Brooches - YouLookFab Forum

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Brooches

Katerina

Veteran

Today, Angie posted a great blog post on jackets and cardigans. The model wearing the green jacket was wearing a large brooch and I fell in love with the styling. I am a huge fan of brooches and I have collected quite a few during many years. I used some during the 30x30 challenge (No 1-3). No 4 is a new set of brooches which I found on winter sale a couple of weeks ago.

Are there any brooch lovers out there? It would be great to hear about your favourites, see your favourites and to get some new styling tips etc.

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81 replies

Latest reply was from Inge

ma

Veteran

That huge safety pin is awesome! I've never seen a brooch quite like it before. I also love the way the first one ties in so well with the blazer. I don't own any brooches but I really like your collection.

Cardiff girl

Veteran

These brooches are awesome!Love the safety pin and the bugs.Funnily enough I asked for some bug brooches for Xmas but there were none to be had.

MsMaven

Veteran

I wore them a lot in the 80s--I still have some, but find them harder to wear now. Not sure why--I'll have to think about it.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I have a bunch that I inherited from my mom (and a handful that I wore in the 80s). I haven’t worn them in years — my style is so casual and I rarely wear anything that would suit that kind of accessorization. Yet I keep hanging on to them.

Anonymous

Your collection is fabulous! I have a few bought over the past few years and several from the 80s and a few 1960s and 50s ones. I'll try to round them up and get a pic.
As for inventive ways to style them, I need a few myself.

rachylou

Veteran

Your brooches are fantastic! I have a few vintage ones. My mum has a big collection. It was her thing, so all my brooch buying went for her.

jussie

Veteran

I like your collection- esp number four. I have been wanting to incorporate brooches into my outfits but wondering how. I have one wooden mushroom one, and a butterfly with feathers one.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

KILLET STUNNING brooches.

I have one brooch - and a very special one:

https://youlookfab.com/2015/09.....ul-brooch/

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karen13

Veteran

I love your collection. That safety pin is amazing. I haven’t worn them since the 90s. But they are a great way to add pop in a neat, uncluttered way. I may have to keep an eye out.

JAileen

Veteran

I love your safety pin, but really love your insects, and how you arranged them. Angie’s Yorkie is gorgeous, too.

Here are a few of mine. I made #1-3. I took a jewelry making class at the local community college. I recently bought #4 at a thrift store for 50 cents. It’s kind of silly, but I like it.

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Anonymous

I have a few that I really like, but NEVER wear them. I went through a phase where I put my collection of vintage-y crystal pins on the lapel of an army jacket, and then the same collection of pins on a linen clutch....but that was a few years ago, and I haven't worn any of them since. I don't know what to do with them to make them look "casual" and modern.

jill58

Veteran

I love brooches, particularly those from the 1940s. I used to wear them a lot but, like Lisa, I haven't found a way to make them feel right in my current style incarnation.

Katerina, I should add, I think yours are gorgeous.

The Cat

Veteran

Thank you for this post. I, too, would like to get some ideas for styling brooches.

Yours are so glamorous, and your styling is great. Perhaps, that's the way to go - I mean wearing glamorous brooches ... But I am not very glamorous--more elegant casual or casual elegant.

I must admit that I have struggled a bit with wearing brooches. Sometimes, I think brooches just look "old lady", conservative and boring.

However, I have a few that I really like. One of them is a silver brooch made especially for my beloved grandmother by a friend who was a silversmith, and whom I visited several times as a child. I like the intricate and uniqe style and wear it proudly as a sweet memento of two lovely ladies.

In fall and winter, I also like to wear a fake fur brooch, and some heart-shaped brooches made of wool fabric in different colours.

I wear my brooches on jackets, cardigans, sometimes a coat, and a wool dress. I seldom wear brooches in summer, as I think most of mine are too heavy for summer fabrics. However, in summer I sometimes wear a flower pin on my jacket, blouse or dress.

I may post photos in a couple of weeks, am just too busy and tired now.

Joy

Veteran

I love broaches, especially worn as a group as in your last photo. Yours are amazing and special. I especially like flower and dragonfly motifs. Most I have passed on to my sister who cannot tolerate metal near her skin. A broach on a jacket or collar is a good way to wear some jewellery.

Style Fan

Veteran

Beautiful brooches, Katerina. I love the way you have styled them. I have a few brooches that I wear on occasion. I am on the road so I can not take pictures of them. Two of them were made by artisans. Both are sterling silver. One has an amethyst in it and the other has a turquoise in it. I use to wear them more when I was working.
I inherited my mother's collection of brooches. She had quite a few owl brooches and horses. I am not sure why she had the owls. Both my mother and father loved to go to horse racing.

fashionsl

(website)

Lovely. I think these are going to come back!

Bijou

Veteran

I am like LisaP, I have a couple of brooches, but I don't know how to wear them in a way that looks fresh and modern. I don't know why, but when I wear them on the lapel of a jacket, I feel dated. It may be my brooches that are the issue (crystal with lots of bling). I did see a formal dress where they had a brooch on the waist band that looked good.

Aquamarine

Veteran

Funny, a friend started wearing her broochs on her denim jacket recently, and I’m sort of tempted to haul out the few I have and do the same so they’d see the light of day again. Mine are very sentimental and personal from childhood, so I consider them talismans. They are not very big either.

Aurore

Veteran

Brooches have always been a sign of sophistication for me. The ones of your photos, especially #1 and #4, are perfectly in line with this feeling.

I agree with fashionsl that they may make a come-back : I recently saw some in rather fast-fashion stores (Mango and Accessorize, if I remember well) and several websites. I came across a parrot crystal brooch I loved and hesitated to order - if this thread gives me ideas on how to wear it, I'll definitely go for it!

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lyn67

Veteran

Killer all yours Katherina, and the others too!
I do have 2:an antiqued stainless steel angel and a flower made of zippers, but I would like so much to have a set of 2 or 3, like yours in the last pictie -awesome!! Can you (or somebody else) proviode a link fot sets alike?

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always trying

Veteran

I have a collection too. The last time I remember posting about them on here, maybe 4 yrs ago, I put a few smaller ones on a denim jacket. got so many compliments, especially from young girls like sales clerks. other than wearing them another way to enjoy a collection is to pin them on a matted board and frame them. hang them in your office, dressing area, etc.

SandyG

Veteran

I love butterfly brooches and wear them on a LBD or to trim a lace scarf. But most of the time they alight on a satin envelope on my dresser, 'cause they're pretty and remind me of summer.

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Katerina

Veteran

WOW, so many interesting answers and ideas and thoughts on brooches, thank you ALL so very much and thank you for the lovely compliments!

Angie, what an AMAZING brooch and the story! It is so lovely and touching! No wonder the brooch is so special to you.

JAileen, you have made really fantastic brooches and you have styled them so beautifully with the red jacket - impressive. It must have been fun to learn how to make jewellery. The little dog is adorable and fun! This is what I like about brooches - beautiful and fun and not always braking the bank.

Aurore, the parrot is really beautiful! I hope you find a way to wear it and order it. How big is it? And I agree - brooches can be very sophisticated.

Lyn67, I love both your brooches, they are fabulous. I adore your flower made of zipper - so cool!

Jussie, a wooden mushroom sounds so fun! And a butterfly with feathers - it sound gorgeous.

The Cat - thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas. I think one can wear brooches also in a casual elegant way - it depends on the brooch and the outfit. I can imagine that your wool brooches can be worn in a number of ways and styles. They sound really interesting. And the one which was made for your grandmother sounds so special!

StyleFan, thank you for the kind words. Wow, artisan silver brooches with amethyst and turquoise - they must be lovely! Fun with owl brooches.

Aquamarine, how nice with sentimental brooches from your childhood, I have an old one from my grandmother which is special and sentimental to me. You should try some way to wear them.

Always trying, I really like your idea to pin brooches on a matted board and frame them! Thank you for sharing it.

Anonymous

I love brooches, and have a few from my grandmother (and one that my daughter had us all wear instead of corsages at her wedding), and I'd love to wear them more, so I'll be watching for ideas. I've seen a few that were beautiful, but I haven't purchased them yet. Maybe it's time.

Katerina

Veteran

Sandy G, such a lovely, lovely collection!

Katerina

Veteran

This brooch I wore today.

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Anonymous

Oh, that's pretty! I love the way you've layered your scarves together too! Wow!

kwood

I LOVE the safety pin. Where did you find such a gem? I have a ton. I mostly wear them on denim jackets.

DonnaF

Veteran

It takes me so long to get brooches *just right* that I rarely wear them or once they are on they stay there.

These two wooden birds were made by an internee from found scraps at Tule Lake, the American concentration camp so they date back to the 1940s.

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