a new collection

I have recently started to wear jewellery. Or, more accurately, accessories. Bangles, to be precise.

I spent so long – the last few years, at least – not wearing much in the way of accessories that it has been a little strange to get back into them. I used to wear a few pieces on a regular basis. A couple of necklaces made by local Australian designers, occasionally a brooch. Simple, statement pieces that I enjoyed owning and wearing. They were worth the relative investment.

And now, over the past few months, I have really started to like wearing accessories (uh, is there a better word for this?!) again. I love the look of bold, colourful bangles and bracelets, especially when stacked. It is relevant in a vintage sense – for example, bakelite and wooden bangles were popular in the 1940s – and anyway, it just looks good! I'm not a vintage purist, and simply enjoy wearing things I like.

I especially love the coloured, carved bangles, but to be honest, I wasn't sure if it was a passing fad for me. For someone that likes maximalism in prints as well as plain colours – it's got to be time to lay the term colour blocking to rest, but you know what I mean – together, I prefer to dress fairly plainly. I like to attach things to my hair (flowers! bows! birds! yeah!) my hair, but fear an overload of bijoux (there we go, twee to the max) from head to toe. There can be too much of a good thing. And what if I bought all these pricey bangles and then left them gathering dust on my dressing table – or, even worse, hidden and forgotten in the back of a drawer?

So, I decided to try it out cheaply first. I bought some things from a cheaper chain to play with. Of course, I tried op shops too, but never found anything good – broken plastic beads weren't really what I was looking for. I also wanted to start with things I actually liked – somewhat important – and was really happy with what I found in local high street shops. Chunky bangles happen to be on trend (hilarious term) at the moment, so that helped my search greatly!

And now? I wear them almost everyday. I love them, and feel like something is missing when my wrist is bare. And while I still love my fast-fashion bracelets, I will be looking out for beautiful pieces, made, ideally, by local designers to wear, too.