{"id":15318,"date":"2012-04-19T03:15:38","date_gmt":"2012-04-19T07:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=15318"},"modified":"2012-04-19T19:33:46","modified_gmt":"2012-04-19T23:33:46","slug":"dick-clark-madonna-and-my-1980s-jewelry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/dick-clark-madonna-and-my-1980s-jewelry\/","title":{"rendered":"Dick Clark, Madonna and My 1980s Jewelry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dick Clark<\/a> — the host of American Bandstand<\/em> and New Year’s Rockin’ Eve<\/em> — died yesterday at age 82. You’ve probably seen his famous Bandstand<\/em> chat with Madonna a thousand times in the past 24 hours, but I’m going to link to the clip again anyway. I was glued to the television when this originally aired in 1984. I even mentioned Madonna’s big moment in this 2008 interview with gorgeous blogger Jill of Trend de la Creme<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Keep your eyes on her earrings!<\/p>\n

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Click the screen cap to see the video.<\/p><\/div>\n

On Monday<\/a>, I showed you a coat and a newspaper clipping that I saved from the ’90s. You shouldn’t be surprised that I have most of my ’80s jewelry too. That includes the Madonna earrings.<\/p>\n

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Holding them in my hand to show you the size.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve shown them on the blog before; I occasionally wear them to Madonna concerts.<\/p>\n

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The earring in 2008. Click for original post.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the photo above, I’m also wearing the neon guitar-pick earring given to me by the first boy I ever kissed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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He sent this to me in the mail.<\/p><\/div>\n

He wasn’t exactly a boy. As I recall, he was 22 and I was 15. I told him I was 18.\u00a0 He was a nice, polite fan of The Fixx<\/a> who later mailed me sweet, hand-written letters from his college in Connecticut. He wanted to take me for a ride on his motorcycle, but my mother put a stop to that.\u00a0 I met him — and kissed him — on the plane on a high-school trip to England when Mom wasn’t around<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A few important pieces of ’80s jewelry are missing. I probably threw out the bright plastic earrings from 1983. My 80 black rubber Maripolitan<\/a> bangles – the same kind Madonna wore — were tragically lost in a move in 1986.\u00a0 I’m still sad about that. I would happily wear them now. I also seem to have misplaced the black rubber circle earrings you can glimpse in the photo below. Note that I’m only have one on. I often wore just one earring even if I had a pair.<\/p>\n

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The higher the hair, the closer to God, bitches!<\/p><\/div>\n

Based on my hair color and makeup, that photo is from 1985-86.\u00a0 For many years, I’ve looked at pictures like this and thought, “Oh God, that ’80s hair.” Suddenly, I love that hair again. Get me a teasing comb and hairspray — I’m ready to give it another go!<\/p>\n

Here are two earrings that I bought as singletons. I liked the watch-parts earring but I preferred the torso. I visited that one at a store in SoHo for weeks before I could afford it. It must have been about $15. I’m pretty sure both of these are from ’85-86.<\/p>\n

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Both pieces are very lightweight.<\/p><\/div>\n

I got this clanky, 3D earring as a pair around the same time.<\/p>\n

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I tried to sharpen this image but it's nearly 2 a.m. and I can't deal.<\/p><\/div>\n

I think it was from a street vendor in SoHo. I liked to go to SoHo to browse the sidewalk sales and the cool little boutiques, especially a jewelry store called Details. There were no big corporate stores like Victoria’s Secret and Prada in SoHo back then. I also liked to window-shop at Trash & Vaudeville (still on St. Mark’s Place). Fiorucci, in midtown, was where I got my rubber bangles<\/a>. I saw Michael Hutchence, the late lead singer of INXS, at Patricia Field’s store in 1984<\/a>. I hung out with my gay friends on Christopher Street. I bought a tiny pink triangle earring at the now-closed Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop<\/a> there to show solidarity and bother my parents. My parents were occasionally bothered by my hair, including my bleached bangs and the long blonde “tail<\/a>” I had in high school, but the pink triangle<\/a> didn’t get a reaction.<\/p>\n

I’m convinced the pink triangle is here somewhere, but I haven’t located it yet. I do have my pink rhinestone heart earrings. I probably got them at Bloomingdale’s.<\/p>\n

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I know I visited these for a month before buying them.<\/p><\/div>\n

I got the gold-colored earrings below at a store called Hartly in New Jersey<\/a>, around 1987. I had regrets because they were much heavier than what I was used to. Most of my earrings were featherweight even though they were big. I did like the satin finish. I use that for nearly all my designs now.<\/p>\n

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There was a strict no-return policy on jewelry.<\/p><\/div>\n

These hand earrings came from SoHo.<\/p>\n

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Sometimes I wore one, sometimes I wore both.<\/p><\/div>\n

I don’t remember where I got these clear plastic earrings, but they were my favorites in 1986-87. I felt like Edie Sedgwick in them and wore them for all “fancy” events, like birthday celebrations.<\/p>\n

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I generally wore both together.<\/p><\/div>\n

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This was one of my favorite pictures of myself.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’m crazy about this rubber-tipped single earring to this day. I want to reinterpret it for my line.<\/p>\n

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Long and lightweight.<\/p><\/div>\n

I felt more iffy about these earrings but I wore them anyway.<\/p>\n

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They're nice enough but not as fun as my other earrings.<\/p><\/div>\n

Initial jewelry was popular while I was growing up. I usually wore just one of these rhinestone “W” earrings. I have a vague recollection of wearing them pre-1985 with pink stirrup pants and my dad’s oversize white shirt. I also liked to wear them with the cartoon shirt here<\/a>, because the shirt had words on it. Words on my shirt and a letter in my ear! I felt well-coordinated.<\/p>\n

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One of these is damaged.<\/p><\/div>\n

Earrings were obviously my favorite jewelry category but I wore these giant rhinestone brooches on my denim jacket.<\/p>\n

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The NYC brooch is much better quality than the Paris one.<\/p><\/div>\n

I got the New York City brooch at Serendipity 3 or a neighboring hair salon before I went — unwillingly — to Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., for my freshman year of college in 1985. I wanted to be in New York so badly. Even my ears wanted to be there.<\/p>\n

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Single, lightweight, plastic earring. I'm holding it by the post.<\/p><\/div>\n

I transferred to Columbia University in New York in 1986 and I’ve been here ever since.<\/p>\n

I never had NYC rings, so it’s fitting that I made a three-ring, sterling-silver set for my WENDYB by Wendy Brandes line<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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$320 for the set. Click to purchase.<\/p><\/div>\n

That old earring makes me feel that I should do an earring version of my rings.<\/p>\n

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Picture these on my ears. Click to purchase the rings.<\/p><\/div>\n

What do you think? <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dick Clark — the host of American Bandstand and New Year’s Rockin’ Eve — died yesterday at age 82. You’ve probably seen his famous Bandstand chat with Madonna a thousand times in the past 24 hours, but I’m going to link to the clip again anyway. I was glued to the television when this originally…<\/p>\n

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