6 Gems: Are brooches b.s.?

They're everywhere. Except IRL. What you need to know to make pins happen.

I had something planned for today, but I got a reader question, and it was a very timely. For those of you who follow along with outfit planning this week we’re wearing pins.

check out my friend, Meera, a brooch natural

It’s one of those things that are suddenly everywhere in magazines and street style shots (again), but is anyone actually doing it in real life? I feel like you’re either a pin person or you’re not. Like my friend

Meera Shah

is a pin person. It’s perfectly natural and normal for her to put 10 pins on an Adidas track jacket and look like her quintessential charming self. Me? I like the idea of a pin. I buy pins. When it comes to wearing a pin? I chicken out.

But the pin concept really appeals to me because it’s something anyone can do and feel PART OF fashion right now without spending money (BTW, that was the subject I’d planned for 6 Gems and it will be here for you in the coming couple of weeks) — we all have a pin or can borrow one.

The subscriber question I got was specifically “how do you pin a pin without ruining a piece of clothing?” But I think in the course of answering, I can also give some creative ideas for pin placement we can all handle, especially since I just finished planning my outfits for the week and am wearing one as I write this.