When I turned 21, I asked my father for a pearl necklace. Instead, he gave me pearl studs. I cried. There were mitigating circumstances. My parents had just divorced and many things otherwise tolerable made me cry. Being the sort of father who really didn't mean to make me sad, he then took me to visit the pearl dealer a friend of mine had recommended. And bought a strand of matched 7mm Mikimotos. Which you will see below, because I had them made into something else. What? Pearls are flexible like that.
And finally, the pearls of our 50's. It's possible to gain confidence with age. Pearl audacity may follow. Purple gray earrings in 22k, with diamonds, a present from my mother. An 8.5mm necklace, 8.5-9mm earrings with small diamond accents, the original necklace from my father now a 3-strand bracelet. And yes, I will wear all the white ones together for the right occasion. With impunity. Because I play the Grande Dame as often as I can carry it off. For work, however, just the necklace, with diamond studs. Took me into the New York Stock Exchange and back out alive in September 2008. As the stock market fell around us. A cameraman tried to interview me as I walked down Wall Street. I told him I had nothing to say. Seriously.
On New Year?s Day 1903, Gardner invited the cream of Boston society to her new home, Fenway Court, which she had designed to resemble a 15th-century Venetian palace.
Legend has it that she greeted her quests sitting at the top of the stairs, her string of perfectly matched pearls cascading down the staircase. This event officially opened her home, museum and art to the public.
The Gardner?s 2,500-piece collection consists of rare manuscripts and books, paintings, sculptures, textiles and ceramics from throughout Italy, Asia, China, France and America. Most famous among her paintings are those of Gardner by her great friend, John Singer Sargent, who is known to have said "Mrs. Gardner does more for my paintings than I ever could."
One Christmas when my mother was a girl, she received a string of pearls from her father. Since her parents were divorced-an unusual situation in the 1950s-she treasured the pearls as a sign of her father’s love. When he passed away her senior year in high school, the pearls took on even greater significance.
When I was growing up, my mother talked often about the pearls, but my sister and I never saw them. Mom kept them safe in their silk-lined velvet box tucked in her jewelry box. For dressy occasions, she wore other nice jewelry, but never the pearls. The pearls were too precious to wear.
What if the strand broke and even a single pearl was lost? What if the clasp broke and she lost them forever? She couldn’t risk it. Better to keep them cocooned in silky security.
When my mother offered to let me wear her pearls on my wedding day, I was deeply touched. This was more than “something old” or “something borrowed,” but a sign that she trusted me and loved me.
Hats and opera gloves might have been dispensed with, but like first ladies of the past, pearls are Mrs. Obama's favorite adornment, only Michelle Obama admires pearls, both real and paste, of every size shape and color.
Pearls and other 'gems' make up her 'important', sometimes whimsical brooches, which like Jacqueline Kennedy, she sometimes wears in unusual ways.
But Michelle Obama like Mrs. Roosevelt also was fond of exotic and unusual jewels like jet or jade beads.
A mysterious pearl necklace that may have once belonged to Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, will be auctioned off by Bonhams in New York in December. Automotive billionaire Horace Elgin Dodge purchased the necklace from Cartier in Paris in 1920 for his wife Anna Thomson Dodge at the astonishing price of $825,000 - about $8 million in today's dollars.
The original Cartier invoice states that the "five row pearl necklace, consisting of 389 pearls weighing 4305 grains" was accompanied by an "enamel clasp representing Catherine, Empress of Russia" and "two diamond alternate clasps." Several newspaper accounts from the '20s suggested that the pearls did indeed once belong to Catherine; Anna Thomson Dodge's heirs maintain that Horace bought the pearls from Cartier on that basis.
Black Dress, White Pearls Shine in First Lady's Portrait
First lady Michelle Obama is wearing a black, sleeveless dress and white pearls in her official portrait, which was unveiled Friday by the White House.
The first lady's photo was taken earlier this month by White House photographer Joyce N. Boghosian in the Blue Room of the White House.
Pearl A. "Ducky" Warner, 85, Pembine, formerly of Green Bay, passed away Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009, at a Green Bay hospital. She was born on Jan. 4, 1924, to Charles and Ella Mae (Pope) Rhodes. In 1946, she married Robert "Red" Warner; he preceded her in death on Aug. 30, 2008. Pearl was a bookkeeper for WG&R for 45 years prior to retiring. She was a member of First United Methodist Church, Green Bay, and Elks Ladies of the Green Bay Elks Lodge #259, where she served as bookkeeper for five years.
She is survived by one son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Susan Warner, Pembine, Wis.; one granddaughter, Christina Warner-Hermsen (Eric); one grandson, Jay Warner (partner, Jim Baltus); two great-grandchildren Hunter and Mariah Hermsen; one sister and brother-in-law, Evelyn and John Fiest, Green Bay; nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
In addition to her parents and husband, Pearl was preceded in death by one grandson, Steven, and three sisters, Laverne Hine, Lucille Kehler and Luella Lindsley.
Queen Elizabeth will give her annual Christmas speech on TV at 3PM, Christmas Day. Often she has worn her favorite three strands of pearls that go with everything. They were worn with yellow in her first broadcast in 1957 when she was only 31 and queen for five years, with light blue in another and magenta in another. Maybe seeing the queen in these traditional, expensive pearls gives her subjects comfort....or maybe they give her comfort.
In 2002, the year of the Golden Jubilee, the Queen wore turquoise and the reliable three stands of pearls once again.
In 2003, the Queen repeated a prayer from St Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits:
Teach us good Lord
To serve thee as thou deservest;
To give, and not to count the cost;
To fight, and not to heed the wounds;
To toil, and not to seek for rest.
To labour, and not to ask for any reward;
Save that of knowing that we do thy will.
"It is this knowledge," the Queen concluded, "which will help us all to enjoy the Festival of Christmas."
Seach KariPearls under "People" and "Places" for my review of the movie, "The Queen", about Queen Elizabeth, and for my visit to the Buckingham palace pearl shop.
The wearing of pearls is steeped in history and tradition. Style masters, celebrities and other famous women have influenced today's world of fashion. Pearls have proven themselves a safe political choice for former first lady Barbara Bush, who often wore a three-strand short necklace, and current first style icon Michelle Obama, photographed in an oversized strand of pearls.
The Tiffany pearl bracelet, earrings, necklace and brooch given to Mary Todd Lincoln by President Abraham Lincoln on his first inauguration reside in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Queen Elizabeth I is said to be one of the best-known lovers of pearls and always wore seven ropes of pearls that reached to her knees.
NEW YORK — Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama are at opposite ends of the style spectrum. McCain is very proper in brightly colored dresses with matching jackets; Obama is more dramatic in bell sleeves with an occasional flash of cleavage.
"There's no way they could be sisters and exchange clothes," says image consultant Ginger Burr. They do, however, have a shared affinity for bead necklaces, particularly pearls - and the chunkier the better.
Obama, just named to Vanity Fair's International Best Dressed List alongside the likes of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and Sarah Jessica Parker, wore a single strand of large, white pearls around her neck with a purple dress and funky black belt when her husband claimed the Democratic nomination.
KUALA LUMPUR: Glam and glitter will be the order of the day at the Ford Supermodel of the World Malaysia 2009 finale on Saturday with the winners strutting away with RM166,000 worth of pearl jewellery.
Rafflesia Pearl Centre will re-ward the male and female winners with RM50,000 worth of jewellery each, RM20,000 and RM10,000 for the first and second runners-up respectively in both the male and female categories.
All top 10 finalists will also walk away with fine pearls. The contestants will wear Rafflesia jewellery on the catwalk.
“A good model must be able to carry jewellery well. She has to know how to draw attention to the pieces she’s wearing. The finale will be more glamourous with these pearls,” said the show’s executive producer, supermodel Amber Chia (pic), after a sponsorship presentation ceremony yesterday.
She was just 13 when both her parents died. Left out in the cold by fate, Pearl Jasra would later rediscover herself in Amritsar's slums. Today at 24, she plays mom to over 120 orphaned and destitute children, playing with them, teaching them, partying with them and praying with them.
But she conceals her woes carefully behind her pretty face. "I would have gone into depression had it not been for Kamini... she was more miserable than I was,'' she says, looking back to the time when she lost her parents. "It was then that I resolved not to let anyone pity me. I wanted to be a source of inspiration for others." A scrawny two-year-old then, Kamini, an orphan who used to accompany the domestic help working for Pearl's Christian mother Virginia Joycee and Hindu-Brahmin father Kanwal Kishore Jasra, is now nine and growing well.
That's history, though. These days, a cacophonous bunch of children, aged four to 15 years, troop in at about 3.30 pm to a five-room residence - Pearl's only legacy left behind by her parents who used to run Miranda Modern School, which no longer exists. With support from her environmentalist maternal uncle, Ernest Albert, who brought her up, Pearl teaches the kids life skills, alphabets, a little arithmetic and language.
Inner beauty pearls produced by irritating trials...
Two prisoners looked out of the window. One saw the bars and the other saw the stars. I love pearls. They come in different array of colors like white, pink, blue or the rare ones which are the black pearls. They are magical and feminine, and the only gems which come from a living organism which is an oyster. But these lovely gems started as “irritants”. These irritants are mostly sand that gets inside the oyster shells. To protect itself, the oyster tries to cover these foreign bodies with layers of pearly substance known as “nacre” which gives the pearl a unique appearance and iridescent glow. As time goes by, these so called irritants become pearls.
In life , we meet people or trials that may irritate us, yet somehow they produce life enduring values like patience, love, long-suffering humility or faith.
Mastoloni pearls and Tyra Banks grace the cover of September’s Harper’s Bazaar
In a stunning and elegant seven-page fantasy sequence in September’s Harper’s Bazaar, supermodel Tyra Banks channels Michelle Obama while wearing exquisite and breathtaking pearls that only Mastoloni, one of America’s exclusive producers of fine pearl creations, could design.
From single strands of perfect pearl necklaces and bracelets to bold baroque double strands, Mastoloni’s craftsmanship has never looked so classy and luxurious than on Banks. Three fabulous Mastoloni designs grace the pages of Harper’s Bazaar, the American fashion bible, and the prospective First Lady and iconoclastic supermodel only complement some of Mastoloni’s finest creations.
Collection of Delightful Mother & Daughter Pearl Stories
England's Queen Elizabeth II wore pearls at her 1947 wedding. She gave daughter-in-law-to-be Diana Spencer the dangling pearl and diamond tiara, called the Cambridge Love Knot, for Diana's wedding to Prince Charles in 1981.
Thirty-five years ago, Suzie Legg of Wallback "was a young lady head over heels with my Prince Charming." In planning her perfect wedding, she asked her mother if she could wear her pearls on her wedding day. Her mother said no.
"For some reason, I took her answer in stride and didn't let it bother me," she remembered.
Then right before her father started to escort her down the aisle, he stopped and took something from his pocket. "Your mother and I want you to have these," he said, placing a beautiful strand of new pearls around her neck.
Queen Elizabeth, wearing a Three Strand Pearl Necklace, gives somber Christmas broadcast
by PAISLEY DODDS
LONDON (AP) — Britain's Queen Elizabeth II delivered a somber Christmas broadcast Thursday, acknowledging how the economic crisis has cast a shadow over the traditional festive season.
"Christmas is a time for celebration, but this year it is a more somber occasion for many," the 82-year-old monarch said in the prerecorded message from Buckingham Palace's Music Room.
In this year's address, she stood in front of a grand piano covered with photographs of Prince Charles, Princes William and Harry and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played the piano for the queen earlier this month.
The queen wore a beige dress and a three-stringed pearl necklace — her favorite piece of jewelry given to her by her grandfather, George V — and a heart-shaped brooch inherited from Queen Mary. The brooch is set with part of the Cullinan diamond.
Well, poor Marie Antoinette never got to wear her natural pearls again...but maybe YOU can. They'll be up for auction at Christie's in London on Wednesday, December 12, 2007.
Marie's necklace containing 33 natural pearls, diamonds and rubies is expected to bring 400,000 British Pounds. That's somewhere around a million US dollars.
Apparently, Marie Antoinette gave her pearl necklace to Lady Sutherland, Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, the wife of the British Ambassador in Paris, in hopes it would be returned to her once again after her escape from France.....which, of course, never happened.
Marie Antoinette was executed by guillotine on 16 October, 1793.
I have seen Marie Antoinette's death mask at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London. The museum also claims to have the guillotine used for her execution. It can be seen at Madame Tussaud's which is one of London's most famous attractions.
With such buzz around Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, it’s hard to believe that Bam could be upstaged. But, recently, his wife, Michelle Obama, has managed to turn some of the most judgmental heads with her picture-perfect fashion sense.
In the ultimate coup on June 8, the Style section of the New York Times wrote approvingly of Michelle’s shift dresses and preppy hairdo, titling their piece, "She Dresses to Win.” (Well, actually, maybe impressing Vogue would be the ultimate coup.)
A hallmark of Michelle’s look? One (or two!) strands of huge (fake?) pearls.
Pearls have always denoted a classy broad. Actress Audrey Hepburn wore a pearl choker for her iconic role as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and more recently Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl (CBS, TWX)and Carrie Bradshaw in the Sex and the City (TWC) film adorned themselves in pearls.
Beauty Kelly Brook re-enacts infamous scene from 60s "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
KELLY Brook oozes Audrey Hepburn's classic beauty in this picture.West End actress Kelly, posing complete with pearls and a cigarette holder, looks every inch the sophisticated screen siren as she re-enacts this infamous scene from Breakfast At Tiffany's.
In another, the model dons a blonde bob and spins in a meadow as Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music.
But the 29-year-old makes a less convincing Harrison Ford, as she lashes a whip in Indiana Jones get-up.
She's always been creative. Davis could not read or write — she was barely 4 — when she got her first taste of earning a profit with words.
Her parents wanted to enter a contest put on by a jewelry store in their hometown of Akron, Ohio. The challenge: Name a water nymph on a beach at sunrise holding a lustrous pearl.
"I looked at the picture and said, 'A virgin pearl?' Certainly, I knew what a pearl was but not the word virgin," she says.
Her spontaneous creativity earned second prize in the contest, a $15 add-a-pearl necklace that she still has in its original off-white, padded box. She wore the necklace as a child, as did her children. And she kept on working with words.
Queen Elizabeth I is said to be one of the best-known lovers of pearls and always wore seven ropes of pearls that reached to her knees.
Actress Elizabeth Taylor owns the largest and most important pearl in the world. It is called La Peregrina and is more than 400 years old. The white pear-shaped pearl originally arrived hanging on a delicate chain of small pearls. A gift from husband Richard Burton, it was originally given to queen-to-be Mary Tudor of England by her future husband, Prince Phillip of Spain.
Forty years after Chanel made the gems popular, Audrey Hepburn showcased her elegance and effortless style in pearls in the classic film "Breakfast at Tiffany's." The six-strand pearl and rhinestone necklace in the film is faux, but those imitation pearls cascaded gorgeously on Hepburn's graceful neck.
Princess Diana's ivory silk gown had a 25-foot train decorated with 10,000 pearls and sequins.
Comparisons with Jackie launched a thousand articles, blogs and websites. The dress! The hair! My goodness, even the pearls!
Even the pearls . . . already recognized as a Mrs. Obama signature. Though not the ladies-who-lunch little pearls. No, no. Michelle’s pearls, unlike Jackie’s, were women-who-rule pearls. Great big deal-with-me pearls. Pearls that were an integral part of an “image strategy,” as André Leon Talley, Vogue’s Editor-at- Large, called Michelle’s look.
“Why are people so interested in what I wear?” Jackie Kennedy once asked a friend.
Led by Grade 10 Nepean High School students Madeleine Beach and Emma Roszak, the Joan of Arc students made real pearl bracelets, necklaces and earrings, which will be sold through craft fairs and local businesses as a fundraiser through the Pearls for Girls program.
“In our core leadership program, we have to find an organization we believe in and have to do a community event to raise money or awareness to support the organization,” Madeleine says.
Emma explains that the pearl jewellery will support things like sanitary supplies and school uniforms to help the girls in Lesotho get an education.
Joan of Arc head girl, Rishika Aggarwal, says the Pearls for Girls jewellery bee was a great opportunity.
Video of Elizabeth Taylor Endorsing Black Pearls Perfume
by Richard Bassett
(YouTube Video)
Since the first video I posted here is no longer available, I've put on this tribute to Liz Taylor....lovely photos of her.
Both of these video clips are indicative of the work that Dame Elizabeth Taylor involved herself with in 1996 and 1987... with the enormously successful fragrances 'Black Pearls' (1996) and 'Passion' (1987).
This business adventure remained close to her heart throughout the years. She not only endorsed her fragrances, she created them as well. For Dame Elizabeth, it was not enough just to attach her name to a product, she had to become connected to it, personally.
And the result? Pure success.
This woman of heart and soul never just floated through life, she put her life experiences into the core of the issues that she has supported and became a household word in another more humanity oriented form from that of being a film actress.
She has had her own reputation to overcome in taking on these causes and only she was able to supersede the glamorous movie star Elizabeth Taylor image and become the incredible human service directed Elizabeth Taylor that she is today.
As she was her own competition, she excelled and continues to exceed.
When you hear "Girl Scouts," visions of Thin Mints or Tagalongs probably start dancing in your head.
This week, though, they want you to envision pearls, as the first Juliette Low Leadership Society Pearl Sale benefiting Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma will be 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday at Junior League of Tulsa, 3633 S. Yale Ave.
In 1914, Low sold a strand of rare pearls to fund her fledging group that eventually became Girls Scouts of the USA. Now, our local Girl Scouts are replicating Low's deed — just on a grander scale.
A carnival and chili supper fundraiser will be held for 1-year-old Pearl Hollan from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, at the Fair Grove Elementary School.
The benefit will include live music, a bake sale, raffle and a silent auction. The carnival will feature clowns and games for the kids, funnel cakes, cotton candy and other carnival food.Santa will visit from 2 to 4 p.m., and the chili dinner is from 4 to 6 p.m.
Pearl is the daughter of Chris and Charity Hollan, Pleasant Hope, who has been diagnosed with Bilateral Kidney Cancer. Her mother is principal of Fair Grove Middle School.
Please celebrate with us at the release of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace (Moody Publishers, July 2009). Join us in prayer that this book would be a “Blest Seller” for the charities supported by the sales of this book.
Please watch this informational trailer for the book!
Message from Margaret McSweeney and the Pearl Girls®:
The purpose of Pearl Girls® is two fold: 1) Connecting and 2) Collaborating for charity. The first project will be a collection of pearl stories from well known and unknown women about God's grace in their lives. All proceeds will benefit a safe house in the Chicago suburbs and women and children with AIDS in Africa.
Thank you for this opportunity to share some special time with you. Please browse through this family friendly site where you will find my new books and excerpts from my late mother's last book.
