite mixed metal chain bracelet for everyday running around. I would love any of those beauties to keep it company on my wrist.
My favorite piece to wear and see on my wrist is a gold bangle bracelet I inherited from my mother.
It was her mothers, and is engraved with her maiden initials. My grandmother was born in 1892 and I never got to meet her. But I have pictures of her wearing the bracelet as a young woman before she married. My mother inherited almost all of her mothers jewelry, and loved to tell me about each piece. When and how they were given, and what I should remember about them. I have almost all my mothers jewelry now, she is gone. I will honor her wish that I keep it all until I am done with it or pass myself, then divide it between my daughter and my brothers three daughters.
I hope very much they will treasure each piece as prior generations have, and remember each woman as they feel the jewelry rest on them as it rested on their forebears.
Any wish to get a group together to go to the SF Fall Antique Show?
I currently wear just a watch — my boss gave me a Gucci Signoria for my 10th company anniversary; I would have never bought it on my own, fearing it too Brighton-like, but I love it. Or I wear a Cartier Tank with cream face and (worn) brown leather band because who has the time to go get a new watchband? I normally don’t wear any bracelets since they interfere with my computer-based job — but I’m retiring as of the end of the year (at the age of 51) and I definitely plan on wearing bracelets everywhere I go, so I’d love to have a jump start on my new collection! Love the inspirations.
My bracelets are meaningful mile markers such as the Navajo bracelet my parents gave me as a high school graduation present. I’d wear the giveaway bracelet with the silver heart bracelet my husband gave me. Hope you had a wonderful break!
I wear my watch when I remember but I am a nurse, and perhaps have been one too long, as I feel bracelets get in the way a bit and are somewhat clangy. I am loving your blog though having recently stumbled upon it.
I love to stack on bracelets, mostly a combination of glass beads, ropes, bangles – all gifts from friends over the years. One i particularly like is a Fashion21 stacked bangles in gold given by a friend who bought it from ebay. I’ve never had silver before and been looking for one. The giveaway from Blue Nile is a charm. I’d love to have it in my sweet collection. I can wear bracelets with any outfit. Even without watch, earring or necklace, i’d feel fully accessorized already!
I have never worn bracelets but I am willing to try. This is why:
As a girl, I adored the Timex watch my Dad gave me. My Dad’s icon was his watch. In fact, after his passing last year, his watch is the one thing I treasure most of his and I kept it. Even up to the very end, he had his watch on.
So after my watch hit the table and I “grew up”, iI never wore any bracelet or wrist adornment because I missed my watch (childhood) and really didn’t consider myself an adult. But as we all know, adulthood comes to us no matter if we are ready or not.
Now I am at a good place in my life and trying to call up that girl in me to help guide me now. I want her spirit back, her love of adventure, and overall safe feeling that I had a home base. I am headed out this week to find a watch again. It will be my little secret message to myself…………Time is sweet.
I still love the silver charm bracelets from my youth in Europe. The memories from jewelry last a lifetime.
I wear a simple sterling hammered Roycroft bracelet that my Mom was given when standing up in her a close friend’s wedding; it is inscribed ‘Chris 7-6-68’ and it is so dear to me since she passed away two years ago.
I wear bracelets all the time, from simple leather cuffs to bangles to a (special memory) tennis bracelet. I have short arms so often choose 3/4 length sleeves which have the added bonus of being great for bracelets. Please enter me in! Suz
nothing like a stack of silver…..
It is like designing your own individual cuff.
Love it
Last year I bought a Swatch watch after being watch-less for several years. For various reasons I got tired of always pulling out my phone to see the time. My Swatch is white with maroon, green and orange apples on it. Love it! The only other “regular” on my wrist these days is a friendship bracelet my daughter made me at summer camp. On my night table is a tangle of bracelets – mostly combos of leather and silver. On my wish list is a simple gold bangle.
I’ve always had champagne tastes and couldn’t even afford beer when I was in college. I got a Christmas job selling baked goods at the Bon Marche in Seattle, and would wander around the sales floor during my break. I fell in love with a Monet bracelet, a rectangular clip-on cuff in gold. But the $28 price tag was daunting– this was 1978. I bought it with my (temporary) employee discount and wore it until the gold finish rubbed off– it was one of the first times I was able to reconcile what I longed for with something I actually found in a store.
I have a silver Links of London sweetie bracelet (sans charms) that I always wear stacked with my menswear Citizen watch. I wear the watch loose and the elastic bracelet keeps it from sliding too far off my wrist. Of course, since I spend most of my time on a computer, watch and bracelet are always beside the keyboard because I have unconsciously slipped them off, but I feel lost without them on.
I wear a gold link bracelet on my right wrist. It was a gift from my much older ex. When we were still together, I rarely wore it, deeming it “too fancy” for everyday wear. About three years ago, I put it on one day and haven’t taken it off since. Now, my seven year old son likes to touch it. I hope I’m engendering a love of beautiful things in him, a skill that will certainly be appreciated by others. :)
In my 50th year now, I sometimes ponder on the career paths I might have taken. Among them, I linger on the thought of silversmithing. Now a teacher in a tiny two-teacher school in deepest rural Ireland, I liven my functional attire with handcrafted silver pieces – mostly neckpieces and earrings. Wearing a quality piece elevates the outfit, elevates the day and honours my latent inventive self. I would love a wrist piece. I don’t have one that I wear regularly.
We have some wonderful silver and goldsmiths in Ireland, doing graceful, modern things with the ancient metals. Check out maureenlynch.ie or ingereed.ie. Inspiring and inspired work.
Love bracelets. Love silver. I cycle between my cuffs/bracelets but my favourite is one that used to belong to my mother which my father gave her as a souvenir from his business trip to Denmark. Totally elevates any outfit but has the added bonus of memories and sentiment which is really what jewellery is all about, no?
i switch between a silver bangle , given to me by my grandmother years ago , and a gold bangle that belonged to my husband’s grandmother. i love both pieces, not only for the style, but for the sentiment. thanks for the chance to own this beautiful bracelet, it’s very pretty.
Bracelets mean leisure to me, and a looser, more feminine, decorated style. I, like so many, work at a computer all day, and I find bracelets get in the way. So having a little (or not so little, I love a good statement cuff) something on my wrist means I’m off, I’m out, it’s playtime. My favorite bracelet is a strand of sparkly round Swarovski crystal beads – I like it best because it was a gift from a client who was pleased with my work for her.
When I leave my home I wear a vintage (1940’s) Mexican silver link bracelet with obsidian stones and a black Skagen watch, both on the same wrist.
At home on my farm I wear no jewelry.
No need to enter me in the drawing though, I wear the mexican silver exclusively. Just wanted to comment.
Thank you, love your blog!
This July, about 5 days after my husband got a great piece of bad news which would affect our lives hopefully for the short term, I found a bracelet on the sidewalk in front of our house. A silver bangle, it bears the inscription, “All will be well, and all will be well and all manner of thing shall be well” I took this as a sign that everything would turn out the way the universe thought it should. I put on the bangle and haven’t taken it off since. Things aren’t totally ‘well’ yet, but we can see the sunshine peeking through.
I gravitate toward silver jewelry over gold. Living in the East Bay of the SF Bay Area, I am most comfortable with simple clothing styles and use jewelry to accessorize from casual to specal occasion. The Blue NIle bracelet selection is lovely. Thank you for your blog. I appreciate your simple urban edgy style!
I wear an Armani tank watch that I intended to give my first son for his high school graduation. But when his grandmother said she had a watch for him, I put it back in the drawer. One day, when my watch needed a battery and I didn’t have time to run off to my jeweler, I put it on. The bigger face means no readers needed to see the time. I soften it up with silver bangles. Currently wearing one that has “I can” engraved inside, just for me to see.
I love your blog and look forward to every new post–altho I rarely post a comment….. I have 2 favorite bracelets, both purchased when shopping with my daughter. We have matching ones so I love to wear them all of the time. This bracelet would be a lovely addition to my small jewelry collection. Happy late Birthday. Glad you are back.
I don’t have anything to wear on my wrist because of bad fortune. I used to wear a beautiful bangle with the Serenity Prayer. However, I left it in the gym one day and now my wrist is empty. I still wear a Serenity Prayer ring, but I’d love to have a silver bracelet to complement it.
I am hoping this comment is buried long enough after the post date to not sound positively curmudgeonly- yet it •is•.
Practically any competent jeweler in your state or region can make a simple and beautiful bangle, cuff or chain-link model. I never understood the love of Yurman; the stuff is mass-produced and sold at very high markup. I admit to buying a pair of Hardy earrings before I became such a crank on this issue.
Buy (relatively) locally, and should you need a repair, you will also appreciate that.
There are times when buying from afar makes sense: when no one else uses such a technique or has access to rare materials, when you have a passion for, say 1930s Norwegian enamel, or when you are travelling and your heart is stolen by something in a window. But these mass brands are not that.
@Duchesse, ABSOLUTELY! I couldn’t agree. I have lately turned my back on most “jewelry” produced and churned out en masse. I buy from local artists, go to art shows here at the University and buy student pieces! I have even carried in a treasured stone from an old heirloom to have re-done into a current piece- often unorthodoxically set.
@Duchesse, Sorry- meant to say couldn’t agree MORE!!!
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