Jun 24

Jun 24 Thunderbirds, Vintage Bangles And Beaded Handbags ~ Power Dressing For The Future.

Ive become addicted to a lovely lady called Lucia Lei who opens jars of junk jewellery she buys from Goodwill charity shops in America on YouTube. She is so polite, her voice is very soothing and she loves everything she sees. I love everything I see. I love her. I love the comments of love people leave on her channel. It’s like a secret subversive club of lovely lady love. I watch her videos over and over, I can’t stop, she is Fortnight for the over forties.

So when I’m not watching her look at what she’s bought, I’m out looking for things to buy. I’ve had a life-long love of modernist and brutalist style and collect midcentury jewellery. Inspired by Lucia, I’ve fallen back in love with eBay and about two months ago found a stunning vintage stainless steel cuff with turquoise stones. It’s not signed and the stones are synthetic, but it has all the classic style of modernist jewellery which was heavily inspired by Pre-Columbian and Native American art.

I put the bangle on the kitchen windowsill and admired it every time I fed me or Begonia - every 20 minutes or there abouts. It started to fuel some familiarity, it had an abstract totem look about it and I suddenly remembered what it reminded me of.

I was a tourist in New York ten years ago with money burning a hole in my pocket and I stumbled upon a dark little vintage boutique buried away in a nook on a side street in Manhattan. I found it by fluke and couldn’t find it again if my life depended on it. The proprietor was typically rude and disinterested until he propelled himself onto his feet and into polite and interested when he caught a whiff of some cash flow and we left the best of friends.

I bought a few things, including a dress I never wore but was very attached to, and a large heavy vintage metal pendant that I was going to pass on until he whipped out some pliers and changed the flimsy chain into one more sturdy. I was impressed with his resourceful salesmanly improvisation, top marks. I also thought it would go with a handmade turquoise beaded handbag that looked like a womb I’d bought at a boho street market from a beautiful cool couple for $75.

I didn’t know what the pendant was and although I got the impression he did, he wasn’t going to commit to releasing any information in case of the omnipresent threat of a lawsuit if you give false information or an opinion (ironic ten years later), anyway, it all just added to the allure and mystery so I joyfully paid the $60 asking price without question.

Vintage Thunderbird pendant and new chunky chain.

Normally I put on what I’ve just bought, regardless of whether it goes with what I’ve got on, I just proudly load it up and parade it around like Mr T, that’s what someone made it for, however I had a slight reservation about this one and kept it sealed in the bag. It looked in the style of Native American art and as I know nothing about the subject, out of respect, I didn’t want to wear it if it would be culturally offensive.

It came home with me back to London and there was something about it, something I just couldn’t put my finger on. As I say, when I find a vintage treasure I wear it all the time or hang it up on the wall to gaze at and swoon, but honestly, I was a bit wary of this piece. I didn’t know where it had come from, if it had been acquired fairly, what the symbol represented, it had been repaired extensively and badly with blue plastic where the turquoise stones had gone missing, I wasn’t sure if I should have it.

The first and last day I wore it out turned into a day of cataclysmic misfortune and bad luck. When I got home the pendant was ceremoniously unburdened from my neck and sent into permanent hibernation in the pink vanity case and there it stayed for ten years, untouched, unworn and unsafe. Google and Pinterest weren’t what they are today, but I did some old school research at the time and discovered it may be a Thunderbird and read something somewhere vague that it can bring bad luck, so without any further investigation or justification that was all the validation I needed to lock it away and never wear it again.

Vintage American-Tourister vanity case ~ has seen some action.

This is exactly why a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and should not be put in the hands of an idiot like me. The Thunderbird as a talisman has a vast symbolic meaning and varies between tribes. Believed by some to represent The Gods at war in the skies when it beat its huge wings causing thunder, lightening and storms, it also symbolises victory in war on the ground and a protector of mortals from evil spirits.

I’m not religious, but I am superstitious, and I deeply respect the spiritual beliefs of others, plus I’ll take all the backup I can get in the daily fight against evil spirits. From now on I’m going to armour myself up in my Thunderbird pendant, totem inspired bangle and turquoise womby handbag, wear them all together and go out into battle like a 70s Wonder Woman. Just call me Thunder Woman. Or Ms T. if you know me.