Beaucoup Jewelry or Nothing

My love for jewelry started young.

Before I knew anything about trends, editorial spreads, or what some magazine decided was “in” I knew what felt beautiful to me. And for me, beauty looked like my Auntie Brandie.

She had all the best pieces.

Big medallion earrings. Herringbone chains. Oversized hoops. Jewelry that introduced her before she even said a word. To my young elementary school eyes, nothing was more exquisite than seeing the women and girls in my neighborhood dressed to impress. The 8-ball jackets. The animal Bally's. The leather shorts with matching halter tops. The big nameplates. The earrings that touched shoulders. The chains that caught the light just right.

Jewelry was not an afterthought.

It was the outfit.

In my community, jewelry has always been a staple. The more elaborate, the better. You weren’t really cool unless you had monogram earrings, big hoops, or a nameplate that let the world know exactly who you were. It was fly. It was loud. It was proud. It was style, culture, and self-expression all wrapped into one.

And while elaborate jewelry, especially from the late ’80s into the ’90s, sometimes came with negative connotations, the truth is this:

So many things rooted in Black culture are called tasteless, gaudy, or “too much” until a high-end magazine or luxury brand decides it is fashion’s next big thing.

But we knew.

We always knew.

We knew that adorning ourselves was not about trying too hard. It was about beauty. It was about pride. It was about celebrating ourselves in a world that often tried to ignore the archetypes of brilliance, coolness and resilience.

And this didn’t start with us in the hood, either.

Jewelry has always been part of ancestral history. Pieces found in tombs in Egypt, West Africa, and beyond show that jewelry was never just decoration. It was used to communicate spirituality, represent our tribes, protection, identity, and belonging. Sometimes it was ornamental. Sometimes it was sacred.

That is what jewelry has always done for me.

It connected me to my culture before I even understood that.

I remember the Christmas season as a kid. My parents hid my gifts before Christmas Day in the exact same place every year, so of course I knew where to look and exactly what I was getting. But every year, they still would surprise me with one extra gift.

And it was always a piece of fly jewelry.

That small surprise meant everything. It was better than every Cabbage Patch Kids doll and any Nintendo console system.

It was never just about the piece itself. It was the feeling. The excitement. The idea that something beautiful had been chosen just for me. Something I could wear to school and show off to my friends and they be just as happy about my drop letter initials earrings as I was. Something I could keep. Something that made me feel a little more secure, a little more stylish, a little more like the fly girl I was and the fly woman I would become. 

That feeling never left me.

Jewelry is why a simple outfit can suddenly feel complete. It is why a plain tee and jeans can become a look. It is why a woman can walk into a room wearing hoops, a chain, and a ring stack and just feel....different.

At Terrell Dominick, jewelry will always be more than an accessory.

It is a nod to the women from my neighborhood.

The aunties with the herringbone chains.

The girls with the nameplates.

The women who made big hoops art.

The ones who taught us that style does not have to whisper or be quiet to be beautiful or "tasteful."

The ones who always knew that we have the first, final and only say on what is in vogue in our community.

Sometimes it should be big and bold like us.

Sometimes it should shine like us.

Sometimes it should speak who we are before we open our mouth.

Because jewelry has always been part of the story

And for me, it always will be.....

Beaucoup Jewelry or nothing