Before I started dating the gorgeous MrB in 1998 (thanks to the intervention of my late dog, Mr. Chubbs), I’d barely worn jewelry in years. Once in a blue moon, I’d wear a sapphire ring my parents got me for my 16th birthday, and I got a chunky silver ring during a trip to Dublin in 1996. MrB wanted me to sparkle, so he bought me many beautiful pieces between 1998 and 2005, when I went into the jewelry business myself. He started with a pair of small diamond studs by Linda Lee Johnson, purchased at Barneys. They were a surprise gift — no birthday or holiday was involved. I had never gotten such a fancy present in my life, so I dragged my sister to Barneys to find out how much the pair cost. Classy!
If MrB hadn’t been so generous with the jewelry on every birthday, holiday and anniversary, I wouldn’t have started Wendy Brandes Jewelry. I went quickly from being astonished by a pair of studs to walking through jewelry sections and saying, “Oh, we’ve seen all this before. It’s old.” I started to yearn for things that didn’t exist, especially poison rings. Finally, I started making those pieces — starting with my Borgia poison ring — and before I knew it, I’d left the corporate world to do jewelry full time.
The Medici was my second poison ring. It will be on sale on August 16 and 17.
I do miss having MrB surprise and dazzle me with jewelry. Even worse, all the jewelry MrB gave me pre-2005 is languishing in a vault except, of course, my self-designed engagement and wedding rings from 2001. I’m very sentimental about the old jewelry, but can’t wear it because it always leads to this exchange:
Random person: That’s a beautiful necklace! Is it your design?
WendyB: No.
That’s not a good conversation for me. There’s no reason for me to be promoting other designers’ work if they’re not promoting mine in return. If we could have an exchange of services … maybe. Until then, all the old pieces gather dust.
I was pondering this situation recently and suddenly thought, “Watches!” MrB bought me watches and I don’t design watches. I could wear those! I stopped wearing watches late in 2005, not long after I stopped wearing non-WendyB jewelry. Like a lot of people, I got in the habit of relying on my cell phone to tell time. I was my own boss, so I didn’t have to check my watch constantly to see if I was going to be late for a meeting about a future meeting. (Yes, we had meetings about meetings at my last corporate job.) Of course, all my watch batteries had died over the past five years. As I was packing for our trip to Paris last month, I grabbed the Hermès watch MrB gave me for our first wedding anniversary, figuring we’d walk by the store and I could have the watch rejuvenated at the mother ship.
Voila! Photo by Jennine of The Coveted.
I couldn’t be happier! I finally get to wear a MrB gift again. (By the way, he picked out that watch all by himself. Impressive, no?) I also realized how inconvenient it’s been to fish out a phone and press a button to tell time. Now I can gauge my lateness with a quick glance at my wrist and save the phone for texting people things like, “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”
Oddly, the word “watch” makes me think of Gone With the Wind. In the novel — OMG! SPOILER ALERT! — Scarlett O’Hara’s father and, later, her daughter both die in horse-jumping accidents after calling out, “Watch me take this one!” The movie changed the dialogue and little Bonnie Butler only says, “Mommy, Daddy, watch me … Watch me, Daddy.” Here is Bonnie’s fatal jump acted out by plastic frogs and a zebra because … well, I don’t know why it would occur to anyone to act out this scene with plastic frogs, but here it is anyway.
UPDATED TO ADD: Jennine took a picture of my watch on the day she was visiting me to photograph/interview me for her Eat, Sleep, Denim blog. Read her post here.
UPDATED AGAIN TO ADD: MrB reminds me that I was so thrilled with that first pair of earrings that I wore them to the gym to show them off to some chick who was always snarkily asking me whether or not I had a boyfriend. All my customers know I’m VERY against wearing jewelry to the gym, so you see how big a deal those earrings were.
UPDATED A THIRD TIME TO ADD: Gorgeous blogger Lara of My Milk Glass Heart asked me a good question in the comments: Why not redesign all my old jewelry like I do for customers? I answered her in the comments but for ease of reading I’ll answer again here. I will, indeed, eventually redesign a few pieces that have no design value. In other words, my gray pearl on a chain is just … a pearl on a chain. The pearl is gorgeous but the setting has no particular aesthetic value and I feel free to change it. The pieces that stay in the vault are signature pieces of work by fairly well-known designers. Most of the value is in their elaborate design. If I take apart an aquamarine-beaded choker with diamond and platinum accents, I’ll end up with a mess of not-very-valuable aquamarine beads that I would have to string into another choker. I’d lose all the value of the designer’s labor without adding much to the look, while spending a lot of money on labor myself. When I redesign, I want to increase value, beauty and/or wearability. My designer jewelry is valuable and beautiful as is, just not particularly appropriate for me right now because it’s better for my business to promote my own work.
Also, the redesign of my old pieces is last on my list of priorities, after my clients and my collection. I only want to spend the time and money to work on my own projects if the results expand my line. My biggest redesign for myself was my engagement ring. As I’ve said before, my engagement ring and wedding band were my first major designs. However, the person who was producing my designs (who later became my business partner) was against my original idea for my engagement ring. She thought it was too wild and I would get tired of it. I did a more conservative design, but never forgot the one I really wanted. My business partner died in 2006. Not long after, I had an accident and badly sprained two fingers on my left hand. My ring finger never went back to its pre-accident size, so I needed to re-size my engagement ring. As I was working on that, I realized this was my chance to switch to my original design. I made myself this ring. The new design was later seen by one of my clients, who asked me to redesign her ring in that style, as I posted here. That was a very happy ending … and I’m not tired of my ring.
I love it and I always will.
If I can find a picture of my original design, I’ll add it here.
UPDATED SEPTEMBER 4, 2010, TO ADD: Oh no! Bonnie Butler has died for real. RIP, Cammie King.
What a wonderful gift Mr. B has given you and I am speaking of how his gifts inspired you to create—that is even better than the Hermes watch( and that is a GORGEOUS watch).
GREAT watch. Like you, I stopped wearing a watch when I started carrying around a cell phone full time, but after my in-laws bought me a gorgeous luxury-brand watch as a wedding gift last year, I am back on watches again. It rarely comes off my wrist.
But having this beautiful watch also made me want to have MORE beautiful watches, so I currently have my eye on a gold one with a pearl face. What a greedy bitch I have become.
Now that I’m wearing watches again, I also like looking at others. Often I look at them in store windows and silently taunt them by thinking, “My watch is nicer than you.”
Um, ME TOO. I did this in Cannes and felt pretty good about myself. HA!
No surprise that Mr. B has divine taste in jewelry. He’s married to you after all!
That video is disturbing on so many levels…
Is it wrong that I laughed at that frog re-enactment of Bonnie’s death?
Nope. It would be wrong if you cried, threw yourself on the floor and screamed, “WHYYYYYYYYYYY?????”
I’ve been saying I’m going to replace my watch battery for about a year now. 🙂 Of course, while yours is the fine Hermes, mines’s an old Swatch so uh…. yeah. However, in a sign I may finally be growing up, I am actually finding tiny dainty lady watches attractive instead of giant lumpy crazy watches, as is my norm. Either that or I’m ill.
I also love your poison rings actually. Believe it or not (and sit down before you read this next part, darling!) I am usually not a fan of diamonds for the most part. The occasional one here or there takes my fancy but as a norm I prefer more colourful stones. There I said it. I’m some sort of commie hippie who doesn’t love diamonds. Not that I’d turn down a big, square, clear one if offered, you understand.
I really love everything about this post…the amazing generosity and love of Mr B, the Hermes watch, the candid truth about that terrible exchange due to wearing other jewelry, and your hillarious selection of the frog and zebra video. It’s all wonderful!
Lovely watch- Mr. B has great taste in women AND jewelry. Aw… the sad vid almost makes Miss J cry.
But you didn’t feel like falling to the ground and screaming, “WHY?????? WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE LITTLE BONNIE BUTLER?????”
Hurrah! The return of the watch!
And thank you for my daily dose of frog/zebra surrealism.
MrB has amazing taste! No wonder he married such a stylish lady.
Aw, this is such a beautiful post and your MrB sounds super amazing – he always sounded amazing, but now this is super amazing, if this makes any sense? lol Anyways, it’s a pity to hear you can’t wear his gifts any more, but I totally understand where you’re coming from and thus very happy to hear you figured out you could still wear watches!! (Now we all need to keep you away from designing watches!!)
P.S. Btw, bejeweled mask is a good idea 🙂 I’ve always fancied those masks that resemble a monkey’s mouth by some Japanese designer, and thinking of jewels now… It could be totally crazy to have that “monkey” grinning and showing off her yellow (diamond) teeth bwahahaha
Fortunately, when I start designing bras for sale, I’ll still be able to wear the ones I love, but didn’t make 🙂
You definitely win with that watch. Gorg!
I absolutely adore that watch!SarahD:)
MrB is just too gorgeous for words and the watch is lovely-not as gorgeous as WendyB jewellery of course, but very close!!
Wendy, I love your watch! Jack gave me an Hermes watch that I’ll wear forever. I’ rather sell a kidney than eBay it.
I agree! Never give that one up!
I’d love to see those epic earrings on you!
I’m digging Mr. B’s generosity…you have a good one there, Wendy.
Teeheehee, I love the other-peoples-jewellery conversation killer.
You know, poison rings are really quite useful in our mdoern society. I mean, half of us have to take crazy pills nowadays right? Why not dose ourselves out of an attractive accessory!
Ah yes great watch selection! Well done MrB. xx
Watches rock! Yay to Hermes watches lol!
MrB has great taste in jewelry (not to mention a fantastic sense of humour as evidenced by the update at the end of the post and his appreciation for Family Guy!).
I love the story of Mr.Chubbs and your mister. I cant believe someone could refer to your loved one as a kick dog!!!
Anyways – I have been feeling the same thing about watches and how they’re being replaced by mobiles.
Seeing your classic beauty makes me think that my wrist needs to get in on this too.
Oh where to start?
You are soo funny. I love that you love him so much you want to desperately where something he gave you. You two are an amazing couple.
omg, i knew when i saw you wearing a watch that’s what was going on. there’s a whole world of watches out there, and you look gorgeous with them… oh, and pocket watches…
mr.b. must be happy he can give you something sparkly again. 🙂
Oh my Gawd, that ring is so classy! You probably look so “elegant” when you wear it. It’s “effortless” style! LOL
The ring is seriously unreal. Who would not be dying to have it?
I felt really sad for that poor little froggie 🙁 I knows she’s plastic, but…
i love this post because i love to hear stories about you and mr. b. too cute;)
The earrings had to be a big deal if you wore them to the gym.
Mr.B has great taste in wives, jewelry, and watches.
(we all know what happens to silver lotus necklaces when we wear them to the gym.)
That is one beautiful ring, but since the use of poison is a bit of a no no these days, what can we put in there? Solid perfume? Drugs maybe?
Id probably stuff the space with powdered sweetarts if I could afford the sparkly one.
Oh btw Wendy have you read The Red Queen? I’m on the fence about buying it with so many conflicting reviews so if you have, what say you?
xx
People always ask me what I put in my poison rings and the answer is … nothing. The best part of the poison ring is showing it off to other people and you can’t do that with all kinds of stuff in it. Love your idea of Sweetarts for a sugar emergency though.
I do have one locket — the Mia — that is designed for solid perfume, and my Victoria buckle ring should always have an inscription in it.
I’m going to pass on that book. It doesn’t sound very promising and I’ve got a lot of high-quality books to read.
It breaks my heart that you’re not wearing his gifts. Have you considered reworking them like you’ve done for others or would that ruin the sentimental/inherent value in them?
Excellent question. I am indeed going to work with a couple pieces have little or no design value to them. A plain gray pearl on a chain is a gray pearl I’ll happily make into a more interesting pendant. But for the others, most of their value was in the design, and that’s where my sentiment is, not in the stones. Remember, I can get all the gems I want so I don’t feel the strong attachment to any particular ones that my customers do. Also, a lot of the pieces MrB got me are made with semi-precious stones that don’t have the value of diamonds that I usually do redesigns with. If I disassembled one serious choker I have, I’d end up with a couple of hundred aquamarine beads that I’d have to restring into…another choker? It wouldn’t be worth the labor.
As far as the ones I can redesign…my own projects are my last priority after all the work I’m doing for customers so don’t hold your breath!
OT: Thanks for the scoop on your site.
got it!
Would love to see you do a super modern interpretation w/ pearls a la the Yamamoto & Mikimoto colab.
oooh aquamarine is my birthstone! I’ve gotta see this choker! If it’s just strands and strands, maybe you could still wear it now since it’s not metal-centric like a lot of your work. I saw that chokers are making a comeback!
The more you talk about Mr. B., the nicer and nicer he seems.
That poison ring is so Gaga-tastic. Love it.
Mr. B has fantastic taste. =D
I wear jewelry to the gym all the time and haters eye my stash every session…sorry it’s not F21 pieces like they are wearing – LOL!
Gorgeous MrB is one of the classiest gentlemen I have EVER met. I am so glad you are able to wear the stunning watches he got for you. There is nothing more STUNNING than a beautiful piece of jewelry worn on a beautiful woman like yourself dahling<3
A beautiful watch, I would definitely wear that. What a lovely hubs to get you all that jewellery.
I am LOLing at the gym story. That is highlarious!
I also love my watch. It is a chunky men’s Tag Heuer that my dad bought before I even existed, with the strap shortened so I can wear it. I couldn’t imagine not wearing a watch xx
how sweet, Mr B clearly has exquisite taste, and I love all of your creations!!! you’re a genius babe, mwah!!! xoxo
It’s hard to imagine you ever weren’t a jewelry person. That Mr B sounds impossibly romantic. You’re a lucky girl!
And if I had access to your collection I’d never wear another brand either.
Lara, the choker is not just strands of beads. It is a signature piece of a well-known designer, of which she made just a few. The value is in the design of the piece, not its parts. It would be like taking apart my Marie Antoinette ring. You’d have a big amethyst, a handful of tsavorite and a lump of gold. The value of the components wouldn’t begin to compare to the value of the intact piece, which is handmade and exquisitely set. It’s not something like a simple diamond solitaire which has no design whatsoever. There, the value is in the stone.
I love that Hermes watch.. it made me gasp! Major points to Mr B! xx
Oh Mr B is such a gent – you’ll just have to wear his jewelry around the house. I’m going to leave my computer on with this blog post on view for Mr TNMA to read!
I just went back to read the Mr. Chubbs post – love it! Way to go Mr. B!
And what a doll Chubbs was, I can imagine scrunching his little face and giving him kissies.
I like the diamonds living around the watch. I have opted for a similar detail. Lady-like and subtle at the same time.
snazzy watch.
Lovely blog!
I would like to invite you to mine – I think you will really like it :))
Also, the main reason for my invitation is that I want to invite you to join my Challenge – just click on the link at the very top of my left sidebar and see what it is – I hope you will find it exciting 🙂
In any case – I hope you enjoy my blog and of course feel free to follow me if you do! 😉
Much love,
Sabina.
xxx
you nabbed yourself one nice, classy and generous man! lucky you!
and i LOVE that ring you designed. absolutely gorgeous, and i wish i had a nice man to buy it for me!
Beautiful gift! Lucky U!
♥
I like your functional unique designs.
Off to a meeting about a meeting… Maybe fill out some TAC requests.
I’m in awe of your ring, how beautiful!
My own engagement ring is an antique and similar in design, a larger diamond with smaller diamonds surrounding on a flat surface ( I thinks it’s prob 30s) but this is like super pimped out version! Ah-mazing!!
xxx
POison ring? It is soooo cool! I am crazy about your art my dear friend Wendy.
love,
Kira
Let’s hear it for watches! I too have become dependent on the phone to tell time — but after finally upgrading to the BlackBerry (a life-saver) I find myself peering into the drawer of watches — spendy ones, cheap ones, funny ones, each with a story — and hankering to take them out all at once for new batteries. Something civilized and nostalgic about my grandmother’s lovely gold watch with the tilted face (and a fine designer), a watch that WINDS!Thanks for this post. It’s very romantic.
Mr B has fab taste Wendy! I could live in a hermes shop, fix a tv cable box + tivo…& I’m all set!