Club Monaco adds vintage jewelry to its accessories offerings

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In an effort to up its fashion quotient, Club Monaco is adding vintage jewelry to its accessories collection. The retro pieces -- including necklaces, bracelets, earrings and an assortment of sweater pins and shoe clips -- hail from the early to mid-20th century, and were culled from antique fairs across the country.

The refurbished baubles will only be available in one Southern California location -- the Club Monaco store in Beverly Hills (401 N. Beverly Drive). Other outposts carrying the collection include Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in New York and a smattering of shops in Hong Kong. Prices start at $39.

J. Crew pioneered the trend of mass retailers selling vintage accessories last year, when it started hawking refurbished retro Rolex watches, priced between $2,000 and $4,000.

Call it gimmicky, but I like the idea of finding vintage treasures outside of an estate sale or independent jewelry store. And I’d rather blow my jewelry budget on classic, time-tested pieces than on the oft-overpriced adornments found in higher-end mass fashion stores, including Club Monaco and J. Crew. (With bargain-basement stores like Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe turning out such great-looking costume jewelry, it’s hard to imagine that J. Crew’s $125 fake pearls still sell briskly.)

And, best of all, no one has to know where you scored that awesome Art Deco shoe clip.

-- Emili Vesilind