Last night, journalist Lynn Yaeger celebrated the launch of A Life Adorned: Lavish Accessories, an antique accessories exhibition at New York’s Doyle & Doyle shop. A curious collector of Bécassine dolls, Georgian rings (her stockpiled jewelry remains secret, mostly for fear of burglars), and reindeer sweaters, Yaeger seemed the perfect cocurator for the show, which is part of the store’s ongoing Vault series. But she was hard-pressed to pick her favorite vintage treasures. “I love all our little friends,” said Yaeger rather diplomatically at yesterday’s press preview. Although, she later conceded, “The magnifying glass with the little diamond handle is very fetching.”
Together with the shop’s owners Elizabeth and Irene Pamela Doyle, Yaeger amassed quite a selection of ornate perfume bottles, jewel-encrusted pillboxes, sterling-silver telephone dialers, and other luxurious finds dating from the Victorian era to the seventies. While a few items are up for sale, the purpose of the largely privately owned selection is to engage and inspire. And for Yaeger, the joy was in playing detective. For instance, she was trying to determine the reason for a hidden mirror inside a Victorian parasol handle. Why is it there if women didn’t use makeup? “Not sure!” Yaeger admitted. Sometimes, the mystery’s half the fun.
A Life Adorned: Lavish Accessories opens today and runs until February 14 at the Doyle & Doyle shop, located at 412 West 13th Street in New York.
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