What time is it, Mystery Fans? It’s conference time! Right now some of us Chicks and many other authors and readers are driving and training and flying the skies fantastic. Or not so fantastic. But whether you’re packing or unpacking your bags—or following the festivities from home—here’s one Chick’s opinion on that must-have wardrobe item: Flair!
My favorite part of the movie Office Space (1999) was when Jennifer Aniston’s waitress character fought back against the tacky chain restaurant’s rule that employees wear a “bare minimum” of 15 pieces of “flair” (buttons, mostly) to showcase their unique personalities. But 15 was not enough for her manager. Jennifer’s character quit in spectacular style, flashing a hand signal and saying he should just make the bare minimum 37. (Here’s the clip, if you’re interested.)
Why did I find the scene hilarious? First off, no one owns such a crazy number of pins and buttons, right? Well, um…
Yes, I proudly wear mystery-related flair on my conference lanyards. You can never have enough flair (or lanyards, judging from the hooks in my closet).
I’d planned to pack my usual pins (Chicks, Sisters in Crime, MWA, Gups, etc.) for Left Coast Crime last month, but to my dismay I couldn’t find them all. As I frantically checked drawers and jewelry boxes and storage tubs and recent conference bags and even my shoes (had they fallen into the closet somehow?), I was forced to face an indisputable fact: I’ve been collecting flair forever. Every stage of my life is represented by all manner of buttons and pins. So of course I took some time for a trip down memory lane, instead of through my ms.-in-progress.
Here are a few childhood items. Some aren’t technically buttons or pins, but they sort of count. My first skating test pin is in there, and some archery award from summer camp, and even my NHS pin. The green ring was from Girl Scouts but the blue one is… my older sister’s high school ring. I never had one. (Sorry, Sis.) And the silver disk on the right was attached to my baby bassinette in the newborn nursery at Boston Lying-In.
I have name tags for every beloved late pet—here are a couple, but you get the idea:
The flair pieces below are from various jobs I’ve held since college (’82), including my old-school Random House pin. The Starbucks cup proves I passed my barista test…barely. (I had to identify cup after cup of various coffees—never been so jittery in my life.)
Not pictured: more mystery organization identifiers and conference locale pins (hello, Portland, Reno, San Diego!), vintage I am Loved, Smily Face, and I Voted buttons, all the rest of my Girl Scout buttons and badges (including the Backyard Fun badge, even though my tin foil-wrapped biscuits never cooked all the way and our troop leader didn’t want us building any fires in her backyard).
And of course I have beloved pins friends have gifted me to commemorate shared interests and memories. One is a tribute to the TV show Murder She Wrote.
I just hunted down two that are extra-special to me, as inspiration in the home stretch of writing BURIED IN SHAMROCKS. The first is the Irish penny pin that held my daughter’s shoulder cape in place at her dance competitions. And the shamrock pipe? The stem is gone, and it’s a little (ok a lot) worse for the wear, but my mom pinned it on my sweater every Saint Patrick’s Day during elementary school. For luck.
Really, who couldn’t use an extra bit of luck right now—and an added dash of individual expression? Maybe you’ll want to dig up (or create) your own personal flair and wear it proudly in Jennifer’s honor. Stand up. Don’t be afraid to break ridiculous rules.
But hey, if you feel awkward or unduly weighed down by pins, buttons, and badges, no problem. Find a way to express yourself and the things most important to you in whatever way suits you best. BE YOUR OWN FLAIR!
Readers, are you a flair fan? Is there anything you like to wear (or keep in a box) that makes you feel extra-special or powerful? Let us know in the comments!
Chicks on the Case 
Lisa,
interesting. I too have some pins, but not to the likes of you. My conference purse has my writing badges on it, I need to make more, cause there’s still a bit of room. Actually, I think I have an alternate strap for it to put more on, if I can find some with the Velcro loop piece on the back. Hmm.
I have stickers on my writing prompt box, a few on my Freewrite traveler and in my Mac. I should just get a mini notebook to put them in, I love stickers so much.
I also have a small cigar box with random writing doodads. I should look and see what’s in there. Maybe it has something I can wear next weekend.
other than my fedora, of course. That’s by signature flair. I have a brown, maroon, and now a black one. I will probably wear the maroon one at the conference, except the banquet, which is black tie optional, lol.
can’t wait to see all the chicks who are coming!
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We’re looking forward to seeing you, too, Hestia! Coming up soon, yay. And you’re the flair-iest person I know, which is an awesome thing. One of my fave photos of you is in one of your fedoras, during a Malice make-your-own-mystery panel. You rocked it!
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Yay for the flair, Hestia! I think fedoras are so neat! I’m just never sure I can pull off the look.
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LISA: I will have to carefully look to see the unique flair you are wearing next time we meet! I liked the buttons/pins we got at San Diego Bouchercon (e.g. read diversely) but I somehow lost them before the conference ended!
I have 2 pieces of jewelry that I like to wear when I dress up to feel good. One of a pearl/silver brooch from my late mom. The second is a turquoise/silver dragonfly brooch that I bought many years ago at Denver Botanical Gardens. Neither one worked with the dressy jacket wore at Denver LCC so I left them at home.
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Grace, I really blew it at LCC–and I think a couple of times last year. I need to organize my flair better so I can actually find it at packing time (which lately has been even more literally-last-minute than usual). I know you have those skills, with all your travels.
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Most excellent, Lisa! I have quite the collection of pins but don’t wear very many of them. My biggest flair statement these days is the flamingo suit I wear to mystery conferences. I had to get a new one for this year’s Malice since I’ve lost over 60 pounds since last year’s event. Rather proud of that fact. Recently, I found a flamingo baseball cap to go with it, which takes the outfit over-over the top. Cheers!
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Congrats, JC! And I love that flamingo statement suit!
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J.C., you’re an inspiration!
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JC, I thought of your blindingly spectacular flamingo suit as I wrote this. But WOW–60 pounds!!! That is an incredible accomplishment. Can’t wait to see the new suit–and the cap!
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Oh, and you, of course! 🙂
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To be honest, I thought about going without since the old suit is WAY too big, but I needed to keep the flair!
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Your collection far outweighs mine – although I do still have every pin I ever earned in Girl Scouts floating around here somewhere.
Which reminds me: I need to dig out all my mystery-themed flair for Malice in a couple of weeks.
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Lisa, I’ve got that same Brownie pin! Ah, the memories. I think the most interesting bit of flair I have is my TWA wings, from one of the several flights back and forth to Germany when my father was stationed there with the Army.
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I loved getting those junior pilot wings! (Also, the hot dog in-flight lunches.) Hmm. Wonder where those wings are…
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I have my Brownie pin too! And a bunch of stuff, but maybe not as much as you do. I’ll be at Malice with as many pins and things as I can find. I haven’t started gathering things for that yet. I should start!
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Maybe we’ll all need sashes now…
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Oh, boy, do I ever have flair! Mostly buttons/pins, which I’ve collected since I was a kid. But by far my largest collections are New Wave/Punk/Rock ‘n Roll buttons (Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Buzzcocks, Kinks, Squeeze, Buddy Holly, Beatles, etc.) and political (from Adlai Stevenson through Obama).
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I think they were selling some of those in that funky place in Denver we visited. Much better to have collected them in real-time, though.
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So true!
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I’ve been collecting pins and buttons for forever. My grandparents would bring me some back from various trips. And I have kept that going. About the only ones that get worn are Disney pins (it was a sad day for my wallet when I started collecting those), but then only when I’m in the parks.
Yes, I have some book related. Especially from the LA Times Festival of Books, which I will be missing for the first time in about 25 years this year. I’m sad about that, but I will be missing since I will be at Malice, and I’m looking forward to that.
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Sorry about the LATFB–always sad to miss an evergreen event like that. But glad you’ll be at Malice, Mark! (lol on “a sad day for my wallet”)
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I have various pins, buttons, and brooches, but I never seem organized enough to wear or pin them on anything. And I have this knack of poking myself by accident. Lately, I’ve been starting to collect keychains with crocheted items on them. I just picked up a dumpling one at a local cultural fair!
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Lisa, I love all your pins! I’m terrible. I can’t find any of mine and never think to bring it. When I do remember, I get too lazy to put it on.
I have so much costume jewelry I’ve bought to commemorate the mascots for each book series that I’m now using it for giveaways. In terms of pins, I do have a particular affection for the enamel ones we got every year I worked at WINGS for their Christmas parties. They were a WINGS-FRASIER combo party, so I have a couple from FRASIER too.
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Ooo, I want to see that W/F flair! And El, you’re the best for gifting me some of my favorite pins (and shamrock earrings). You’re always so thoughtful that way.
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I have many of my girl scout pins and so many more. I went through a phase of buying and wearing brooches. I retired and quit but still have them all. I bought “I Like Ike” brooches to collect and not wear. I have so many neat ones. I love them all. I have all of my dog’s name plates and collars, etc. Glad to hear that others are doing that.
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I have brooches from my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mom–plus a whole bunch of my own from the 80s! (Those last ones weren’t “real”–I bought them from NYC street vendors on my lunch breaks! 3 for $10.
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So sorry to be so late–that’s my favorite part of Office Space too! It’s lovely to see all your flair. Thank you for sharing! (I hadn’t thought about it as flair, but I do actually have a container with My Life in Pins, like from Blue Birds–which preceded Twitter by years but looks oddly similar–plus pins from every place we skiied, and more. Now I want to go sift through them again!) But YOURS are so very sweet and meaningful. Thank you for sharing, awwww!
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