The holiday season is upon us. And, though I have no fewer than three ‘Ugly Sweater’ Party evites in my inbox, it is undoubtedly the season to bring out the most blingged out staples of our wardrobes.

I know what you are thinking, “How is something that is blingged out a wardrobe staple?”

Well, for me, it is. I am obsessed with all that is bejeweled or bedazzled in any way. In fact, I just bought another sparkly sweater and a pair of sparkly heels yesterday even though my closet is replete with such blingged out wardrobe essentials. 

The obsession started early for me. I have a vivid recollection of my FAVORITE childhood outfit. I wore it as often as I could from my 6th to my 8th years. It was a white peasant shirt with gold dots on it worn with black culottes with a gold stripe down each side and accessorized with a golden pleather vest. It was AWESOME. I wish I had a picture to share. It was that good. I swear.

The Bedazzler

And, I’m not going to lie, one of my favorite toys as a child was this bad boy. Yup, that’s right. I owned a Bedazzler. And I loved it. So there you go, I am a life long lover of all that is bejeweled or bedazzled. I was into that well before the word bling became a part of the modern lexicon. I like to think that my look has become somewhat more tasteful as I have aged, but none-the-less, I still love to bring on the bling in my warddrobe.

I like to glam up with my blingged out pieces; I like to add a surprising touch to every day wear with them. While it is not uncommon to find me in something that sparkles, say, on a random Saturday while running errands, or during the last day of a professional meeting, you cannot fathom my joy in December, a month when it is totally appropriate to wear something that sparkly pretty much all the time, especially during the many holiday celebratory events.  

When the holiday cocktail party arrives, my go-to twinkle-tone is gold (though I do have some multi-colored and silver). I cannot resist adding more gold pieces to my western wear closet (yes, I have two closets with one dedicated to ethnic pieces that are, not surprisingly, bejeweled and bedazzled and mostly gold!) The only challenge then becomes too many great sparkly outfits to choose from and too few parties (or in my case, too many on call nights while said parties are occurring) to go to in order to display them all.

Sometimes I contemplate hoisting up a disco ball in my closet and throwing a party in there so that none of my blingged out wardrobe essentials feel non-essential during this holiday season.