Floral Brooch Remix
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 7:19 PM 
When Mrs. O appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in September 2008, not only did she make her dance moves famous, she debuted a fantastic trio of brooches that would soon become her signature style note of the season. In cornflower blue, a rose pink mix and ombre-effect lilac, the gold-accented pins were a feminine, cheerful addition to Mrs. O's deep purple wrap top and printed silk skirt. On a more practical note, they also served as an ingenious way to fasten her cardigan.
This same trio of brooches surfaced a month and a half later for the Third Presidential Debate at Hofstra University in New York. For their encore, they were reinvented entirely - fastened atop a single strand of pearls that popped against Mrs. O's cerulean blue cap sleeve dress. Mrs. O's use of jewelry is one of the most distinctive, charming facets of her style. She has a sharp eye for embellishing an ensemble with a well-placed bow or brooch. And carefully executed, her jewelry always enhances, never overwhelms.
As the examples above demonstrate, Mrs. O also knows how to get mileage out of her accessories. She's a master at putting an inspired, fresh spin on the same pieces to make them feel completely brand new. As you might have guessed, these floral pins are again the work of Mrs. O's jewelry designer of choice: Erickson Beamon. This is our final installment of profiling Mrs. O's Erickson Beamon gems. Seven brooches and a strand of gold pearls later, we're more enamoured than ever. We hope you've enjoyed admiring these beauties up close as much as we have.
Images used with kind permission from Erickson Beamon / Showroom Seven New York
Erickson Beamon in Jewelry
Reader Comments (15)
I love all the insight you gave about her jewelry.Thanks!
Seeing the pieces up close and detailed makes them so much more personal.
Thank you.
These are gorgeous little pieces of wearable art. Love ´em!
The flower broaches are beautiful. Brings back a time during the 60's when they were popular again, and I'm very pleased to have a few of my own. Ventiage stores are also a place to find some really nice ones. As another African American woman myself, age 61, I'll be pinning myself with such beauty once again, thanks to Mrs O...
Mrs. T: Thanks for tiding us over with the retrospective look at Michelle's fashion accessories until her year-end and inaugural wardrobe is unveiled. As with the brooch creativity, I think some of us may have missed these details along the way - so appreciate it - as well as your insightful commentary and noting of designer sources. Thanks again.
Hey could you post her Hofstra debate dress? Cause her use of brooches on that dress was one of the most charming things I have EVER seen and it's one of my favorites of her looks. But that dress didn't get a whole lot of attention, and it should.
Here is one picture of it:
http://www.nancarrow-webdesk.com/warehouse/storage2/2008-w41/img.377148_t.jpg
Hey jennal,
We actually do link to this dress in the post above. And at the time, dedicated a post to it, here:
http://www.mrs-o.org/?p=821
Agree that it was lovely. The use of jewelry makes it one of my favorites!
More thanks for posting the detail pictures of these beautiful pieces. The designer has a keen eye for color harmony and balancing asymmetry.
I also am totally in love with the brooches and pearls thing. Michelle seriously knows how to accessorize. Just awesome.
Seriously, HOW did I miss them dancing on talk shows?!
Kristan
http://jbu.phuzzymath.net/
Love how Michelle wears the broach in such a modern way! Here is one from Banana Republic (no I'm no affiliated with them, just online shopping today) that I love, the Floral Corsage Broach in Purple, $49, reminds me of Mrs. O:
http://www.bananarepublic.com/browse/product.do?cid=36714&pid=623511&vid=1
They make her look old. I thought we were over this trend. Madeline Allbright? And no more round pearls. She needs long necklaces to lengthen the neck. How about some original works of art, silver and beadwork.
@ Kathleen San Juan,
I understand your impulse to say broaches are old, but I have to say, Mrs O totally mordernizes them! i mean let's look at everything in fashion,
people are not doing anything extraordinarily new that has never been done before (hello -> who would have thought someone would drag leggins back from the 80s!)
but its about mordernizing them, and making them new, and you have to admitt, I think Mrs O. has started something here, and the way she wears her broaches, its so her, and is definitely one of her signatures I love!
Who knew, Mrs O, trend setter!!! love her!!
I love her too, but I believe she needs a stylist. If I were photographed all the time I would hire a stylist immediately.
She wears the leggings because off-the-rack lengths are too short and she has muscular knees. She needs to have someone design for her particular fashion needs.
Pencil skirts with some skinny pleats at the hem.
Longer slim cut jackets not the short boxy ones will lengthen the too-short torso and not emphasize the broad shoulders.
She needs to wear v-necks to give her a longer neckline. Long layers of necklaces, a v-neck blouse with soft ruffles, a longer skinny jacket and not all the same color. She looks terrible all in one color. Tiny Nancy Reagan needed to stand out next to her big husband so she wore all red. She was only a size 2. Michelle looks like a wall, wider and flatter, and the view from the back is one long long wide fanny. From the front we see a tiny little top and a big wide lower half. She needs to mix colors...add a pattern. An orange cardigan or skinny jacket,with a pattern a pale peach blouse with a v and layers of long necklaces, handcrafted works of art, a rich burgundy pencil skirt with some interest at the hem. High round or square necks look like her head is sitting right on her chest. Mix vibrant colors and add patterns.
Her outfit here in SJ, PR was just what Im talking about. She wore ruffles and a pencil skirt and a belt, 3 different colors/patterns. Looked great.
I think most of the Thakoon prints look like grandma's sofa.
The pouffy skirts with a skinny little top look out of proportion. It's all about the line. The skirts blow up in the wind, so are not practical.
She had a tough time here in San Juan. There are FOUR political parties, each identified with a certain color. It would have nbeen political suicide for Michelle if she had worn ANY of those colors: Red, Blue, Green or Orange.
She was late for an appearance in Caguas because she had to change her clothes. Sure enough, she appeared in a black skirt, belt and shoes, and a white twin set. A little warm outside in the Botanical Garden for sweaters, but she looked terrific and offended no party with her (lack of) color choices. Michelle is fashion model slim--even better in person-- and beautiful, so she does look great no matter what she wears. So we agree on that much!
And the outfit here in San Juan, with the ruffles, was my favorite of all time. I saw her at the end of the afternoon, after she had several appearances and interviews on a hot day, and she still looked runway fresh.
The TODAY show print also fantastic.
I hope she doesnt wear black at the inauguration. I vote for an Obama blue coat, matching blue skirt and how about a white cashmere turtleneck sweater a little below her natural waist. Wear with long layers of gold chains, or pearls with gold, but long.