What Wendy Wore: The Blogversary Sweater

Ten years ago,  MrB and I visited Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. I wore my Boleyn initial necklace. A photo we took that day was the first picture of myself on this blog, posted on July 27, 2007.

At Hever Castle in 2007. Click for original post.

As I wrote yesterday, I didn’t expect to be making a big commitment when I published my first blog post on July 23, 2007. It was a placeholder post to give me somewhere to start if I ever got a serious urge to blog. I got serious two days later, thanks to Britney Spears.

Spears was going through a terrible time in 2007. In February of that year, she walked into a California hair salon and shaved her head. A couple of days after that, she attacked a photographer’s car with an umbrella. In between that breakdown and the following February, when Spears was first placed under her father’s conservatorship for her own safety, Britney’s people reached out to OK! Magazine and scheduled a cover shoot and interview that was supposed to prove that Spears was, indeed, okay. Things didn’t go as planned, as you can see.

Yep, this is my original copy from 2007.

Instead of talking about her “career comeback” and “clearing up misconceptions,” the then-25-year-old gave OK! a firsthand experience of the “dark side of fame,” as the cover story related.  Britney turned up late; used a silk outfit as a napkin after eating a chicken lunch; and didn’t budge when her Yorkie puppy pooped on a $6,700 Zac Posen gown. The story described her as “disoriented” and “erratic” and noted that she used the restroom repeatedly without closing the door. Finally, she “stormed out,” still wearing the shoot’s borrowed shoes, dress, and jewelry.

Click to enlarge.

The magazine listed the lost and damaged items.

Click to enlarge.

Hello! The poison ring credited to the now-defunct jewelry store called Kaviar and Kind was my 18K gold Borgia ring.

I still carry this style. Click to shop.

I learned about all of this in the middle of the night. My friend Jane — who had decided to do a little light reading on the train — spotted the ring description, had a hunch, and got in touch.  I ran out to a 24-hour magazine stand to get OK! and took a close look at Britney’s hand.

A close-up of the first inside-magazine photo. There’s my ring!

I had to contact the store the next day to get confirmation. They had forgotten to tell me that a freaked-out superstar had run off with my expensive ring six days earlier.

Well! With a crazy story like that plus a brand-new blog, it was clear what I had to do. Maybe I would have started blogging fairly soon anyway, but maybe not, so shout out to Britney for lighting a fire under me.  By the way, OK! paid for the ring and all was forgiven. In fact, I was quite concerned about Britney’s well-being, and I hated people making fun of her for what was obviously mental illness. I’m relieved that she made it through. I like to check her Instagram once in a while, just to see how she’s doing.

As for the ring, the last time I spotted it on Britney was a month after the infamous shoot, on another OK! magazine cover.

Click for original post and close-up of the ring.

Britney, if you need a new Borgia ring, call me! An exchange (for money) can be arranged. It would be fun to see her in newer designs though, like my Queen of Scots snake ring and/or the matching snake tiara. Britney has always worn snakes well.

Anyway, that’s the long version of my “how I started to blog” story.  Back to the Valentino sweater from my first outfit (actually, half of an outfit) blog photo. Click to enlarge.

What Wendy Wore
Sweater: Valentino (probably pre-2007)
T-shirt: Velvet
Jeans: Madewell (2016)
Shoes: Miu Miu (2010)
Purse:  Louis Vuitton (2001)
Necklace: My Boleyn design

Here’s another head-to-toe shot.

I don’t think I’ve ever shown the back before.

I love the texture.

You know what else I love? Meandering through a blog post and only getting to the sweater mentioned in the post’s title after a giant Britney Spears digression. I can’t do that in straight journalism, but here anything goes.

If you didn’t catch my blogversary video yesterday, you can check it out right now and see the sweater in action.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. I’ve got another video coming up this week.