![\"christmas-carol\"](\"http:\/\/verityholloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/christmas-carol-246x300.jpg\")
…and in Alexa Wilding’s hair in ‘Monna Vanna’…<\/p>\nYou will have seen it again and again in Rossetti’s paintings of lush, isolated women – a spiral of pearls nestling in waves of red or raven hair. Once you’ve noticed it, it keeps turning up. Here it is in\u00a0‘A Christmas Carol’…<\/p>\n
…and in Alexa Wilding’s hair in ‘Monna Vanna’…<\/p>\n
![\"dante_gabriel_rossetti_12_monna_vanna\"](\"http:\/\/verityholloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/dante_gabriel_rossetti_12_monna_vanna-247x300.jpg\")
…and, naturally, adorning Jane Morris in ‘Mariana’…<\/p>\n
While we wait for it to turn up on Antiques Roadshow, we have\u00a0Kirsty Walker’s biscuit replicas<\/a>\u00a0to enjoy, and \u2013 at last! \u2013 beautiful handmade replicas by Joanna of Nanya Online<\/a>.\u00a0I don’t normally do plugs, but I won Joanna’s Tumblr<\/a> competition and I’m just thrilled. It arrived today in a tiddy box adorned with ‘The Beloved’.<\/p>\n You will have seen it again and again in Rossetti’s paintings of lush, isolated women – a spiral of pearls nestling in waves of red or raven hair. Once you’ve noticed it, it keeps turning up. Here it is in\u00a0‘A … Continue reading ![\"mariana\"](\"http:\/\/verityholloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/mariana.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nRossetti was an incorrigible collector.<\/a>\u00a0His Chelsea house was crammed\u00a0with musical instruments he never played, mirrors he never polished, and great swathes of fabrics for the beautification of his models. He\u00a0spent the evenings rummaging in junk shops for exotic\u00a0jewellery and amassed quite a collection of cheap yet dramatic pieces. Some of these pieces still surface in Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic exhibitions. Unfortunately, the spiral hair pin he obviously adored was allegedly borrowed by a friend and never seen again. That probably didn’t do Rossetti’s\u00a0latent paranoia any good.<\/p>\n![\"IMG_2672\"](\"http:\/\/verityholloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2672-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a> ![\"IMG_2678\"](\"http:\/\/verityholloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2678-225x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Isn’t it delicate? It feels like a network of tiny bones in my\u00a0hand. Joanna also makes earring replicas of the spiral. Have a look at her shop.<\/a>
\n
\n<\/a>Unlike Alexa Wilding and friends, my hair is made of ghosts, so nothing will ever stay in it. Luckily the spiral comes with another pin so it can be worn\u00a0as a brooch. I’ll be wearing it on my Victorian riding jacket at Portsmouth’s\u00a0Victorian Festival of Christmas<\/a> where I’ll be ‘performing’ – ha! – later this month. See you there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![\n<\/a>Unlike Alexa Wilding and friends, my hair is made of ghosts, so nothing will ever stay in it. Luckily the spiral comes with another pin so it can be worn\u00a0as a brooch. I’ll be wearing it on my Victorian riding jacket at Portsmouth’s\u00a0](\"http:\/\/verityholloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2678.jpg\"){kind=link}