monster jewelry

During the FatChanceBellyDance Teacher Training 2, I asked Ms. Nericcio about jewelry. She told me that if it looks good on stage, then use it. As many of you know, Ms. Nericcio wears wicked spike cuffs every single time she performs. Click here for the photo.

Now, this is the little snippet from my other blog, Pink in San Francisco:

When my Acer laptop was still working, I made use of my lazy days going online, browsing for cute items. And I found this: a Pamela Love's Tribal Spike cuff (bronze, USD 645). And you know, many "fashion forward" bloggers reviewed it as completely original.

Umm... The same "Tribal Spike Cuff" has been owned by Carolena Nericcio of FatChanceBellyDance since ages ago and the magnificent design and work belong to the Kohistani tribe whose women wear the spike cuff as protection against stupid people. The spike cuff is also called Gokhru cuff, since it is designed after the Gokhru seeds and leaves. Here is the original and antique Gokhru cuff from TribalSouk.com (antique silver, USD 600).

Now, my .02 is that as far as I know, the Kohistani tribesmen still manufacture such cuffs and embellishments. And then there's some "fashion jewelry maker" who makes the almost exact replica but using bronze instead of antique silver, and selling the cuff for USD 45 more! Talk about rip off.

However, if you happen to be an exec at a cheap knock-off fashion manufacturer like Forever 21 and TopShop, you might want to sell this for USD 40. And so I ordered a pair of "Warrior Spike Cuff" along with two wicked costumey necklaces from TopShop.

So, I'm wearing the cheaper imitation cuffs. And I love them.