Boston - March 26, 2007

Hanging Around

Amanda Essex Necklaces

They say it’s not what you wear but who you are that counts.

But when your neckline is draped with skulls, daggers, and handcuffs, who you are might seem like a brazen, dark-minded, nympho sadist. At least to some people.

Put a little femme back into your accessories box with necklaces by Amanda Essex. The chandelier pendant pieces peg the right eclectic bohemian artiste look.

The decoupage-happy interior designer started putting them together after snapping up a few discarded crystal prisms with plans to concoct chunky objets d’art. Once she discovered the smooth backs, she instead pasted on an image of a Buddha from an old Metropolitan Museum of Art catalog. She covered others in orchids, shells, and fish.

Sealing them with ground yellow gold, she slips them onto gold wire for a pretty added touch.

Which just might reveal the real you.

Available at Stil, 170 Newbury Street, Back Bay (617-859-7845); The Mall at Chestnut Hill, 199 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill (617-527-7845 or stilinc.com).