Dressing Beautifully: Finding your Signature Item

One aspect of dressing beautifully is finding a signature item to wear that adds a personal touch to your outfits. This item should support your lifestyle, be significant to you, and make you smile. 

My Long Relationship with Pearls

I have been wearing a string of pearls nearly every day for almost two decades. I came across this photo from 2002 when I had just found out I was pregnant with my first son. I don’t have the dress anymore, but I do have that string of pearls. It has been restrung several times, but it still has a home in my jewelry drawer.

About that photo, yes, that is my husband Dave, before he lost 220 lbs. He wore polo shirts nearly every day, but he decided on a new signature item, a bow tie, when he lost the weight.

I have a collection of other necklaces that I will regularly wear to change my look.  However, I have noticed that the ones I choose are significant and personal to me.

My Signature Item: Jewelry

One of the last things I do while I’m getting ready in the morning, is to choose my jewelry for the day. I will pick out a necklace and then a pair of earrings to go with it. I have several that I rotate between depending on my outfit for the day or my mood. Since these items are personally significant to me, it is an important part of my well-being to choose something that makes me smile.  

Jewelry has been a signature item for me since I was a child. I remember when my parents gifted me a pair of gold ball earrings for one of my birthdays. They were so pretty I just stared at them in the little velvet box. My mom and dad looked at me across the table and asked me if I understood their significance. I looked up, confused.  

Then, they told me that those earrings were pierced. Those little orbs of gold were their way of telling me that I was old enough to get my ears pierced. My eyes lit up, and I rushed up to hug them. I had been waiting for that day for years. I couldn’t wait to get my ears pierced and finally get to wear “big girl” earrings.

I used to love going to the jewelry shop with my parents. We lived in the small town of Half Moon Bay, and we would frequent the tiny store Main Street Goldworks. We knew the owner and would stop in to see what he had created and get my mom’s jewelry cleaned or repaired. I worked there one summer and had the privilege of designing an opal necklace with him. It was a stunning opal, and I will never forget how amazing it was to draw the pendant and watch him make it.

I would work in the shop and dream of a day when I might wear fine jewelry of my own.  

My grandma used to take me shopping around my birthday each year. I would spend the night with her, and she would buy me something special on one of our outings. One year we went to a craft fair and found a beautiful set of silver rings. She bought two of them. One was for me, and the other was for her. She called them our buddy rings. I loved to wear that ring, and in fact, I wore it so much that I broke it. 

I kept that ring in my jewelry box even though it wasn’t wearable. When she passed away, my dad asked me if there was anything of hers that I would like. I remembered the ring, and I wondered if I could have it. She had kept it as well, and now I have both of them. It is a lovely, tangible reminder of the warm and connected relationship we had.

I could fill this blog with countless stories of my jewelry. The items in my jewelry box are tangible representations of people and memories in my life. Some don’t get worn regularly because they just don’t fit with where I am today. Others I put on daily and smile. 

Picking a Signature Item- It Doesn’t Need to Be Jewelry

Perhaps jewelry isn’t your thing. If that’s the case, then picking jewelry as your signature item wouldn’t make any sense. However, we all can have a signature item. Here are some ideas on how to select an item that works for you.

Support your Lifestyle

The ideal signature item will support your lifestyle. It should be something that you can wear practically in your day-to-day life.  

When my kids were babies, I needed to be careful with the necklaces that I wore. I was afraid that they would reach up during a nursing session and rip my necklace off. I’ve had a few strands of pearls that got broken over the years.  

When Ken was an infant, Dave got me a set of pearl stud earrings. He wanted to find a way for me to continue wearing pearls while keeping the necklace away from the baby. It worked wonderfully. I could still enjoy a bit of my signature item while remaining practical with my stage of life.

I tend not to wear bracelets as a part of my everyday attire. They would get snagged on my flute and get in the way when I was working on the computer or doing dishes. I save my bracelets for special occasions when I’m not doing my regular work.

Think about what might support your everyday lifestyle, and make sure that the item you are picking will work with your routines. Perhaps one thing would work better for church, while another could be something to wear every day.

Significant to You

Your signature item should be significant to you. It might be a gift you received from a special person in your life, symbolize an achievement, or represent an essential aspect of who you are.

When my husband lost 220 lbs over seven years, he decided to choose a new signature item that would be significant to him. He decided to change from wearing polo shirts and long ties to wearing bow ties. Each day, as he ties his bow tie, he is affirming the healthy person he is now.  Bow ties are significant to him and are much more than just a fashion statement.

As I was going through breast cancer treatment, Dave decided to gift me with a new signature item. He wanted to acknowledge the difficulty that I was walking through and give me something to symbolize this journey in my life. The beautiful pink sapphire necklace I’m wearing in my profile picture was from him. My birthstone is sapphire which adds to the significance of the item. 

I got to design the pendant with the jeweler, which was a special process for me.  Each time I wear the necklace, I remember the challenges of breast cancer and the deep significance of our family’s journey during and after my treatment.

Whether it is an item of clothing or jewelry, the ideal signature item should have meaning and significance in your life.  

Make You Smile

A great signature item will make you smile when you reach for it.  

Both of my kids have their favorite hats. When they go out on a walk, they carefully choose a baseball hat to wear. These hats are their signature item, and they love to wear them. If they head out the door without a hat, they might turn back around and come back and get one.

Dave enjoys wearing a flat cap with our family tartan on it. When we travel together, we will all wear our matching hats. Seeing pictures of us on vacation makes us smile. I’m not sure what other people think of us all in our matching hats, but they probably know we belong together.  

Whatever you choose as a signature item, whether it is a piece of jewelry, a hat, a scarf, or a bow tie, it should make you smile when you put it on. 

During the pandemic, I decided to buy some floral masks to go out in. I enjoy picking out just the right mask for my outfit. I never thought that a face covering could become part of my signature item collection, but then 2020 happened! If I’m going to go out, I might as well be smiling underneath my mask!

I enjoy adding personal touches to my outfits with my signature items. While jewelry is how I like to express myself, perhaps you have a different signature item. I hope you can find one that supports your lifestyle, is significant to you, and most importantly, makes you smile.