“One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art.”

-Oscar Wilde,“Phrases And Philosophies For The Use Of The Young,” 1894.

It’s strange how much sense this statement makes in the age of Instagram. The image is everything. The split second it takes to see and understand an image is all the time we have to figure out who, essentially, a person is. 

The good news? We have more control over our image than ever before. 

I’m not just talking about photoshop. When it comes to how we dress, how we look, and how we accessorize, we’re living in a time of endless options. Women don’t have to settle for floor-length dresses and men don’t have to dress up in suits and hats each day.

Conformity is no longer in fashion. 

That goes double when it comes to jewelry. In the past, folks used to rely on heirlooms. Pieces that would be passed down, smuggled through customs, and hidden for years until they could be bestowed as wedding gifts. It was just something you did. Jewelry was something that tied you to your family, your history, and your heritage. 

Today, jewelry can be used in even more powerful ways.

Instead of connecting you to the past, it can help you create your future. Wearing jewelry may well be the ultimate way to turn yourself into a piece of art: a symbol that helps show others that you’re part of their tribe. It combines the best aspects of art, technology, and personal eccentricity to connect people on sight.

After all, jewelry is art, and art exists to connect people and deepen their perception of life. That’s what art does at its best. It doesn’t matter how alienated, frustrated, or alone you feel. When you empower yourself to wear a piece that truly brings out your confidence, you increase your chances of finding your chosen family. And once you find them, you’ll always know what to look for: Those dazzling, brilliant, wonderfully useless works of art hiding in plain sight, speaking in voices that can only be heard by a precious few.