A Brooch Too Far
By Brenda Gunnell
“Without knowledge of jewelry, my dear Gigi, a woman is lost.”
— Isabel Jeans as “Aunt Alicia” in Gigi (1958)
For as long as I can remember, my favorite piece of jewelry has been the brooch. An early picture of me sporting pigtails and yarn ribbons, also features a tiny brooch on my houndstooth necktie.
As the years progressed, I was always on the lookout for brooches — the bigger the better! And lots of rhinestones and gemstones, please. I have amassed quite the collection. But where did this fascination come from? Why would a nine or ten-year old want to wear a brooch? A Monkees button, maybe. But an imitation gold and rhinestone brooch? After much reflection, I believe my brooch lust came from the movies. One movie in particular… The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Oh, how I loved that movie. Captain Gregg (Rex Harrison) was so handsome and misunderstood — even if he did love that ugly monkey puzzle tree. And Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney) was so pretty and had an overbite. I had an overbite! It was destiny.
A key scene in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir showed “Lucia” (as the Captain dreamily refers to Lucy) planning to pawn a family brooch to keep her family solvent until the novel that she was literally ghostwriting — Blood and Swash — could make it to publication. Wow, a brooch could do ALL that! Well, my dears, that was the beginning… and then came Mildred Pierce.
Now in the Joan Crawford/Bette Davis camp, I am Bette all the way. But, dammit, Mildred Pierce took brooches to a whole new level! Mildred (Joan Crawford) wore them ON HER FUR COAT! What??? So you know I immediately started sporting brooches on my windbreakers, pea coats, and ponchos. And these were HUGE brooches — more than enough to make a loud statement on her amply padded shoulders. Mildred wore a brooch on her apron while making pies! She wore one on her suit jacket while exchanging barbs with that insipid Veda (Ann Blyth)! And she rocked one on her evening dress, bantering with her pal Ida Corwin (Eve Arden)! She even wore one like a badge of honor as her corrupt partner, Wally Fay (Jack Carson) sold her out of the chicken restaurant business.
It was enough to make this pre-teen swoon and to make brooches a permanent part of my wardrobe. Even if my middle school and high school friends didn’t understand why I preferred cubic zirconia art pieces to “May the Force Be With You” buttons. I tried to explain that I was the long-lost Duchess Anastasia, but that didn’t fly. Although, the brooch that was part of Anastasia’s (Ingrid Bergman) Romanov regalia was stellar! (We’ll save tiaras for another time.)
Now I have to take a moment to recognize my fave 40s actress, Bette Davis.
She might not have worn brooches as often as ol’ Joanie did, but Bette outplayed Joan in one distinctive Edith Head-designed dress to end all dresses — yes! The All About Eve “fasten your seatbelt” dress! THAT dress in which, nestled in that oddly wonderful neckline, is a spectacular brooch. Take that, Joan!
Oh I could go on and on about brooches… Scarlett O’Hara’s cameo during her “mourning period,” Holly Golightly’s rhinestone & pearl necklace — I know it’s technically a necklace but did you see that rhinestone cluster?? It was definitely a brooch at some point in its history. And there was Jean Harlow in Libeled Lady, Marilyn Monroe & Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth in The Queen… But it all comes back to Joan/Mildred.
Ms. Gunnell displays her fledgling penchant for fashion.
From my houndstooth necktie to the present day, this singular, fabulous piece of jewelry remains one of my greatest pleasures, and it has become part of who I am. Not too long ago, I wore a rhinestone brooch to a colleague’s wedding and someone commented that my fine piece of jewelry seemed “a bit large.” [Sputter-sputter-choke!] Too LARGE? Oh my dears, there’s no such thing as a brooch too large. It’s impossible to take a brooch too far.
Brenda Gunnell is a teacher and movie lover from Louisville, Kentucky. Growing up, she wanted to be Bette Davis, own a silver cigarette case and pearl-handled cigarette holder (even though she never smoked), and went into full mourning at age 12 when she learned that Errol Flynn died before she was even born.
Editor’s Note: A friend of mine who works at a high school library came up with the idea of a school-wide “Sparkle Day” to combat the doldrums of February. On this day, everyone dons a bit of sparkle and celebrates all things sparkly. Once there was a freak snowstorm and school was dismissed early which a student described as “a Sparkle Day miracle”. I decided to publish this story in February to encourage our own personal Sparkle Days in the dredges of this particularly dark and sad winter. Happy Sparkle Day to one and all.