Strut Your Stuff For Spring

Easter (aside from its religious significance for all our Christian friends) means one other thing to most of us—candy! Chocolate bunnies, malted milk balls, jelly beans of all colors, not to mention the decadent Cadbury Cream eggs...and while we at Believe are big “”believers” in all things chocolate, we also want to help keep afloat the idea that Easter is a time to dress up, sport your finery, strut your stuff and celebrate Spring.

When we were little girls, some of us got new Easter dresses (complete with new shoes, little purses and even gloves!) but the piece of apparel we most looked forward to getting each year was our new Easter bonnet, a tradition whose origin stretched back in history...

Easter bonnets actually stated as circles of leaves and flowers on the heads of young girls to celebrate the change of seasons and the notion never went away, A superstition in Tudor times held that unless a person had new homespun cloth available at Easter, moths and crickets would eat their old clothes and destructive birds would nest in their house. An old Irish adage demanded: "For Christmas, food and drink; for Easter, new clothes," and a 15th-century proverb from Poor Robin's Almanack stated that if on Easter Sunday some part of one's outfit is not new, one will not enjoy good luck during the year.

Later came the “Sunday of Joy” as the first Easter at the end of the Civil War came to be known. That day, all the grieving mothers and daughters who had lost loved ones in the conflict, were allowed to shed the black clothes of mourning, wear pastel colors and put flowers on the hats. Things got even merrier in the 1870's when an Easter Parade was started in New York City. NYC's gorgeous churches like Trinity Episcopal Church, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and St. Thomas' Episcopal Church began decorating their sanctuaries with Easter flowers. The floral displays grew more elaborate and those who attended the churches started dressing up to match. Soon, decked out in new and fashionable clothing, churchgoers would stroll from their own church to others to see the impressive flowers (and to be seen by their fellow strollers) and the Easter “parade” became the thing to do. If you were rich, you strolled. If you were poor, you watch—an early version of the Red Carpet of today.

“Dressing down” and being comfortable may have the upper hand these days—but if you are longing to see some fabulous Easter bonnets (or want to celebrate Spring by sporting one yourself), here's a few of our favorites from our friends at KayKyCo Hats Online Spring Collection: )

If hats are just too, too much but you'd still like to deck yourself out with some gorgeous new jewelry, we have just the things, on-sale now at Believe: Jeweled barrettes (from the French word “barre” or bar) were developed around 1901 and really came to be popular during the Roaring 20's when women cut their long and heavy hair (which needed combs and tiaras to hold the elaborate styles in place) and went for shorter bobs. The little rectangles of jewels were just the thing to add a bit of dazzle...and they still are. Come see our collection at Believe.

Your hands could use a little polish for Spring, too and we have resurrected an old favorite last loved in the 1960's...the spoon ring.

Spoon rings actually originated in 17th century England and were used as wedding rings. Servants in the “big houses” couldn't afford gold or any precious metal, so they stole the silverware to use as a ring. It was said you could tell which spouse worked in which house by the crest they sported on their spoon wedding ring. The trick was not to get caught—criminal offenses such as '”stealing a silver spoon” or “larceny by a servant” could earn you seven years transportation to Australia...all for love. We have a collection of spoon rings for sale at Believe right now and we promise, no handcuffs if you buy one!

Spring has sprung and though there barely was a winter, we are glad to see the flowers opening, the weather warming and the lovely colors everyone is wearing...so celebrate and top your Spring outfit off—with a piece of jewelry from Believe.