The power of a good pin

With my first term of grad school successfully under my belt (YES), I've got the month of December off from school to focus on reading, crocheting, my part-time job, cooking/baking, and watching lots of Netflix/Hulu. Between stuffing my face with white fudge Oreos--because one should always snack when waiting for a baked good to hurry up and get out of the oven--watching endless amounts of Parks & Recreation, and crocheting, I almost forgot about my first focus: reading!

I finally got my literate paws on a book that I've been wanting for what seems like forever: Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box by Madeleine Albright. I love nothing more than awesome political ladies that aren't afraid to wear jewels, so I was in heaven flipping through page after page of Ms. Albright's unparalleled pin collection. The book is a result of a fantastic exhibit that the Museum of Arts & Design in New York hosted, and while I would have died to see them in person, the photographs do the pins enough justice. One of the best aspects of her collection is how unpretentious it is. Of course, there are stunning pieces from Cartier and Tiffany's, but alongside them are vintage dime-store pins that are worn with just as much pride.

The pictures are lovely, but the prose that accompanies them is tops. I consider Madeleine Albright to be one of the smartest political minds still living, and to read that she believes fashion is a weapon, a tool of democracy, and a way to try and communicate a mood warmed my heart. I understand that celebrating fashion's frivolity can often be a saving grace for those who only want to get out of bed so they can wear a new skirt (guilty as charged), but at the same time, I always hope that people can recognize the power that fashion has to move individuals, communities, and the world at large.

Does Albright ever state that a single pin helped to move toward peace in the Middle East? No, but when meeting with Kim Jong-il in North Korea in 2000, she certainly displayed her feelings about patriotism by wearing an American flag pin that looks to be nearly 5in x 5in. It's stories like these that thrill me, make me want to bump up my pin collection, and never stop dressing exactly how I want to, in order to convey whatever I want.