Little girls have been wearing charm bracelets for years, but we’ve seen a burst in kitsch jewelry recently. Food, animals, kitchen appliances–just about anything and everything has been put onto a necklace or earring.
It’s a fine line though, between cute kitsch and tacky kitsch, and sometimes we aren’t even sure. For instance, Fred Flare’s PB and J earrings: my favorite food is smiling! And has cherubic cheeks! But how would those look perched next to my actual cheeks? Hmm…
What about Gilbert & George’s glasses necklace? We love the two Brits’ sharp humor, and those are some pretty sleek frames, but even those of us who don’t wear glasses on our faces (because we’re pretty sure that six eyes: funny in theory, idiotic in practice) are a little wary.

Tatty Devine, the site that’s selling Gilbert & George’s glasses, is like a kitsch jewelry heaven. We’re thinking nay on the any of the ping pong incarnations, but maybe yay for the telephone ring.
Perhaps with kitsch, as oxymoronic as it seems, subtlety may be key.
–AMANDA JEAN BOYLE