"The mind of a thoroughly well-informed man is a dreadful thing. It is like a bric-a-brac shop, all monsters and dust, with everything priced above its proper value." - Oscar Wilde

I constantly find myself attracted by fashion tsotchkes...the wearable equivalent of a figurine of Edinburgh Castle with Dayglo haggis romping around it...or a 2" high replica of Brussel's Manneken Pis...actually, in the interests of full disclosure, I did fall prey to the latter, and he is mock-urinating off our bookcase at this very moment...but I digress, back to the fashion tsotchke...because, while its tourist kitsch cousin may fall at the inexpensive end of the financial scale, the f.t. is usually horrifically over-priced (in the way that only something so completely useless and excessively ornamental can be).

The latest piece of f.t. to catch my attention...this Vivienne Westwood rosette...either (at least to my feverish mind)...an ode to the kind of political "Vote for me" ribbon that you could have imagined Margaret Thatcher wearing in her heyday...or a "Best in Show" award for one of Thelwell's punkier equestrians. The problem? The $75 price tag. Because, as is the concern with all tsotchkes, you let one past your defenses...you make the purchase...and pretty soon you're buried beneath a pile of bric a brac..