Jewelry

A Discriminating Woman’s Guide To Buying Jewelry, Part One

by GuestPoster on 11/17/2011 · 99 comments

How do you know when to splurge on a piece of jewelry? A big step in the right direction involves understanding the jewelry terminology (it’s also helpful if you suspect you’re allergic to some jewelry!) Today’s guest post explores just that. Author “Kanye East” is an attorney at law, New York City ex-pat, sarcastic Corporette commenter, and amateur metalsmith. On the rare occasions she leaves the office, Ms. East slays dragons and makes jewelry with their treasures. (Pictured: Mallarino Alejandra 24-karat gold-vermeil cuff, available at Net-a-Porter for $1,600.)

I’ll be honest: the first time I saw the phrase “gold vermeil,” I thought something like Oooh, that sounds French. It must be fancy! And only $80? For a fancy gold necklace? Steal! I’d better buy two! My friends, I am ashamed. It turns out “vermeil” is fancy—a fancy way of saying “plated.”

Jewelry is my weakness. For lawyers, jewelry is the one part of a professional wardrobe that’s allowed to be expressive or artistic. (My fellow liberal arts undergrads who reluctantly went to law school for the promise of health insurance and a steady paycheck will understand how important this can be to one’s psyche.) Jewelry can elevate an otherwise ordinary outfit to a commanding ensemble. And my own field research confirms that if you wear the same black dress to a law firm job two days in a row but swap one eye-catching statement necklace for another, nobody will notice the fact that you wore the same clothes two days in a row.

With that said, the amount I have overpaid for poor-quality pieces over the years is staggering. To avoid my mistakes, please follow my Rule Number One: know what you’re buying. You don’t have to get your gemologist’s certification and I’m not talking engagement-ring-caliber research, but here are some basics.

Fine jewelry incorporates precious metals (gold, platinum), precious and semi-precious gemstones, and genuine pearls (not glass or crystal pearls, or “shell pearls,” which are actually beads made from mother of pearl or shell, but more about that another time.) Expect to pay more for the design and the materials, especially because the price of gold has been at all-time highs lately.

Fashion jewelry is made mostly with base metals, usually brass, copper, or nickel (a common allergen). Sometimes the base metal is covered with a layer of precious metal—this is where you really need to know what you’re buying. Plating involves a very small amount of precious metal; it’s easy to scrape or rub off, and if you wear a plated piece every day, it’s going to tarnish quickly. Don’t ever pay high prices for plated metals, and avoid them if you have metal sensitivities.

Gold vermeil is simply gold plating over sterling silver. Better than plated gold over base metal, but it’s still going to tarnish.

Filled gold or gold overlay sounds like plating but it’s far superior and worth paying more for. It has a higher gold content, is stronger, and resists tarnish much better than plating. For the price, it’s a great alternative to solid gold for everyday wear.

Sterling silver is 92.5% silver and 7.5% base metal. Sometimes you’ll see “925” stamped on silver jewelry: this is usually a jeweler’s certification that the piece is made with sterling silver. If you’re sensitive to metals, you should probably avoid sterling silver, but know that it’s the 7.5% base metal you’re probably reacting to, not the silver. On that note, those with metal sensitivities should also avoid white gold, which is typically alloyed with small amounts of nickel, manganese or palladium.

Argentium® Silver is gaining popularity among jewelry makers; it contains more germanium than traditional alloys, is highly tarnish-resistant, and requires almost no polishing.

Fine silver is pure silver with no base metal, but due to its softness, you don’t often see fine silver jewelry.

Now get out there and stimulate the economy!

(L-2)

Interested in writing something similar for Corporette? Check out our guest posting guidelines.

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Transitioning from a Conservative Office to a More Casual One

by Kat on 07/07/2011 · 101 comments

in Accessories, Business Casual, Fashion, Jewelry, Layering Pieces, Transitions

Since she’s started at a more casual office, Reader L wonders how she should transition her wardrobe of blazers and pencil skirts to an office filled with jeans and sneakers.

I’m 24 and recently left a paralegal job at a small litigation firm for a research and editing job at a large publishing company. The new job is great and a much better fit for me but I’m still struggling with the transition to the more casual attire I’m seeing in my young, tech-centered office. I see jeans and gross sneakers every day of the week, which clashes with my wardrobe of pencil skirts and blazers. Even when I try to tone it down, the basics in my closet just aren’t in the same spectrum. I’ve tried to pay attention to what the seniormost woman in my office wears, but there are a LOT of pay grades between a manager and someone in my entry-level position.

I really want to stand out, make an impression and start advancing. At the same time, I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard or oblivious to office culture. My question is: is it more important to dress in a way that feels professional and appropriate (and, to be selfish, much more comfortable for me) or to mimic the people around me? If it’s the latter, any tips on looking sharp and competent when dressed down?

Great, great question, because it can be really tricky to transition your wardrobe. Here are some of my tips, but readers, I hope you’ll weigh in! (Pictured: New Office-2, originally uploaded to Flickr by akeg.)

First: I think it’s important to be comfortable. If you’re a blazer-and-pencil skirts kind of girl, don’t feel like you have to wear “gross sneakers” just to fit in. That said, your instinct to watch the most senior women in your office is spot on — whose job do you want to have in 2 years? in 5 years? One of the most important things to pay attention to is what those role models/mentors are saying (or trying to say) with their clothes. Is it that they’re detail-oriented? Creative? Different jobs require different qualities, and the people who succeed in publishing may be different than the people who succeed in a law firm. If your wardrobe is classic, buttoned-up conservative, I think the only risk you should be aware of is that, depending on your personality, you may come across as someone who is mousy and lacks personality — or you may come across as someone who is bossy or rigid. Make sure that your clothing projects the qualities that are recognized for success in this field.

There are a few ways you can take a more buttoned-up wardrobe to a more casual, creative look… some suggestions:

Get a great pair of jeans. Look for a dark blue wash with very little distressing, and see how you feel about incorporating the jeans into your more conservative wardrobe. Try wearing them with a structured, fitted blazer, or with a button-front blouse. (Trouser jeans may be the perfect place for you to start, or even regular trousers that are made from a denim material.)
Look at the “weekend wear” for the shops you already frequent. If you’re a fan of, say, Ann Taylor, Talbots, and J.Crew, they have lots of pieces that are more relaxed. While they might not be appropriate for a conservative office, the more relaxed looks from these stores might offer great “bridge” pieces between your old wardrobe and your new one. If you were really a devotee of a particular store, see if they can connect you with a personal shopper to help integrate your old pieces and your new ones.
Have fun with your accessories. Whereas conservative offices generally encourage small, tasteful jewelry (in the best metals, featuring real gemstones), your new office may give you more leeway. If you’re in a creative office, an easy place to start looking for “creative” necklaces is museum stores — I’ve bought a number of pieces from MomaStore.org over the years, and the quality has always been pretty good for the price. Once you have a better idea what you like, Etsy stores and local boutiques can be a great way to get interesting jewelry that expresses who you are.
Similarly, reassess your shoes. I think a pencil skirt and a pair of classic pumps will always be in style, no matter where you go, but a more casual office may permit you to wear different colors and patterns than you would have worn to a law firm, and you may even find that funkier brands appeal to you (I’m thinking of things like Miz Mooz or Tsubo here, but there are so many!).
Consider wearing the basics in your wardrobe in new, more relaxed ways. For example, a button-front shirt may look great worn open and untucked with a camisole beneath it — or you may find that a blazer that has a fun lining looks chic with the sleeves rolled up. More casual pieces that languished in your closet until a casual Friday — such as a flyaway cardigan — may be just the thing to pair with a structured piece like a sheath dress.

Whenever anyone goes through a style reassessment — which everyone should do from time to time! — I think it’s great to find someone in the public eye, who has your body shape, and whose style you admire. What pieces work for her? (If it’s an actress it can be particularly fun to watch her personal style versus her character’s styles, and see how her clothes differ from role to role — but also how they stay the same.) Keep track of which outfits you really adore, and use those for inspiration. As I mentioned above, a personal shopper is another way to go, and most department stores offer a shopper’s services free of charge. (Just make sure you have a good idea of what you already want so you don’t end up purchasing a lot of things that aren’t really part of your new style.)

Readers, what are your tips for transitioning a conservative work wardrobe to a more casual one?

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The Tomboy in the Suit

by Kat on 05/17/2011 · 95 comments

in Beauty, Being Girly, Business Casual, Comfort, Fashion, Fashion Gaffes, Jewelry, Success

Reader A thinks her look is too “tomboy” for the office…

I am writing to you in hopes for some advice on how to change from a “tom boy look” to a mid-level executive in a financial institution.

I know that your blog is mostly geared toward New York lawyers, but while I am neither of those (Dallas, Tx – Financial Analyst), I am confident that you can help. A little bit of background…I grew up in a very small town climbing trees and playing with boys. In college, my dress attire was jeans and over-sized T-shirts. It wasn’t until my senior year that I started wearing T-shirts that fit.

Making the transition from college life to financial institution was a little easy back home, (South Texas/Rio Grande Valley), but now that I reside in Dallas, I feel that my current wardrobe isn’t cutting it. My current attire is grey slacks and a button down or simple one-tone blouse. While I mentioned my basic attire, please note that I own about 2 pairs of slacks/dress pants (black and grey) and 2 button downs (purple and maroon).

I have a pair of black shoes and I wear those with black dress socks.

I have never been a “girly-girl” (not that I am opposed to it), but I have always lacked the ability to match colors and styles without looking hideous.

This is a great question, A. What you’re wearing doesn’t sound so bad to me (albeit a bit boring, but there’s nothing unprofessional about that), but the vibe I’m getting from your email is that you don’t feel elegant, feminine, or sophisticated. I think it’s important to distinguish unprofessional attire from attire that isn’t elegant/feminine/sophisticated — there have been a lot of very, very successful women who wore nothing but boxy suits, had masculine haircuts, and wore clunky heels (or flats). In fact, to a lot of older people (both men and women) that is the best way to convey that you’re serious about your job. (I was just reading a comment on an older post about whether long hair is appropriate — the reader noted that when she ran for office, no one took her seriously until she cut her mid-back-length hair into a Hilary Clinton cut.) (Pictured: Tomboy Shorts, originally uploaded to Flickr by FredoAlvarez.)

That said — my own attitude (and the ethos behind this blog) has been that today it is possible to walk the line between something feminine and fun, but still be professional. Sometimes we have debates on what’s appropriate for the office (see today’s TPS); sometimes it really just depends on what’s right for your office. There are some easy ways to add feminine flair to your outfits, though, that should be pretty safe advice no matter what your office.

1) Add heels. They don’t have to be high; in fact I would recommend starting with what you can walk in. (You may want to check out our Guide to Comfortable Heels, and the comments there!) Keep in mind that as you get better in walking in heels, a slightly pointy toe and a skinny heel will be the best way to elongate your legs and make your look more feminine. How pointy a toe is appropriate is something that changes with fashion — long pointy toes were popular a few years ago (looking back, some almost looked like elf/witch shoes!); nowadays a very slight point is popular. I would suggest looking online at some of the high-end brands, such as Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin, and Ferragamo, to get an idea of what your ideal shoe right now would be, and then looking in whatever range your budget/walking ability allows.

2) Add jewelry. I’m a big believer in jewelry adding a lot of personality to your outfit. To start small, you may want to get a good set of fake pearls to try out how those feel with your button-downs and t-shirts. (You can always invest in a better set from Mikimoto or even your local jewelry store later on.) Similarly: what watch are you wearing? If you’re wearing a sporty watch, this might be a good time to investigate how a more feminine watch might feel, either with a leather strap or a metal strap. Earrings are the third “start small” piece that I’d recommend. Personally, I hate posts, but I feel like dangly earrings are inappropriate for many offices (and distracting if you move your head a lot) so to me the perfect office earring is the “huggie,” so named because they’re hoops so small that they hug your ears.

3) If you’re not already wearing makeup, add some. It doesn’t have to be a lot — sometimes just a lipgloss with a slight tint is enough for women. (It’s a bit too light for me, but a number of friends love Fresh Sugar Plum Lip Treatment SPF 15, or I’ve written before of my love for CoverGirl Lipslicks. Clinique Almost Lipstick is another classic.) Have a good friend help you with this if you’re really clueless — how does your face look right now? For me, I know I look a lot prettier when I add concealer under my eyes, curl my eyelashes, and add a bit of blush and a bit of color to my lips — I generally don’t leave the house without those. For work I also wear mascara, eyebrow pencil, eyeliner, lip liner, and lipstick; for nights out I’ll wear 3-5 different shades of eye shadow as well as a few more coats of mascara; I’ll also use a highlighter like Touche Eclat or wear a sparklier blush, like NARS The Multiple Orgasm. My point here is that makeup is not an all or nothing proposition — it’s a continuum, and even just wearing a little bit can help you look and feel more feminine.

4) Find inspiration in a celebrity or public figure (anyone who’s photographed often), or even a character on television. I would recommend looking for someone with your body type to get the most out of this exercise. Take note of what she wears — how does the fit of her clothes differ from yours? Is there a color combo that she wears that you could try? How about her jewelry and shoes — can you add more personality to your outfit that way? Another option here would be to find a few static photos of this celebrity/character that you really love — I would say 6-10 photos — and visit a personal shopper (such as one at your local department store), or even a personal stylist. For my $.02, I think it’s important that you go in with an idea of what you want to achieve before you meet with them, but maybe that’s just me.

Readers, what are your best tips to add femininity to the professional wardrobe? What do you think about Reader A’s question?

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Diamond Rings and the Working Girl

by Kat on 03/17/2011 · 303 comments

in Being Girly, Career, Interviewing, Jewelry

This should be a fun conversation. Reader S wonders what size diamond ring is appropriate for a professional woman…

What size wedding ring/engagement ring is appropriate for a professional office? Personally, I think giant rings are gaudy and tacky. But I overheard a couple of attorneys saying the other day “”Do you ever see a friend posting pictures on facebook about her recent engagement and when you see her ring, you think to yourself ‘oh, honey, I’m so sorry!’”" so I guess rings can be too small as well. What size will keep you safe from the gossip?

I’m glad she asked this question, because I remember some of the comments turned to engagement rings in our conversation on the intern with the Hermes handbag, and there were some fascinating differences of opinion in there. For my $.02, I think that any size ring is appropriate for a professional office, provided that the ring is actually an engagement ring, and not a cocktail ring worn as an engagement ring. (Engagement rings are fairly simple, in part because they’re intended to be worn on a daily basis. Diamond cocktail rings (full disclosure: I own one, love it, and wear it a ton) can be gorgeous, but they’re often bigger (either in length, width, or height), sparklier, and to a certain extent, gaudier, than what an engagement ring is; they should be worn only when the occasion calls for it. I’m right handed, so I like to wear mine on the middle finger of my right hand, particularly if I’m attending a cocktail event where I’ll be holding a glass with my right hand.) I will say, though, to those of you looking to get engaged, pass this tip on to your soon-to-be fiance: don’t go into debt to buy an engagement ring. You can always add to the ring later, either by adding diamonds to it as baguettes, by “upgrading” your diamonds (from a less-clear one to a clearer one), or so forth. (Pictured above: Acadia Ring Emerald-Cut Diamond Platinum Ring , available at Gemvara for $61,297, also available in combinations of white gold, yellow gold, and almost any other gemstone (for a huge range of prices) — just click “customize”.)

Now: will people make judgments about you and your life based on what your ring looks like? Absolutely. Small ring? She must have married for love. Ginormous ring, particularly on the hand of a coworker who doesn’t seem that invested in the job? Future soccer mom. Women who wear plain bands have a certain cache about them also — I always think that they send a vibe of competence, of “I can’t be bothered to wear a diamond ring on a daily basis because I’m too busy Doing Important Work and Not Thinking About Sparky Things,” but honestly I love my emerald-cut engagement ring too much to not wear it on a regular basis. Sometimes a ring can overshoot the mark, too — if your ring is absolutely huge and that doesn’t quite jive with what people know about your lifestyle, they’ll just assume it’s fake.

The really interesting question comes when you think about diamond rings and interviews. If you have an absolutely huge diamond ring on your hand, should you take it off for interviews? The obvious worry is that employers will take one look at the prospective employee and think, “She’s just biding her time until she gets pregnant or until she or her husband inherit the rest of the money.” So I think it depends, a bit, both on where you’re interviewing (if it’s a government or nonprofit gig, you may want to take it off), where you are in your life (if you already have kids or are past your childbearing years, it becomes less of a concern), and who you are: if you’re the slightest bit flighty, the ring is going to work against you. For a lot of very young women just starting their careers, I probably would advise them to take a huge engagement ring off for an interview.

Readers, what do you think about ring size and the office — have you seen engagement rings that are just ridiculously huge for the office? If you had a huge rock on your finger, would you remove it before you went in for interviews? What factors play into the decision?

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