inspiration: ancient everywhere

“…nowadays even men wear gold bracelets…women wear gold…covering their fingers and their necks, ears, and hair, gold chains run at random round their waists, and little bags of pearls hang invisible, suspended by gold chains from their owners’ necks…even their feet are shod with gold…”

                                       — Pliny, Natural History, about AD 77-79

The MFA currently has exhibitions devoted to ancient Mediterranean as well as ancient Nubian jewelry, this in addition to the already impressive jewelry/adornment collections they have anyway. Add to this the incredible style of various sculptures and paintings (especially ancient sculptures, for me), and the MFA is non-stop style inspiration. I kept finding just exactly the accessories I’ve been looking for, only some several thousand years too late to purchase at market.

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In all seriousness, how did this ever go out of style?

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Finger ring of Taharqa. In all seriousness this is exactly what I have been looking for.

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Sublime.

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Actually I have something a bit like this…

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Exactly. 

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This is like the mama scarab to my little pendant.

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Now that is a sandal.

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This is an interesting hair situation. I need to think about this. 

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Above: Lessons in drapery. Below: Further lessons in drapery.

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Photo Credit: Chris Bennett

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Photo Credit: Chris Bennett

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Photo Credit: Chris Bennett

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Where even to begin with these maenads? Mavens of floral garlands (I’m taking notes) and all manner of organic accessories.

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Photo Credit: Chris Bennett

If you spot anything reminiscent of these things on polyvore, drop me a line. Seriously.

Please.

In the meantime I’ll just go back (becoming a member is pretty reasonable, and there are special events) and visit them. Sketch them. Design outfits around them…

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Photo Credit: Chris Bennett

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Photo Credit: Chris Bennett

Found several charming interpretations of my namesake as well.

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weekend distraction: the Mabel dress

Came across this dress on pinterest recently, the Mabel dress from Curator,  and it is everything I want it to be; loose, soft, luxe, simple, light. It shows what is to me just the right amount of skin in the cut around the arms and throat. And pockets! Love the jade color in the second image particularly.

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Basics are notoriously hard to get right. Like a T-shirt or jeans, it’s difficult to find a dress that fits well and drapes well and genuinely suits one. This one is very near the top of my wishlist at the moment. This was my introduction to Curator, a small brand out of San Francisco created by two friends in 2001, and I’m going to investigate further on the strength of this piece.

images from curatorsf.com