Crabby

Ever since I read the book about Madeleine Albright’s brooch collection, I became aware of how you can use the brooch to convey a certain message or mood, and I tried to apply that to my own brooches. Of course, I still choose them based on how well they go with the outfit, but occasionally, when I just want a brooch to add some touch of interest to my outfit, I would stop to think what it says about me.

Take this outfit, for example. I wore it to attend an important work meeting on Zoom, and as we all know, when it comes to the Zoom meeting look, it’s all about from the neck up, so I wanted to add a brooch. At work, I’m known for my directness and perhaps even stubbornness when defending my views (not always a good thing, I’ll admit. I’m working on it), so I chose my crab brooch because there is a saying in Vietnamese that translates to “As stubborn as a crab” (since a crab only moves sideways instead of back-and-forth, see) to show that I’m not afraid to speak my mind. In the end, it wasn’t necessary because everybody was in agreement anyway, but it was nice knowing I could rely on my brooch for a bit of strength. (The shoes were an afterthought. I didn’t wear them for my meeting, naturally.)