Making Your Own Luck

I have accepted two theories as unobjectionable truths about fine jewelry.

The first is that people are always looking to tell or hear about the ornament in question. Just last week, someone I barely know asked me to share the tale of the unassuming gold coin I wear around my neck. But how did she know there was a story and furthermore that I was willing to share it? Of course, there was one. And I did want to tell it, but the question is still worth asking.

The second is that we tend to tether superstitious superlatives to the pieces we either really love or really hate. Because my grandmother once fell and hurt her shoulder while wearing an opal ring, she believes the stone to be unlucky. My mom, on the other hand, was proposed to while wearing a pearl brooch and to this day, she keeps the curio in close proximity in spite of how ugly it is.

Sometimes, it seems, it’s just not enough to love a necklace because you love it, so you make it special. And while I’m genetically inclined to shun whatever ring I happen to have on the next time I injure myself, it is my elected, though not bromidic belief that I create my own good fortune. Don’t you remember Hilary Duff’s critically acclaimed 2004 hit, Raise Your Voice?

I don’t either, but Charlotte just brought to my attention that in one scene, Duff flips a penny and then says something platitudinal like “What, haven’t you ever heard of making your own luck?”

She then drops the mic both literally and figuratively and we never hear from her again but I digress.

The point is simply that we should be able to manufacture our own talismans of fortune. Never mind the four leaf clover or the rabbit’s foot, or General Mills’ Lucky Charms even though they are so, so good. As would be the case, Cartier has facilitated my theory with the most recent launch of their Amulette, a small, round disc-of-a-pendant that opens and closes as you please to contain with your wishes and unlock as you see fit. 

If you want, you can say that it’s the modern, more luxurious interpretation of those glass bottles that came with a piece of rice inside with something minuscule written on them, but a necklace is so much prettier.

Part 1 of 1 in collaboration with Cartier. Valentino pants, Céline blouse and Mykita sunglasses.