“I feel undressed if I don't have my pearls on. My pearls are my security blanket.” - Lady Sarah Churchill

I would rather have pearls then diamonds.

I know that puts me a very small very preppy group of Southern Ladies but there is something about an item that still needs you (or at least your body oil) to become more beautiful that I find wonderful. And no one can tell me they would rather have the same round cut diamond as everyone else then the ring below.

They are more attainable than cut gems and a woman does not need much to wear them. I have two strands that are 100 inches of freshwater pearls that I love and wear like a shield. I have a single 10mm pearl I got from Tiffany's Gatsby Collection (Jordan has them as earrings in the latest movie). I also have studs and pearls that look like leaves hanging on a branch. I also have a single pearl on a piece of leather.

History finds us lots of women who chose pearls. Starting with the Romans and Queen Elizabeth I but it is Dolley Madison was always my favorite. It may because she wore pearls her husband's inauguration (it may because she was the perfect hostess). She called them America's gem. Freshwater pearls in the Ohio, Mississippi, and Tennessee River basins were being exported at the time to Europe and America was the place to get pearls.

Dolley Madison, engraving, from painting by Gilbert Stuart. The National Archives

Everything changed when Kokichi Mikimoto (and his very hard-working wife that no one talks about), figured out how to grow a pearl and not just any pearl a perfectly round pearl. A 18 inch strand will still cost over $2,000.

Mikimoto Black South Sea Pearl Ring.

Then there is costume pearls.

Christian Dior said “With a black sweater and ten rows of pearls,” Chanel changed history. Now don't think for a moment those were real just stands and stands of fakes.

Finally, we have Jackie (a fan of Ms. Chanel). The queen of everything rich, East Coast and expensive. Jackie's pearls were fake. Her legendary faux-pearl necklace carries 158 hand painted, European glass pearls on hand-knotted silken cords (source: Smithsonian)

Life with Jackie Kennedy: Birth of a Legend life.time.com

They also recently sold for $211,500 to the Franklin Mint. Don't worry dear reader you can still pick up your own set of at the Smithsonian gift shop along with her sunglasses.

Sincerely, 

Lipstick