Happy Accessorising

I have this pair of earrings that I bought about seven years ago which became known as 'My Happy Earrings'. They're a vertical style consisting of pairs of transparent and opaque cellophane circles tinted in orange and hot and pale pink. They prompted spontaneous reactions whenever I wore them. All kinds of people - restaurant servers, salespeople, friends, and once even a stranger on the street - would light up when they saw them, and say with a great big smile what 'wonderful' earrings they were. That's how they became known as My Happy Earrings. I mentioned this to one of the gushing servers and she exclaimed 'They make ME happy, too!!'

Okay, so you're probably thinking that the place I'm from (I was living in Toronto at the time) had a unique, localised, atmospheric composition of nitrogen, oxygen and THC fumes. There are pockets of the city where this may be the case but it would not be the explanation for my inadvertent spreading of joy through earlobe ornaments. Rather, it's just the simple fact that certain colours and shapes, and more significantly the combination of the two, can affect happy feelings in people.

Which brings us to the work of Fred Butler, a London prop stylist and bespoke accessories designer of enormous talent (her website is utterly joyful, you would have to have a heart of stone or lost childhood memories not to smile upon loading the entry page). Style Bubble featured her new accessories collection, a striking spectrum of bright and bold colour mixed with black and white (a favourite treatment of hers), and at first glance the photos of the pieces created an overload of the Happy Earrings effect. There is even a shoulder/arm adornment that uses the same cellophane circles:

 

Maybe you're unable to envision yourself walking down the street in such a contraption but upon seeing it coming your way, wouldn't you at least grin? Surely you would. (I'm not speaking generally, there are enough sourpusses out there who would stare through their beady little eyes until they walked into a telephone pole. It's you, the fabulously amenable, that count here).

These wonderfully crafted pieces of joy are in brilliant harmony with my desire to see more colour in the world. Thank you, Fred Butler. You are one marvellous tomato.

   

Photos from Style Bubble