One of the things I love the most about my work is the history that lies in each piece of vintage jewellery that crosses my work bench. I often wish the vintage accessories that go into my hair accessories could tell me their stories - the parties they attended in the 1920s, the stories they overheard in the 1940s, the lives of the women who wore them in the 1950s: all would be fascinating.
Sometimes, however, I’m lucky enough to get a tiny glimpse of some of that. When someone commissions me to make them a vintage hair accessory from a beloved piece of vintage jewellery they have been given, I get to continue its story.
Commissioning a specific hair piece to be made from a piece of your own vintage jewellery is a great way to give new life to an heirloom. Verity came to me with her grandmother’s old necklace that she wanted to wear as a hair piece for her wedding. I found some additional vintage jewellery pieces from the same era (1940s) to embellish a pair of combs and then combined them to make the ideal ‘something old’ and ‘something blue’. This completely unique hairpiece now gives Verity a very special way of including her grandmother in her wedding day.
Another part of commissioned vintage hair accessories that I love is being able to lift old vintage jewellery out of obsolescence and give it new purpose. Big clip earrings, brooches, dress clips and some other types of vintage accessories have fallen out of fashion and sit unworn gathering dust in drawers. By adapting them and creating unique vintage hair accessories, I get to reduce waste while bringing joy to the owner - ethical, sustainable accessories that are truly unique for the individual. A little bird brooch and a pair of dangly fish earrings were brought to me by a lady who loved them but never wore them. I combined the fish earrings with some deconstructed pearl clip earrings and remounted these and the bird brooch onto hairpins and hey presto! they’re being worn with delight!
The final part of making vintage hair accessories on commission that I love is knowing that the finished result is exactly what my client wants and is completely unique to them - no one in the world will have anything quite like it. Not easy to achieve these days!!
One lady chose one of my vintage diamante hair combs for her wedding but wanted some dark blue incorporated to complement the sapphires in her engagement ring. Similarly, another client contacted me having decided she loved one of my vintage hair vines - a hair vine using 1920s and 1940s jewellery set with aquamarine rhinestones. She wanted the stones pink because pink tourmaline is her birthstone (October). A little stone replacement and they have vintage hair pieces even more special because they have an extra level of personalisation.
Another lady was having challenges growing her fringe out and wanted a very particular type of clip that she was used to using. My usual range are vintage hair pins, vintage hair bands and vintage hair combs but I’m always happy to experiment with other formats if requested. These two pairs of clips were just what she wanted and like nothing she’d find on the high street.
If you would like something unique to you, I don’t charge anything for the commission process, I only charge my usual product prices for the finished article and will give you a fixed price before I start work. You get to approve the design and I’ll always send you photographs of options before you commit. Just drop me a line at wendy@vintageadornments.co.uk - I love a challenge!