Both Functional and Not: Brooches

Brooches don’t get the credit they deserve — not as the heirlooms we are so systematically granted from either the forebears we call our own or the ones we assume at vintage shops, or the fancy utilitarian fasteners that they are. This is why the Man Repeller Crystal Ball would like to propose that you attempt to consider them (as re-imagined contemporarily and en masse) for the following three purposes:

1. All Crotch and No Play

If you’re planning to invite the cowboy, the camel, the fupa and the jack-o-lantern* to your denim party, a good question to ask is why in the good name of falsified mom-ass you would opt not to decorate your belt loops with at least one angel wing or an arrow that may or may not think it, too, is Birdman. If you have smaller pins, which are less brooch-y, you might consider putting one on the opposite loop.

*Still working through the definition of jack-o-lantern yet but am pretty sure it will circumscribe what happens to the zipper/fly/belt loop region of your jeans while you’re seated.

2. Resourceful Rolling

If you, like me, believe that in order to survive cold winters, you have no choice but to roll up your sleeves and show some wrist (it is the only hope we maintain in the quest for warmer weather) but also find that ever since Jenna Lyons showed you how sleeves are supposed to be cinched, you can’t quite stand rolls on your shirt or jacket any longer, an interesting alternative to the flip and fry (I don’t know), is the clip and fly. Using the same arrow brooch from exhibit A, I folded a crease into the sleeve of my blazer at elbow length and then pinned it. Scrappy!

3. The Generic Way

Only, when your fancy ass diamond pins are clipped into denim, can they really be considered generic? Trick question because the answer is both yes and no. Yes because high/low is a virtue that has become generic across the fashion industry but no because it’s not about the denim, or the pins, so much as it is the way you way wear them. Right?

Your turn — brooch up, take a photo and share that shit in the safety deposit box below.

All brooches and pins by Lulu Frost. For outfit credits, see slideshow.