Charm's--Part Deux

Remember this from a few weeks back?:

Photo courtesy of The New York Times.com
(Click on photo for enlargement)

According to Jessica Michault at the International Tribune in Paris, all Fall Fashionista's will need to find an attractive way to collect and display their "charm" collections. I have devoted ONE purse to this trend and have handsewn little Mother of Pearl rings around the edges of the purse. Once I have collected a few more ATTRACTIVE (there will be NOTHING larger than my thumb, no stuffed animals and NO CHOPPED UP TELEPHONE CORDS!) charms, I will take a picture of it and show you my take on this trend.

Anyway, here is an excerpt from Jessica Michault's excellent article on Fall's two biggest accessory trends--Charms and Brooches.

...Beneath the razzmatazz and Broadway show productions that some runway collections have become, one discovers that for the true fashionista it's all about the never-ending quest to express one's individuality, one's personal style. Some seasons are more difficult than others in this respect. Be it the quiet, hidden luxury of the early 1990s whose muted message made it hard to stand out. Or the logo mania at the turn of the millennium which so overwhelmed fashion that personalities were lost amid the labels.

But this fall fashionistas can take heart. The trends are all about the fundamental exploration of personal style. And the two must-haves for fashion followers are charms on their bags and brooches on their clothes.

The Gap clothing chain, that launched its fall advertising campaign with the style maverick Sarah Jessica Parker, has even given the movement the perfect tag line, "How do you wear it?" Seen on any number of runways for fall, the choices are limitless. Thereby making it possible to create a look that simultaneously reveals a person's flair and conveys her understanding of what is in vogue.

Call them what you like - tricks, key rings, trinkets, grigri - these charms come in all shapes, sizes and, for the cash-strapped fashionistas, prices. At Prada they descended the runway in the form of robots, animals and hearts. At Marni they were shaped like wool pom-poms. And at Dior the trinkets looked like a pair of oversized dice with the word "Dior" stamped on every die. They are to be worn not only on bags, but also clipped onto belts. The charms are also friendly unisex accessories that both men and women can mix and match or even trade among friends like children on a playground looking to make a deal for the most sought after Pokemon card.

The other indispensable accessory for fall is the brooch. On the runway they were worn alone on a large collar or in groups of three clustered together at the shoulder. Brooches were pinned to the hip of dresses or wrapped around sweaters and even used as hair clips to add a bit of sparkle to a hairdo. There was the oversized brooch at Lanvin that looked like an explosion of fireworks, the stag heads at Stella McCartney and the creepy crawly spiders at Viktor Rolf, and of course there were retro-inspired brooches scattered throughout the collections. Each designer gave his own interpretation of how he would incorporate a brooch into a fall ensemble, now it's the public's turn to make this trend its own.

And just like with the charms, buying a brooch won't break the bank. Most of the brooches found at top-name fashion houses are a more affordable alternative to this season's designer handbag or shoes. And for some the perfect brooch can be found as close at hand as the family heirloom in grandma's jewelry box. Making it not only a fashionable choice but a sentimental one as well.