Ninth Blogversary

In 2007, they all told me not to do it. Luxury-goods consultants. The former fashion director of a major department store. My own publicist. Random-ass acquaintances. “Don’t do a blog,” they said. “It will ruin your brand.” “You’re too accessible,” they said. “Luxury is about exclusivity.”

Clearly, I didn’t heed their warnings because today this blog turns nine years old. It’s my ninth blogversary!

In that time, I’ve published over 3,200 posts and have an alarming 300+ unpublished drafts (it might be time to clear some of those out). WordPress claims I’ve approved about 60,000 comments, which seems crazy to me, but I’m not going to attempt to double-check that. And I have no regrets! Thanks to everyone who has purchased jewelry because of this blog; commented on or shared posts; or just read it on the down-low.

In last year’s post about my eighth blogversary, I included links to all the other blogversary content. Re-reading that reminded me that I celebrated my fifth blogversary by changing the motto of my blog from “Wear What You Want” to “Never Is the Next New Thing™.” I started my blog in the heyday of fashion blogs and even though I was promoting my jewelry, all my blog friends were fashion bloggers. I was kind of a fashion blogger by association and “Wear What You Want” was (and is still) my only consistent fashion rule, so a fashion-related motto suited me.

People who wear what they want occasionally wear something so fashion-forward that observers exclaim, “Never! Never will I wear that!” I realized that kind of extreme reaction against any new style can be an indicator that a major trend is about to develop. In fashion, I saw it everywhere from boyfriend jeans (yes, they were controversial) to “mullet” hemlines to my jewelry designs. An example of the latter: In 2008, I couldn’t interest retailers in my swear rings because they were deemed too risque. Four years later, knockoffs that imitated the font I created started popping up in retailers. A new blog motto came out of that: “Never Is the Next New Thing™.” It doesn’t apply to fashion only. Go ahead: Test it out on technology, sports, whatever! I’m sure you’ll find examples.

The blog motto was handled, but I was still searching for a four- or five-word tagline for my eclectic jewelry designs. I tried a lot of different phrases but I wasn’t happy with any of them. If I focused on the pieces inspired by powerful women, I left out my funny social media designs. If I emphasized the social media aspect, I left out the queens and other royal ladies who are near and dear to my heart. When I tried combining the themes in one sentence, it was too long and complicated. Finally, this spring, it hit me that all of my work — whether elaborate or simple, inspired by history or pop culture — is meant for people who appreciate a little humor in their jewelry. Voilà! (Or “wallah!” as people on Twitter sometimes write.) I had my new company tagline: Fine Jewelry for Witty People.

I recently made that the motto for my blog as well. As I wrote earlier this month:

“This blog was started because of a business and it still primarily serves a business purpose, but, at the same time, that business is me and I am that business.”

At the time, I was explaining why I would continue to write about current events, or any non-jewelry-related topic, as much as I felt like doing so. Now I feel like the new motto manages to encompass the jewelry business and hint that there’s more going on here than just jewelry. As a bonus, I’m still amused at the reaction I got from a couple of people when I tested out the new motto on them before plastering it on business cards and pens and teh Interwebz. “But what about the people who aren’t witty? Won’t they feel left out?” worried MrB. I was like, “Dude! What kind of person is going to raise his or her hand and say, ‘I’m not witty’?!?”

Anyway, not only are my readers and customers witty, they’re all fucking gorgeous too. Thanks for sticking with me all these years — or joining me more recently — you clever and attractive people!