In recent days, we have witnessed a great amount of  tragedy both in ongoing conflict and new war related atrocities. I believe it is important to take a moment to send some love to those whose innocent lives have been lost, and to their grieving families.

La Belle affligée (Robe de Soir de Paul Poiret), 1922.  

Impermanence and mortality have long been subject to human's query; the reason for such loss and pain will never be fully understood. I appreciate antique mourning jewelry for this reason. The attempt of our ancestors to grapple with life and death has left us with fascinating artifacts of hair and script of the past. I find it meaningful how a piece commemorating loss has also created a permanent memory that lives on.

In this same vein, let us not forget those who have given their lives unnecessarily to reasons of conflict, and work to create as much peace and prosperity as we can muster in their honor.

As I learn about the history of jewelry, the more I understand how people in the past related to death in different ways.

Now Halloween comes closer. Traditionally this is the time to celebrate the death of summer, the season of light, and transition to our season of dark (and for us Seattleites, rain). Halloween is said to be the time when the spirits come closest to our world, hence the masquerading and candle lighting traditions.

Georgian Mourning Ring c. 1810

I see this same other worldly transition between the land of the living and the dead in hair jewelry also known as memento mori jewelry. Here, we see how traces of the dead are carried on and immortalized in the form of precious adornment. There is a certain intimacy and acceptance of death that simultaneously is intriguing and strange, as it brings ideas about mortality much closer to the surface than we are accustomed.

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