Staycation

In these troubling times of economic uncertainty, and environmental disaster on an unimaginable scale, it has become ever so popular to take a staycation, venturing out on daytrips, to sample the local cuisine and explore new neighborhoods. So why not stay home in seasonal style? It's easy to add some great summer items to your living space or closet with just a few mouse clicks!

1. Anthropologie ~ Rope Frame
2. Thomaspaul ~ Portland Dessert Plate Set
3. Anthropologie ~ Large Rope Magnifier
4. Anthropologie ~ Paper Sketch Vases
5. Anthropologie ~ Driftwood Hurricane
6. Jennifer Sitko ~ Patterned Stem Lamp
7. Thomaspaul ~ Large Coral Tote
8. Thomaspaul ~ Crab Pillow
9. Anthropologie ~ Sundried Hat

EcoFABulous!

On June 19th, in chic and sustainable style, The Green Gala will highlight local produce, products and production on Long Island's East End. With a farm-to-table approach, local farmers, growers and celebrity chefs will utilize and promote the fabulous bounty of the Hamptons.

Browse an exciting array of green-focused auction items, during the cocktail hour, including this necklace I created especially for the event. Composed of recycled and vintage materials including Chinese bone carvings, Indian carnelian briolettes, raffia beads from the Philippines and delicate Japanese deep sea coral branches, it will hopefully encourage guests to give and go green! Read more about this eco-fabulous event and purchase tickets here.

2009 Gala images courtesy of East End Gala.

Whale Story

The last few weeks of August in the Northeast are magical. Growing up, my family would spend the entire summer in Amagansett, and by late August you could already sense fall coming as the sun shifted overhead and the ocean breezes cooled. Monarch butterflies and enormous flocks of birds would pass through the dunes, on their southbound migratory paths.

Barack Obama and family chose Martha’s Vineyard as their late August vacation spot this year. It’s a wonderful choice for many reasons, including the fact that summer is peak season for whale watching in Cape Cod, as they swim up to 4,000 miles to their winter home. America’s ancient whaling history is centered in Cape Cod, and one of my favorite summer looks is scrimshaw jewelry made with vintage charms from the region.

I am fascinated by this technique, originally the handiwork of whalers, who etched patterns and stories into the bones and teeth of the marine mammals they hunted, rubbing in pigment to highlight the carving. Recently, I designed a vermeil lariot dripping with white coral branches and scrimshaw charms. Perfect with my Christopher Deane knot patterned maxi for a Cape Cod getaway, should the need arise!

Cynthia Rybakoff oxidized sterling silver Whale Story Charm Bracelet with angel skin coral and vintage scrimshaw, $655; vermeil Sailors Not Lariot with white coral and vintage scrimshaw charms $550, both to order at cynthiarybakoff.com.

Ring In The New Year

My maternal grandmother had humble roots on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. She met a young handsome blond sailor from Romania, who had come to America for a better life and to fight for our side in WWI. After the war, he gave my grandmother a lovely black onyx cameo engagement ring, with a plain bezel and hand engraved ornament on the band. It’s hallmarked “14K” , indicating American, not European origin, and inscribed “S.H.F 2/2 1917”.

I was given the ring after my grandmother’s death, and to this day wear it as a right hand ring endowed with a little piece of my own fashion history. Recently, I started collecting vintage cameos in a variety of materials, especially colorful English Jasperware and Italian coral and shell. Collecting isn’t really the right word. I am obsessed with cameo jewelry.

Cameos add a graphic punch of color and design, plus a bit of much needed romance, to my modern classic wardrobe which leans piously towards subdued tonal palettes. But if I’m feeling particularly adventurous, I’ll throw on an eclectic mix of Liberty prints, stripes, tweeds or plaids and finish it off with a cameo piece or three. See a curated selection of vintage cameo jewelry at my portfolio site CynthiaRybakoff.com.

Cynthia Rybakoff vintage French blue cameo ring, size 6 1/2, with modern 24k vermeil finish, edition 1/1 $255, by request at CynthiaRybakoff.com.