The Bold and the Beautiful and a Life Less Dutiful: She Who Laughs Last Laughs Loudest

Dress: Candie's, Kohl's

Bag: Marshalls, embellished by The Tote Trove

Belt: Wet Seal

Love bangle: Boscov's

Other bracelets: Mixit, JCPenney

Hip Flip Barrette Brooch

Shoes: Katy Perry; Sunglasses: Wild Fable, Target

It took a quarantine to get me to finally watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.  I'd been wanting to, I'd heard it was great, but something was holding me back.  Partly my difficulties streaming Amazon Prime, partly my fear that once I'd binged the show I'd have nothing in my back pocket of rainy day entertainment.  Yet, after watching one rerun too many, I was ready to ditch these deterrents.  

And I was so glad I did!  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has everything I could ever want from a TV show: comedy, fashion, romance, old-timey glamour, and girl power.  So, I'm going to recap the premise, even if most of you probably know it.  In late 1950s New York City, young Jewish wife and mother Miriam "Midge" Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) gets thrown over by her wannabe stand-up comic husband Joel (Michael Zegen) only to find that she's the one who needs to stand up because she's got something to say.  Hilariously and in four-letter words in the very bar where her hubby bombed.  That's right; she's trading in (okay, maybe just jeopardizing) her socialite status to try her hand at the funny business.  And embarks upon the most delightful way anyone has ever blown up her life.  With a hat-heavy wardrobe as snappy as her one-liners, Midge takes on the masculine and streetwise Susie (Alex Borstein) as her manager to take Manhattan by storm.  Well, almost.  Pitfalls await in the old boys' club of comedy, Susie's stumblings (Midge is her first client!), and Midge's painfully proper parents Rose (Marin Hinkle) and Abe (Tony Shalhoub), who are in the dark about their daughter's double life.  Also, there's the small matter of money.  After being dumped by Joel, Midge moves back in with her parents and takes a job in a department store at the Revlon counter (apparently that used to be a thing instead of just a rack at Rite Aid).  She turns out to be a talented lipstick pusher, recommending my own beloved Cherries in the Snow to one customer in search of the perfect red.  Balancing work, children, and the nightclub circuit makes for many a madcap mishap, including getting bailed out of jail by none other than comedy bad boy Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby).  Then there's the annual family trip to the Catskills where Susie tags along incognito and gets mistaken as the resort plumber.  During this quarantine and the unfortunate purchase of some this-is-all-we-have triple ply, I've often found myself at the mercy of a dubious plunger, thinking, where's Susie when you need her? 

But The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel isn't all brisket and hi-jinks.  Midge learns a lot about herself and the people in her life.  Like when she's dating an art collector and buys a twenty-five-dollar painting by an unknown artist that comes with -- get this -- a free hat!  She doesn't buy it because it's valuable (or even because of the hat), but because it speaks to her and makes her feel a connection to it the way good art should.  When she relays the story to an esteemed artist and her beau, the artist understands but the beau doesn't.  This vignette and others is why I really love this show.  It tells us that women can and should stand for something and do something more than look pretty -- while still wanting to look pretty, if that's what they want.  That's feminism, the freedom to have it all without having to choose, a message that's as important today as it was in 1959. 

That said, this post is as good a place as any to show off my new Hip Flip Barrette Brooch.  Even if it is hatless and more That Girl than Miriam Maisel.  Of course, Midge's hair and attitude are plenty flip in other ways.  Also, Midge makes me think of that other '60s fashion icon named Miriam, Miriam Haskell.  Even if Ms. Haskell was a real-life costume jewelry designer and Mrs. Maisel is a made-up comedian.

 

So, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.  It's glitzy and heartfelt and oh-so-side-splitting, a must see for any woman who's ever had something to say.  

So . . . all women.  

Amazon, is there anything that you can't deliver?

Dark Side Slide

 Verdant Venus Necklace

Top: L'Amore by Nanette Lepore for JCPenney

Camisole: Derek Lam for Target

Jeans: L'Amore by Nanette Lepore for JCPenney

Bag: Guess

Shoes: Payless

Scarf: Express

Dress: Candie's, Kohl's
Bag: Betsey Johnson, ROSS Dress for Less
Shoes: Charles Albert, Alloy
Sunglasses: JCPenney

Primary Pendant Necklace

Dress: Xhilaration, Target

Shoes: Charles Albert, Alloy

Bag: Betsey Johnson, ROSS Dress for Less

Belt: Wet Seal

Jacket: Mossimo, Target

 Nesting Natasha Necklace

Top: Style & Co., Macy's

Skirt: Wet Seal

Bag: Express

Shoes: Candie's, Kohl's

Belt: Wet Seal

Pink necklace: B Fabulous

Top: Macy's

Skirt: Macy's

Shoes: Diba, Burlington Coat Factory

Bag: Candie's, Kohl's

Coat: Metaphor, Sears

Chock Full of Charms Necklace

Top: Free People

Camisole: So, Kohl's

Jeans: Vanilla Star, Target

Shoes: Alloy

Bag: Nine West, ROSS Dress for Less

Coat: XOXO, Macy's

Scarf: Apt. 9, Kohl's

Winter means darker colors and also, sometimes, the Olympics.  I made the Nesting Natasha Necklace featured in this post just in time for Sochi (a city, by the way, that I thought was Japanese before the husband set me straight.  Perhaps I was thinking of sushi).  This would probably be a good time to admit that I don't like the Olympics.  A little bit because I don't like sports.  Or competitions.  But mostly because it messes with my TV programming.  Nevertheless, I was forced to reevaluate my disdain after watching that Portlandia episode in which Fred and Carrie are forced to reevaluate their disdain on the grounds that the Olympics is not the elitist operation that they originally thought it to be, but rather a coming together of amateur misfits who are merely looking for their place in the world.  Realizing this humbled me.  I still won't watch it (the Olympics, that is, not Portlandia).  But I remain humbled.

Not unlike the Olympics, winter has somewhat charmed me, making me appreciate its richer color palette. So, instead of pining for hot-temperature hues, I've embraced the challenge of making necklaces for (ever so slightly) more serious ensembles.  I was fortunate to stumble upon an entire rack of value-priced Haskell earrings at Boscov's that were so outrageously big they all but begged to be repurposed into pedants.  (I've yet to work with the beaded pair, although that's just as well, as they're far too summery for this polar-proud post.)  I also cannabilized some of my own castoff accessories, rescuing the rosy-cheeked Natasha and a bevy of other baubles to make the remaining two trinkets.    

That having been said, winter -- like all such unpleasant things -- is easier to take when you know that it's on the wane.  Indeed, since the winter solstice, it's been slowly yet steadily growing lighter each day.

The Candid Sweet Potato . . .

 Terrific Teardrop Necklace

Blouse: Kohl's
Cardigan: So, Kohl's
Jeans: L'Amour by Nanette Lepore for JCPenney
Shoes: Madden Girl, Marshalls
Bag: Betseyville, JCPenney

Pattern Play Necklace

Tee: Express

Cardigan: Nordstrom Rack

Jeans: L'Amour by Nanette Lepore for JCPenney

Shoes: Ami Clubwear

Bag: Apt. 9, Kohl's

Belt: Wet Seal

 Frilly Filly Necklace

Top: Wet Seal

Skirt: (a dress!) Kohl's

Cardigan: Merona, Target

Shoes: Payless

Lunchbox: Amazon

. . . would be a funny stage name for a plain-speaking, lumpy lady with a weakness for sugar.  Or at least that's what I thought until I remembered Jill Conner Browne's Sweet Potato Queen book series, and the phrase "copyright infringement" popped into my head.  That having been said, I'll bypass the spuds and move on to the sparklies.

The Terrific Teardrop Necklace (and its made-for-me fraternal twin) was a boon born of a pair of clearanced Haskell earrings from Macy's.  I had to fight to get them, as on December 26 the Macy's 75% off racks are about as combat-ridden as the Serengeti.  Thankfully, the only casualties were those who suffered from shopper's arm or a trampled pinky toe.           

The Pattern Play Necklace is made up of crazy-cool cabochons I bought from Etsy's Two of a Kind Supplies and some tie dye-print felt I've had forever.  But I wasn't inspired to make it until I unwrapped my L'Amour by Nanette Lepore for JCPenney jeans on Christmas morning.  Straddling the strange middle ground between an old hippie's tee shirt and an out-of-this-world space-scape, they represent the only good thing, er brand, to come out of the JCP reboot.    

Finally, the Frilly Filly Necklace is a shameless near-copy of the Beautiful Blue Lady Necklace minus the heart beads and plus a pastel bow.  I got the Payless shoes accompanying it for just $10.  I could tell that someone had returned them because they had one of those weird, hand-written tags.  Also, they smelled ever so slightly like a smoker's hotel room.  But I made my peace with that, which was the way to go as they've already begun to be absorbed by the Calgon cloud that envelops my bedroom.  

Maybe someday I'll make something that looks like a potato.