It’s been such a long day. I almost didn’t make it.

We’ve submitted the last set of applications for middle school for my son. It’s been an emotional time. Nobody likes change, well, when it comes to certain things. My greatest complaint is the fact that he’s growing up too fast! I’m not ready!!!

Ah well.

I stumbled on a little feature from my archives. I have about a thousand….give or take….magazines. Some vintage, some soon to be vintage. As we go along on our adventure here, I’m just going to pull random editions out and see what treasures lie waiting for us to rediscover together..

This is a little snippet of a feature.

Carolina Herrera….(she sits at my round table of muses, the muses who I consult on a daily basis….I’ll tell you more about them on another day), I believe the question, “What is a prized possession of yours?”, was posed to the iconic designer and aesthete.

Her answer, “My custom made Verdura compact was a gift from my husband Reinaldo last Christmas. It’s made with gold and jewels forming the shape of the sun on one side and on the other side a crescent moon, or a “C” for Carolina. Reinaldo knows knows that one of my favorite songs is “Night and Day,” by Cole Porter. I absolutely love that song; the lyrics are so romantic. The compact turned out to be romantic too, whimsical and elegant. It complements my pre fall collection (Prefall 2013) which was created to evoke the interplay of night and day.

Isn’t this simply divine?

Verdura, the jeweler is known for its timeless, elegant and distinctly original designs. After getting his start working for jewelers Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel and Paul Flato, Duke Fulco di Verdura opened a small, eponymous salon in 1939 at 712 Fifth Avenue in New York with the financial backing of Cole Cole Porter and Vincent Astor.

The house is best known for using large gemstones, yellow gold, and natural objects such as seashells in its work. Verdura was the first jeweler to promote the use of colored stones with gold for everyday wear. It was also the first to transform classical motifs like coins, ropes, and caning into popular jewelry.

In the 1930s, Coco Chanel asked Fulco to remount jewelry given to her by ex-lovers….(She is LEGENDARY!!!) The resulting design, the Maltese Cross Cuff, became a signature look for Chanel and the house of Verdura.

In 2009, Verdura recreated 70 Maltese Cross Cuffs based on Fulco's original design for Chanel.

As I consider the history of this jeweler, I find Mrs Herreras’s gifts from her husband to be so decadently extravagant and romantic!

I searched the internet for similar compact cases from the designer but there were nowhere to be found! Which excited me even more. Truly a one of a kind gift for the woman who has everything. J’adore! I did find a one, different from Mrs Herrera‘s and equally glorious at Sotheby’s and also a pillbox on 1st Dibs which is equally decadent!

There is so much more I would love to explore on the subject of bejeweled, ornate, extravagant makeup cases.

Stay tuned.

For now, I hope you’re sighing at Mrs Herrerah’s prized possession in the same way I am.

Love,

Aphrodite

Her Prized Posession