From rhinestone to presidential cufflinks, and from watches to trainers, four collectors talk about their passion
PETER O’BRIEN, COUTURIER
Rhinestone jewellery
“I am like a magpie – if it twinkles, I am drawn to it,” says couturier Peter O’Brien, a collector of vintage rhinestone jewellery, many pieces of which are his own designs, from his period in Paris. “It all started when I bought a star brooch in a flea market in New York, when I was at Parsons . Things then weren’t called vintage, they were just old bits of feck that nobody wanted but me. From then on I always loved flea markets and thrift shops.”
Finds from 6th Avenue flea markets include a pair of drop earrings in the shape of fish bones, and a similar bracelet, but what he likes about the star is the layered effect and the finish on the stones, which gives them a rainbow, oil-on-the-road effect. “It’s probably from the 1960s, and was for nothing.”
He has many 1980s pieces from flea market finds in Paris, when he was working at Chloé, a time when costume jewellery was bold and colourful. These include a pair of green, red and white rhinestone straps from a couture dress by Guy Laroche, found in Clignancourt market. An enormous bow (“because I love bows”), inspired by the Kremlin jewels, is one of his favourites. It was made by Ugo Correani, the great Italian costume jeweller, for Karl Lagerfeld at Chloé. “It was given to me by Madame Aghion, who started Chloé. I broke the green enamel wheat sheaves off it, because I just wanted the bow.”
He succeeded Karl Lagerfeld at Chloé, designing such pieces as a bracelet in rectangular rhinestones and domed matt-silver clasps, and another bracelet in black jet by Xavier Loubens, who makes costume jewellery for many couture houses. O’Brien also commissioned Monty Don – long before he became a well-known gardener – to design jewellery for one of his Chloé collections, inspired by children’s clothes in primary colours.
“He made kites and spinning tops, all in rhinestone jewellery,” O’Brien recalls, showing a green, red and blue strap bracelet.
A pair of mirror clip earrings with pate de verre drops, from Givenchy – possibly made by the famous jeweller Robert Goossens – he reckons are now valuable, as is a Chanel cross. But “the fact that something is valuable has nothing to do with why I like it. It is pure instinct.”
A brooch with tremblant pearls is another favourite. “I love tremblant, especially in brooches, because they move with the heave of the bosom.” Many of his designs are in classic jewellery shapes – clover, stars or moon, and he explains how Xavier Loubens makes shapes and moulds that are three-dimensional, rather than flat, which makes them special. One dramatic pink rhinestone brooch, in the shape of a feather, was inspired by one worn by the Duchess of Westminster.
Everything is kept locked away in boxes and bags. “I rarely look at this stuff, but it’s great fun after a dinner party, when everybody ends up wearing tiaras and earrings,” he says with a smile.
Occasionally he will wear a tiny little Victorian paste heart – bought from John Farrington’s shop in Dublin years ago – on his lapel, but he confesses that he is less fascinated now than he used to be. “There is rhinestone jewellery everywhere now, and you’ll only find interesting pieces in the US or in UK junk shops. I avoid designer vintage shops because they are terrifyingly expensive, and half the fun is getting something for nothing.”
PAUL ALLEN, PR CONSULTANT
Cufflinks
Paul Allen’s cufflinks collection began almost by accident, or maybe by design. In 1995, he was working with US president Bill Clinton on his Dublin visit, and being a “serial fan” of John F Kennedy, he presented Clinton with a CD of JFK’s speeches in Ireland. “He was very touched by that, and said if there was anything I wanted, to let him know. I said ‘I love your cufflinks’, and in the middle of December they arrived with a note thanking me.” The cufflinks are in blue cobalt with stars around the presidential seal.
When he told his friend Dorothy Tubridy (also a close friend of the Kennedys) about this, she gave him a present of a pair of gold-coloured cufflinks that belonged to JFK but were never used. “They are the most precious, because of where they come from. And that’s how the collection started,” he says.
On his various trips to Washington, he exchanged Irish rugby jerseys for Camp David cufflinks – yellow with blue insets. “Alastair Campbell in London is a pal, and he gave me a shoebox full of cufflinks that relate to the House of Lords and the House of Commons. I was even offered a pair of George Bush cufflinks, but I declined – they were very much red-cowboy-style. On St Patrick’s Day, I was given House of Representatives cufflinks.”
He now has more than 100 pairs, one of the most recent being a set of silver Obama cufflinks, which he wears regularly. “I have pals in the Irish wing of the Democratic Party – they were handed out at a fund-raising dinner building up to the election, and my pair came from somebody who didn’t want them.”
He didn’t set out to collect presidential cufflinks; he says it “crept up” on him. They’ve become a talking point among pals. Another pair, featuring an Irish harp, are from Albert Reynolds, which he thinks were custom-made.
Others cufflinks have been acquired from Rhinestones in Dublin, because he likes those from the 1950s and l960s – “a romantic era in stones when solitary stones were used.” He keeps a lookout for Paul Smith versions. “I normally wear suits, so to get something quirky is good.” He tends to notice other people’s cufflinks, and keeps his in a holder he got as a present. “It’s a lucky dip every morning. I think more and more guys are getting into the use of colour. That’s how I fell into cufflinks. They are well crafted and elegant. They set off a shirt and somebody’s appearance.”
NIGEL BLOW, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF BROWN THOMAS
Watches
Nigel Blow’s love affair with watches began about 15 years ago, when he inherited his grandfather’s. “He was a train driver for 45 years, and when he retired, the year I was born, he was given an engraved gold watch. I always loved that watch, so when he died he left it to me.”
Blow’s first big buy, however, was prompted by an interest in motor racing, after Baume Mercier issued a watch commemorating Jacques Villeneuve winning the Formula l championship in 1997. “I bought it in a store in the Canary Islands, and though I never wear it any more, it triggered everything else,” he says.
“Everything else” consists of an enviable collection of superb watches from top brands, mostly chunky, in silver and black, with interesting stories behind them, an aspect that guides his choice. “I follow brands, whereas others would catch my eye in a store. The story is important. I always look at the brands’ websites and, being in the industry, you hear about what is coming out.
“I also keep an eye on watch dealers in the UK,” he says. The one he loves most is a Panerai, designed – by Italians rather than Swiss – for divers, with a secure waterproof winder. “The divers used to use them, but they were so fluorescent that the enemy saw them, and they had to be redesigned.”
Of the dozen or so watches of note, his favourite is an IWC, a pilot’s watch he bought about four or five years ago. “The winder is disproportionately large so that pilots wearing gloves could wind it,” he explains, adding that a lot of pilots wear Omega today. He has two vintage Omega watches, and enthuses about the vintage Omega shop in the Burlington Arcade in London, which opened a few years ago (although one of his favourite vintage shops is Grimaldi in Milan).
He is currently sporting a Rolex Milgauss, a watch that can continue to operate in an electromagnetic field, and he point outs that the second hand is always a red lightning strike.
His Rolex diver’s watch can operate down to 1,200m, “but I don’t swim. It’s more the twist to it than the function” – much like with his Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore, whose octagonal shape was based on the gun openings of an English battleship.
One of the prides of his collection is a Vacheron Constantin Patrimony, one of only three brands in the world that has the stamp of Geneva showing the mechanism at the back of the watch. Deciding that his collection was “quite chunky”, he bought the Vacheron as a dressier watch for formal occasions and receptions. “Vacheron have the most complicated watch movements ever. When it was designed, it was the thinnest watch ever, and it cost about €15,000. It’s sort of like carrying a nice bag.”
His attraction is always driven by the story behind these watches, and about movement and design. “It becomes an interest more than an obsession. I tend to buy about one a year, and I already know what my next one is going to be: a black ceramic Panerai.”
ARVEENE JUTHAN, DJ AND PRODUCER
Sneakers
Ever since he got a pair of Nike Air Prestos – deemed by Nike as “T-shirts for feet” – nearly a decade ago, leading Dublin DJ Arveene Juthan has been getting his kicks from trainers. A hard-core collector, he’s the proud owner of more than 100 pairs, and he’s on mailing lists from shops all over the world. “I know what stuff is coming in three months in advance,” he says. “I get a lot of information from blogs, because that’s the quickest way, so you know about limited editions well in advance.” He has spent a lot on Ebay, but is cautious. “It is quite riddled with fakes.”
The casual observer may see a trainer, but Juthan gets the details all at once: the toe box, the outsole, the forefoot, the heel, the tongue, shoelaces and sole. What does he look for? “The change in style has to be dramatic. I want to be challenged by something that blows my mind. I don’t like trainers everybody else wears. First and foremost, I have to be able to wear them. Secondly, they have to look good and be in the right materials. And sometimes the story behind it counts.” There’s a pair, for example, of hot pink runners designed by Sarah Jessica Parker for the Fresh Air charity in the US, when Sex and the City was at its height. “They don’t fit me, but they are amazing.”
Among his collection are prize pieces coveted by other collectors, such as the Kill Bill trainers worn by Uma Thurman in the eponymous movie, and the Adidas Bathing Ape Super Ape skates he bought from a dealer in Japan, which are now worth an estimated €1,000, but he’s not in the business of selling. He’s been on the lookout – unsuccessfully – for a pair of Nike Rainbow Prestos for ages. “I’ve seen one pair, but I have never been able to get them in the right size. A medium pair in London was £500.” A favourite pair, which he has “worn to death”, are in purple suede (Adidas Gazelle, Ibiza edition). “They look sharp with a pink polo shirt,” he smiles.
Stylist Graham Cruz customised a pair of Nike Waterproof Air Force One for him, applying gold swoosh, gold laces and gold piping, while Irish designer Pauric Sweeney was responsible for his sleek black, white and grey rubber-mesh Nike Air Wovens.
As a DJ, he’s aware that sneaker culture has always been associated with music; he cites Kanye West’s association with Vuitton as an example. “I wear a different pair every day. I try and spend as little as possible, and don’t see the point of spending a lot. My philosophy is to be aware of what is going on and not pay over the odds. Most of the stuff is bang out of someone’s imagination. If I like something, I buy three pairs, wear one to death, keep one, and then I’ve a back-up.”
His favourite shop is Alife Rivington Club, a New York trainer store kitted out like a library, with mahogany fittings, plush red carpets and chandeliers. “I always buy two or three pairs there – they never overprice.”
He says he was once obsessive, but is now passionate. “I am not a collector who lives in the dark and never wears trainers. I love and appreciate them, and wear them out.”