The mood was merry and the spirit inviting inside this tiny boutique store. Hot mulled wine and brandy was perched on counter urging customers to sip while they browse.
I have spent hours in this store, which can't possibly be more than 500 sqft. Their collection of jewelry ranges from antique and vintage pieces to new and modern designs. I must say, I am a sucker for the vintage and antique pieces. I can't help myself. Something about them instantly transports me to the past.
So there I am, browsing case after case: stacking rings, lockets, gem covered earrings, pendents, oodles of friendship bracelets that put those old ratty things we used to wear each summer as kids to utter shame! I fall in love with all of it, but I notice I keep coming back to this one case. This is always a sign of purchases to come. I spot this beautiful smooth silver cuff donning a more detailed and delicate vintage looking piece on top.
No, I tell myself - I can't wear cuffs. My wrists are too tiny and the cuff never sits quite right... But maybe this cuff is different. I ask to see it and VOILA! It's perfect! The fit, the style, the everything! Before I can even ask Amy, the resident expert, about it's designer she tells me that top piece is from a vintage bracelet that the designer soldered onto the silver cuff. Um, LOVE IT! I find it to be the perfect melding of old and new. The outcome is this unbelievably delicate looking cuff.
Again, I am transported. I am Cecily Cardew sipping tea and eating cake waiting for my Ernest beneath the shade of an old English Oak tree. Okay, well I doubt Cecily was wearing a cuff bracelet, but that delicate silver one? Absolument!
albertine general
15 christopher street
new york city
646 398 9872
albertine-nyc.com
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