by Georgina

Today I am taking fashion inspiration from the woman to our left, whose name was Judge Mary Margaret Bartelme. She lived between 1866 and 1954. It’s her neckpiece I’m after. It’s an Edwardian lace collar, featuring a cameo pin in the centre. A cameo is a carving usually made into a gemstone, to produce a relief image, often (but not always) in the image of a person’s head. There have been cameos discovered that date back as far as the 3rd century BC, so you’d be pretty hard pressed to find a style that could be considered more Vintage than that…

So where can we get a necklace like Mary’s without taking out a mortgage in order to obtain an original Edwardian one? I had a look on Etsy, and found quite a lot of gothy-looking ones such as this, as well as an elaborate lacey neckpiece made from vintage doilies which rather took my fancy. There’s also this one, which has the cameo pin up on the choker.

But lacey collars aren’t a very every-day accessory – so I’ve had an idea… For two looks in one, I’ve decided the most efficient thing to do would be to buy a cameo brooch on its own, which I can pin to my jacket, coat, cardigan or other regularly-worn item of clothing, and buy a plain lace collar such as this lovely green one. Then I can pin the cameo to the lace collar, and still be able to wear it on my coat for less glamorous occasions too.