Tony Duquette is one of my favorite designers!
He was the king of mixing expensive with inexpensive, organic with inorganic, french provincial with ultra modern. He was a one of a kind. His obituary in the New York Times mentioned...
“at his Hollywood Hills studio, a roomful of 18th-century French antiques sat amid gilded trees beneath a ceiling studded with glued-on gold plastic serving trays.”
Holy crap! I know right!!! Where has this guy been all my life!!! But since he’s dead, he’s not coming out with anything new and the only Duquette items that are out there are crazy expensive...like $28,795 kind of expensive. Fuck me! Those pieces cost more than the New Beetle was when we bought it!
But this is a happy story because it’s Valentine’s Day (ok, the day after) and we want happy on Valentines Day (and the day after). Coach, yes that Coach, partnered with the Duquette estate to come out with a line of affordable costume jewelry and I was all over it. Still waiting for the listening....it’s coming.....
We dropped the RedHead off at a party and I asked Mr. P if we could make a detour to the Coach store to check out the stuff. I didn't want to buy (I really didn't) I just wanted to look....and then I'd go to the thrift shop and find something similar and much cheaper!!! Immediately my eye was drawn to this crazy HUGE cocktail ring with rhinestones and flowers and sunbursts. It was so huge and heavy....totally fantastic. It was also out of my price range. I’d like to know what their idea of “affordable” is? They had some other things there but nothing that really spoke to me as much as that big fucking “I’ll kill you if I punch you in the face while wearing this big, bad-ass, mother-fucking ring!” But just hidden out of view, there were these little bug pins that were very me and very silly and so damn affordable and I could see myself wearing one of them. I was thrilled! I could have a sort-of Tony Duquette and not feel guilty for buying it! Hooray!!
Still waiting for the listening?....this is where it comes in....So while I was looking at all the stuff and oogling all the crap I couldn’t afford, I had no idea that Mr. P, the guy who can’t remember my name, the guy who can’t remember our anniversary, the guy who can’t remember to actually take the trash bags out of the house after he's taken them out of the trash can, remembered that I love Tony Duquette and had been to the Coach store the day before with the RedHead and he had already bought me that big bad ass ring. He knew I wanted it before I did.
I guess he was listening after all. Here is my new baby:
