What I Found in My Grandmother’s Closet Took Me Back to a Forgotten Era of Elegance

At first glance, the items seemed odd and almost playful. Thin, fragile, slightly shiny, they looked like colorful cocktail stirrers or maybe strands of broken Christmas lights. Orange, yellow, green—each piece glowed faintly even in the dim light of the cupboard. But when I picked one up, I realized it wasn’t plastic at all. It was glass. Smooth, delicate, and with the tiniest hook at one end.

I turned them over in my hands, utterly puzzled. What could they possibly be?

A Family Clue Unlocks the Mystery

Later, over coffee, I showed them to a relative—my grandfather’s brother. The moment he saw them, his face lit up with recognition. He let out a hearty laugh, as though I had stumbled across treasure.

“Those,” he said, with a sparkle in his eye, “are miniature vases for suit pockets. For buttonholes.”

I blinked. Miniature vases? For jackets? The idea seemed almost unreal. Yet, as he explained, the pieces in my hand transformed into artifacts of a forgotten art of living.

The Secret Life of the Pocket Vase

In a time not so long ago, men often wore a single flower in the buttonhole of their jacket—an elegant detail meant to complete an outfit. But flowers wilt quickly, especially under the warm glow of theater lights or during the long hours of a wedding reception. That’s where these slim glass vases came in.

Continue reading…