The BR "Garden" statement necklace

This is my first post (please read my profile before going on, you will know why!) and I thought that a fun topic to start with would be the controversial Banana Republic "garden" necklace (selling for $98 but sold out online and almost everywhere).


This necklace has been discussed already in the Pudding and the paperbag princess blog here and by gigiofca here but it looks like nobody could actually try it IRL and post pictures and I was lucky enough to grab the last one in my local store.


I stumbled upon this necklace while I was browsing the BR website last week to see if they had something worth it to buy during the"family and friends" promo (I had a Banana moment around 2 years ago, but now I buy maybe a piece or two each season and that's it). I checked the jewelry offerings because I think that this is the only department where they have been improving lately and I actually saw several pieces in store that I liked and considered buying, but not at full price.

First of all let me say that I've always been very minimalist when it comes to jewelry. I don't wear any ring except for my wedding band and until recently I owned very few necklaces and bracelets, all very polished-looking. But then something happened. It actually hit me that I could give my old clothes a second life with the right piece of jewelry. So I decided that it was time to invest in some "statement" pieces and the garden necklace fitted the bill perfectly.

As soon as I saw it on the website I put it in my shopping cart but also tried to add a Piperlime item to my order and have free shipping (I HATE paying for the shipping). Big mistake: Piperlime was experiencing some technical difficulties (yep, it doesn't happen only to the Jcrew website, it's a pleague that is spreading to all the websites where I try to buy) and when the screen was back, the thing was gone from my shopping cart (you know the message: we are sorry but one of the items in your cart are no longer available due to unpredictable high demand and has been removed). It sounded like a declaration of war and I was ready to fight. I rushed my innocent and reluctant toddler in the cold outside luring her with the promise that we would see a lot of dogs (at BR? Really?) and I run to the closest store (which is not very far I have to admit) hoping that the people who can't go shopping at 11 in the morning because THEY ARE WORKING were actually working and not taking their day off in order to steal the damn necklace from me. When I arrived at the store I almost fainted: IT WAS there, end of the hunt (almost too easy). In a rush of enthousiasm I also bought the ring, planning to wear it alone (the ring isn't sold out and it is much more beautiful in real life than on the site. You can see it below).







The funny thing is that now that I have it I'm not sure that I'm going to keep it. It is a very beautiful piece indeed, especially for the price (it came down at $69 with the 30% off), but.
First there is the problem of the 2 enameled "creatures" (bees? fireflies?) A little bit too much in the garden theme, n'est-ce pas? But actually it turns out that it would be very easy to take them off even for a do-it-yourself dummy like me (they are actually not built into the chain but just linked there with 4 small rings) and replace them with something else.

No, my biggest problem is the amethyst color of the central flowers. I actually have very few items in my closet in that color. But I surely have one dress that has the perfect tone of pink and could actually go from everyday little dress to special with the right accessories (exactly the effect that I want to achieve with all this jewelry thing), so I wore it and took the pictures. Ready? Let's go.


Here it is worn with my Calypso Pazzi dress (with and without belt) and Jcrew rosette metallic sandals (I apologize for the quality of the pictures, my photography skills clearly need to be improved):

I really loved it with this dress because of the feminine but modern look of the outfit. Still, I have to find other clothes in my closet that I could wear with it avoiding the "grandma effect." So, what do you think? Classy or tacky? Would you wear it? Do you have ideas for other outfits? Finally, should I keep it? Your input is much appreciated!