I always loved her style and her clothes, even though they were out of my reach. Underlying her collections through the years is one theme, pure self expression.  Regardless of the inspiration or whatever time period this inspiration came from, it was always about how you felt. You could be a pirate today and a 50s rocker tomorrow. To me that is art to wear, regardless of what form it may take.

In 1981 I had the privilege of meeting Gene Krell, then manager of  World’s End, during a visit to Rio de Janeiro.  My son was an infant and my family had invited me to stay with them for a while.

Gene is a really sweet guy and we both stuck out in the crowd in Rio back then. He was there to research and to introduce the collection to the Media. I had the honor of having my jewelry used for the “Pirates” collection photo shoot. My then current jewelry collection was inspired by the 1800’s and Modernism. An odd mix, but quite stunning and just right for the time. After all this was the 80s. Living in the East Village I was very aware of what was happening then, it was part of my everyday life. Unfortunately, my copies of the magazines were lost in time in my many travels. I still search for them and hope to find them at some point. I returned to New York and he returned to London.  We stayed in touch for a while but then lost track of each other.

In the meantime, he has written Dame Vivienne Westwood’s biography for the book series “Fashion Memoir”, a must read as her history is fascinating.

This past Friday during an interview with British Jonathan Ross at his TV Show, she discussed shopping, style, consumerism and the survival of our species. I am glad to know we still have much in common as people in spite of our geographic and life style differences.

Looking beautiful as always, dressed in 7 meters of silk (about 7 yards)  she talks about making do with what we have, shopping our own closets and preserving the environment.  I believe she did not mention vintage as after all, she still needs to sell her own collections. It was a very interesting interview and both parts are embedded below. Enjoy!

Part 1

This is a finely beaded, almost woven Lariat Necklace from the 1920s.

Fold in half, wrap it around the neck and pass the ends through the loop. It will look like this.

Wrap around the neck twice, then knot it in the front. You can knot the loop too and will look like this image. If you just knot it, it will have one short plain strand higher in the neck and one longer one where the knot is. Doing it as seen on the image avoids the weight of the end making it too tight around your neck.

Here is another way, just let the ends fall in the front or for a Summer evening out, bring your hair up and let it fall down a low cut back.

In this style, you knot it as high as it is comfortable to wear, then leave the long ends which can be both worn to the front, the back or one in the fron and one in the back if you place the knot on the side.

The weight of the beads at the ends is what keeps a lariat in place. These are Italian Murano beads and this style is called "wedding cake".

The best way to figure out how to wear a lariat necklace is to think of it as a scarf. How many different ways can you wear a scarf?  It really depends on the occasion, your style, how daring you are.  You can make a fashion statement that steals the show or a demure and classic finishing touch to your outfit.

Other ways not pictured are as a belt, a wrap bracelet and even braided in your hair if it is long enough. Feeling like a Flower Child today? Wrap around your forehead.  Wearing a Menswear inspired suit?  Replace the tie with a lariat.  The only limitation is your imagination and how daring you are!

If you have an idea not mentioned here, please post your comment.

If you have any questions and would like more instructions, please post and I’ll try to help.

The gorgeous vintage 1920s Flapper Lariat featured in this article is available at Vintage Jewelry, Fashion Magazines and Fine Collectibles plus Jewelry by Vera Battemarco.