Brooch Styling

Today was not my most inspired look.  I wanted to wear my blue VV Boutique brooch and finally settled on a simple backdrop to let this pretty pin stand out.

Flower brooch $3 VV Boutique

Olive cardi $11 Joe

Navy tee from Reitmans circa 2008

Unfortunately, the look was a little plain.  Once I tucked the kids in bed and abandoned my husband to iron his own shirts, I decided to do some style research and see if I could do better...  I love the brooches from Anthropologie but can't easily find styling examples.  FYI (especially if you live in the US), I found this website for whole sale brooches!  Who knew!  But again, no styling tips.  Most blog posts I came across were not current, but still interesting - there's this one from Ask Style from 2010 and this nice video tutorial from Extra Petite (meaning I would be like a giantess next to this sweet girl) from a year ago.  Here's a comprehensive guide from Avalaya which I enjoy though I still think you have to be careful that you don't look like you just plunked a pin on.  Having said that, I also think the brooch (or pin, if you prefer a more phonetic term) is an under-valued under-utilized accessory.  So go ahead and plunk it on!  It will be your statement for the day so just enjoy it!  Here are some of the other ways I styled it:

 

 To close a cardi...

 

 To embellish a necklace, like this pinkish faux-pearl strand from Accessorize...

 

 or this copper-strand also from Accessorize...

 

 or this colourful strand $2 from VV Boutique...

or this gray strand $18 from Avenue Clothing!

 To decorate a low side pony... 

And no, I did not add a felt backing or anything.  I just pinned 'er in as if my hair were fabric.

On a skinny belt...

I also came across suggestions to use it on or near the buckle but I felt that looked too umbilical-y.

Overall I was pleased with the results of my style-experimentation and felt just taking it up a notch made a big difference! 

I immediately was drawn to a couple of the looks but before I reveal my opinion, which is your favourite?  Sure you can easily swap out the tee or the cardi for a whole new set of looks but I thought it was fun to take the same two plain pieces and show how they can give so many looks with one simple $3 brooch from VV Boutique!