Wear What When

Long on Style

The Grace Gow collection launch party was all heads and shoulders

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jan 15, 2010 at 06:00AM5 Comments

Slideshow: Grace Gow earrings go on and on

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Slideshow: Grace Gow earrings go on and on

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Seven inches of earring

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Leather and links

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For context: the earrings in action

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Cat McCadden of Grace Gow

Last night I stopped by the Grace Gow launch party in a fantastically modernized historic Pioneer Square loft. A DJ twisted 80s songs into dance tracks while stylish friends and fans drank champagne and talked about their dogs, their toddlers, their jobs, and their earrings.

The jobs were mostly so-so, the earrings were smashing.

Cat McCadden, using her grandmother’s name, makes extra long earrings. Sometimes with recycled leather pieces, sometimes with thin, cylindrical metal findings that remind me of svelte bullet casings. Sometimes small jade circles, smoky quartz, or leaves carved from resin. No matter the material, the dramatic but not overly showy or obtrusive accessories are, on average, 6 inches long. Which, I don’t need to tell you, is about four inches longer than your average pair.

They get mix into long hair, spill onto shoulders, and tuck into turtlenecks. All entirely by design.

McCadden likes that her earrings mingle pretty intimately with their wearer. She likes that they “kill” the need for a necklace and tangle into scarves. She likes that they’re lively, bold; “understated is overrated,” goes her tag line.

Leather figures prominently and if you like the sound of that, stick around. McCadden likes it, too, and she plans to use more in the future. She plans to fashion feathers out of the stuff. One existing pair, dubbed Leather Fawcett, shouldn’t be missed if you’re the type to pair your black moto jacket with sleek, pale gray spike heels.

Also, if you’re the type to keep your hair short and cropped. Some of McCadden’s styles have the accent piece up high, others feature the bling down below. For short hair, the former works best, for long hair, the latter. You’ll figure it out.

You can find Grace Gow earrings on the designer’s site as well as at Clementine in West Seattle, La Rousse online, Lit (as I write this the shop’s site appears to be down so that link goes to an Apartment Therapy Re-Nest post) and Killer Looks.

Tags: Locally Made, Accessories