Rocking our Parures

I went to a Regency 12th Night party this weekend, and it was spectacular.  One of the best things about it is that there were 7 people there wearing my jewelry, so I got a chance to see how it looked.  Even better, the party was lit entirely with candles and fireplaces, so I REALLY got to test out the effect in firelight.  I was NOT disappointed.

First up, here I am in my 18x13 citrine parure:

I'm wearing a necklace, two bracelets, and single stone earrings.  

Here's the full set when it isn't on: 

Reproduction Citrine Parure (Click for link to Etsy)

I made a custom Citrine parure for Jenny-Rose (the famous Jenny la Fleur) out of graduated stones.  I thought her double stone earrings were particularly lovely!

Jenny-Rose working her hair magic on our hostess!

And I had another custom parure for Leia (of Wear When Why), which she debuted that evening.  She chose the 18x13 Peridot stones for her parure, and these things were spectacular in the firelight.  The foil-backing really makes them shine.  Gorgeous!

I don't have a full parure listed, but the necklace and earrings are available on Etsy (and I'll be happy to make you a full set if you would like!

Peridot Collet and matching Earrings (demi-parure)

And finally, the two lovely ladies side-by-side, and a little blurry!

Sadly, there were a number of other ladies there but all of my pictures of them are blurry messes!  A good excuse for us to get together in our finery again!

Girandole earrings in 18th Century Paintings

When I started testing out the designs for my reproduction girandole earrings, I was a little worried that they were too large.  Here's a crappy picture of me wearing the largest I offer, so you can get a sense of the scale:

These Girandoles are about 2 inches long and are available here. 

Then I started looking for images of girandole earrings in 18th Century paintings and HOLY SMOKES, those women were not afraid of wearing some incredibly large pieces of jewelry!

I call this collection "Do these earrings make my bling look big?"

(Note: almost all of these are detail shots of larger and lovely paintings!)

Portrait of Maria Francisca Pignatelli by Anton Mengs, before 1769

Self Portrait with Daughters by Antoine Pesne, 1754

Catherine the Great by Aleksey Antropov, 1760-1770

Charlotte of Mecklinberg by Thomas Frye, 1761

Infanta Maria Ludovica by Anton Mengs, Prior to 1779

Maria Luisa de Parma by Anton Mengs, 1765

Juliane Marie, Queen of Denmark by Unknown, 18th Century

Portrait of Princess Ekaterina by Ivan Arguvnov, 1754

Maria Luisa de Bourbon by Anton Mengs, Prior to 1779

Maria Amalia of Austria by Martin van Meytens, 1760s

Queen Charlotte at her Dressing Table by John Zoffany, 1764

So the lesson I leave you with, lovers of Georgian sparkles, is please do not fear the giant rhinestones.  Especially if you are an 18th-Century Aristocrat!