The (Tiny) Winter Sparkle Report

It's Saturday and the sun's finally making her debut—how about some razzle-dazzle?✨✨

A few months ago I was at Outline Brooklyn looking for jeans and instead of finding jeans, I found a sparkly embroidered clutch bag by Dries Van Noten. It was out of my price range for this designated shopping mission, but seeing it on one of their shelves, it immediately captivated me.

I need this, I thought. Like the flowers need the rain. Like a person never does not need another sparkly bag with a secret cross-body strap hidden inside 👀. So, I asked Hannah one of the owners the most logical thing to ask: “How many do you have in stock?

“That’s the last one,” she said.

Welp…see y’all back over there at the cash wrap.

I have shopping will power with many things, some much more than others. Jeans and T-shirts come to mind (how many does one really need…just a few perfect versions of each, right?). But sparkly things…I’m DOOMED. Even the cheesy, cheap stuff…hand it over! But usually, it’s the reasonably MARVELOUS stuff, like this Dries bag that literally give me heart palpitations. Or this vintage Prada cutie clutch I found on eBay (below) at least six months ago, sat idle in my Watch list until I started writing this newsletter, and then went back ASAP to said watch list to see if it was still available. And…it was NOT. It was $350. I ask you, what is WRONG with me? How much cheerier would my life be with that little jeweled satin Prada clutch IN IT? CB will never know…

Such is the effect of sparkly, shimmery, shiny, blindingly reflective anything. We see it…and then, we cannot unsee it. Immediately, it has pierced a tiny spear of sparkle in our hearts and there is just No Going Back. I know it’s a good month past the party season, when sparkly things are at their peak. But, at A Tiny Apt. HQ, sparkly things are just never not peaking.

Or peeking…out of a sharply cut blazer lapel, from behind frizzled hair that needs a trim, from underneath a voluminous puffer coat.

Sparkles! What’s that old saying: “Be not that fear of spirits lie in wait of yet MORE sparkles.”

I just made that up.

BUT…what I am saying to you is that in the deepest columna cerului of winter—aka, right now—when we still have a few solid months of mercury drops, icy slop piles underfoot, gloomy horizons, and four remaining episodes of “True Detective”…well, that calls for some ✨💫🫣. Many hits. Different sizes and intensities of razzle and dazzle. Here in New York, it’s a cold, wet Saturday…therefore, let us blow our minds w/ GLITTER. And, as your confidant in all things resourceful, Less Is More, and economy of scale, I quote Chaucer: “Amor vincit omnia.”

Which is latin for, “Love sparkle conquers all.”

You may in fact not be in the market for a chunky rhinestone choker or a pair of sequin sandals, but let’s be honest here: The arrival of a sparkly thing—vintage or new—usually out of the blue, feels like a tiny, happy miracle. Chaucer and Cher are with me on this.

Cher, an angel in SPARKLE, courtesy of GETTY and a miracle of The Lord.

Let’s get into it…

Wearing a few sparkly rhinestone necklaces, both vintage and the kid’s section of Zara, as I am wont to do on an ordinary work-from-home day. Also, back up on my special bookshelf, my vintage cast-iron bunny always wears my late grandmother’s rhinestone bracelet…for good luck.

1. Vintage Schiaparelli for Whiting & Davis bag, $500. Imagine rolling up to your shared work space and pulling your iPad out of THIS? It probably has some pleasing heft to it, too…I mean, the hardware at the base of those handles…perfection.

2. If vintage isn’t your thing, and you’re cool budget-wise with something in the ballpark of a car, this Sequined tote by Bottega Veneta, $10,500, has a similar chunky make-the-neighbors-hate-you vibe.

3. I’ve been eying these earrings by Mango, which feel very vintage and remind me of ME post-college, heading into my high-rise office off of Park Avenue, attempting to look like a ‘90s working girl. I just love them, $30.