'Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady upon a white horse
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes'
Catherine McNeil has got to be one of the most striking models in the business.
[tfs]
What a beautiful ad, and i'm not even really talking about the rings here, although they are just stunning. I have a thing for cheekbones, and hers look like they could cut glass here. I love the way she has posed her hands too. In jewellery ads you have to put the jewellery on display, but without seeming contrived and without pretense. She looks so natural here! She actually looks like a fabulous young thing contemplating her absolutely gorgeous rings before a night on the town... that kind of character would hardly require much acting on mcneil's part, now would it?
I just love rings though. They are infinitely more glamorous than bracelets and necklaces, and i can't even say why. They're almost like the kind of jewellery that you shouldn't wear when you're young... it's too glamorous in a sense. Like it's off limit to those who are unmarried and unattached. Rings, and i mean cocktail rings, flashy rings like that, are such an unabashed symbol of wealth and status. The kind of gaudy and elaborate displays of jewels, such as the flowers in the dior rings, would not be tolerated on bracelets or necklaces, at least, not by people of 'taste'. Maybe it's because rings are a lot smaller, or maybe it's just because rings can pull anything off... they're the french people of jewellery.
Rings tell tales of glamorous parties in which rake thin girls with cropped hair swanned around in backless silk dresses, smoking from long ivory holders, waving their be-ringed fingers in the air. Rings are evocative of the 1920s and 1930s like no other piece of jewellery, even brooches and hair clips... A huge cocktail ring never fails to create a clear image of the type of girl who would have worn such a ring in that time. Like these Dior confections. the girl would be decked out in cream jersey, drop waist, a little cloche, a fur coat... and a huge bright colourful ring. Instant glamour.
Like in the nursery rhyme, 'rings on her fingers' is instantly linked to wealth and prosperity. Rings are the ultimate in luxury jewellery, for in history only those who did not work could wear rings. They were, after all, the only people who did not constantly use their hands. All others were toiling in fields, factories, and the workhouse, and a ring on their finger would be a serious impediment to speedy and prosperous work. No... rings were the territory of the rich.
Things are different today, obviously. Like many once glamorous and off-limits things, the ring had become mainstream. This is not a bad thing at all, rather it is good that the ring is no longer available only to the wealthy, although it is often perceived that way fashion is not elitist. A trend can only be a trend when it can be followed. But then, like perfume and pearls a good ring can transcend it's modern connotations to take on a whole new level of glamour. A good ring can take a tee shirt and jeans into new territories. A good ring is a statement piece unlike many other pieces of jewellery.
So i'm not really sure why i like them so much, but i've rambled on for quite long enough without really reaching a point. They are glamorous, and they are often glamorous in an over-the-top obnoxious way. And yet i love them even the more. The bigger the better. Less is never more, at least, not in the case of rings. What shouldn't work for rings, huge oversized styles, expensive and decadent materials, elaborate and sometimes tacky settings... it always manages to look classy despite the fact that the same thing on anything else would look like a 1980s disaster. Perhaps that's why i like rings so much, they're often an excellent visual contrast. The glamour of the idea of the ring juxtaposed against the complete gaudiness of its reality... Or maybe i just think they make my fingers look pretty.
This post started as an ode to catherine mcneil and has ended as an ode to rings. It figures, right?
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