Why do I find it so hard to pass up a good barrette? My heels make furrows in the ground as the cheerful plastic yanks me toward itself, like one of Magneto’s hapless victims. If you’re shaped like a cartoon character, an animal or a toadstool *gulp*, or have stripes, polka dots, or a repeating owl motif, you have me by the lady balls, Tiny And Attractive Trinket. If you’re a girly pastel picked right out of a Sofia Coppola movie about dysfunctional teens, or a bright primary that looks like a melted Lego block, or a candy colour that belongs in a Katy Perry video, I am yours and I will do your bidding. The prettier, the cheesier, the kookier, the better.

Aren’t these lovely? I want them all.

*treats self to chocolate sweet at not having used the words ‘vintage’ or ‘retro’*

These, by the way, are my favourite barrette-wearing people/ characters:

Anne Frank and the girl who plays her and their schoolgirl-meets-drugstore barrettes,

Lady Edith from Downton Abbey, who wears barrettes as much for functionality as for ornamentation,

Rekha, in Khubsoorat, in pigtails and hair clips that take both stray hair and years away from her face,

Saina Nehwal, India’s badminton champ, who uses them functionally but ends up making a fashion statement,

Hermione’s single, discreet barrette that gives her hair structure and keeps flyways in check,

Carey Mulligan in The Great Gatsby , in ornate barrettes that throw her beautifully cut hair into sharp relief,

Sonam Kapoor in Bewakoofiyaan, in single dark metal barrettes that take her hair from meh to wowza. I love this movie for the workwear styling,

Kirsten Dunst, who nails a barrette like no one else can,

Twiggy, who makes you want to raid the nearest rubber band and hair clip-waala,

And Tavi Gevinson, ridiculously young fashion prodigy and certified genius, whose personality and styling chops take the humble drugstore barrette from cheap to chic.

Then, these Tumblr women, rocking the barrette like there’s no tomorrow.

And some more purty barrettes I found on the interwebs:

Now my birfday’s around the corner, and I’d like to celebrate it with you, dear devis. Because you’ve been so kind and supportive of Ole Blogerta, I scoured three markets for their prettiest, coolest barrettes to give to you as a sort of thank you. 🙂

How does this work? It’s simple.

1. You post a nerdy picture of yourself and a friend or two on Facebook. Now this is either nerdy for real, or ironic-nerdy, i.e. you’ve used some fun clipart on your smartphone for nerditude. I love nerding up my pictures with oversize joke glasses, a moustache and a Periodic Table pun, for example.

Exhibits A & B-  nerdy pictures of yours truly-

 

2. You caption your picture ‘Nerdydevi 4 https://nerdydevi.wordpress.com’, or ‘Nerdydevis 4 nerdydevi.wordpress.com’.

3. If you’re my Facebook friend, you tag me so I know you’re participating. If you’re not a Facebook friend and want to participate, send me a friend request at Rohina Katoch Sehra so we can do this!

Easy peasy!

I have 28 barrettes for a year each of my age, and I will declare three winners at the end of each day. The winners will be picked for their creativity/ cuteness/ sass, as seen in the picture. All your photos will be put up on the blog on birthday, because what better way to celebrate turning 28 than do it with fellow nerdy devis? 🙂 PS: The contest is open only to people staying in India. Shipping will take a week’s time.

Here are some of my picks for you, heavily influenced by the Husband’s old comic book collection, Phantoms mostly, and Roy Lichenstein’s art, that looks like this:

Giveaways:

1. Shortsighted Heart + Tiny Dots

2.  Shortsighted Bear +Toothsome Trompe-l’œil 

3. Shortsighted Rabbit + Marching Dogs

4. Nor Louis Nor Vuitton + Brown & Skinny

5. Gently Curved + Chipper Orange

6. Not Quite Candycane + Toothsome Trompe-l’œil 

7. Marching Dogs + Trompe-l’œil Twosome

8. Take A Bow, Twice. 

9. Stifflexible (Stiff + Flexible) Pinup Girl Hair Tie

10. Not Quite Candycane +Trompe-l’œil Twosome

11. Dotty Dancing

…

Hope you enjoy playing, devis. Please help me make my birthday special, and thanks so much for your love and support.

…

UPDATE: The winners have been emailed. This was so much fun, you guise! Now the thing is this: many of my devis DON’T want their nerdy pictures up where the world can ogle their nerdiness, which is perfectly understandable, because a lot of us are closeted nerds. So, to respect their feelings, I will not be putting their pictures up as planned earlier. No matter…your participation was enough! :-*