Early in my career, I found myself working in Washington D.C. at NPR. One of the things I recall most fondly (admittedly not quite realizing what a moment it was until many years later) was walking Madeleine Albright down a hallway to a small room where she was greeted by several dozen adoring NPR staffers. I remember she was small, and warm, and impeccably dressed. I shared with her that I had studied abroad in Prague, and she kindly (and patiently) asked if I enjoyed it.

When I learned this week that Ms. Albright had passed away at 84, I thought back on the few minutes I spent with her and the remarkable impact she’s had on this beautiful, complicated world. And then, a subject line hit my inbox from USA Today: 'Pin diplomacy': How Madeleine Albright used brooches and jewelry to make political statements. Oh, and did she.

I wish I remembered the brooch Ms. Albright was wearing the day we linked forearms in that dimly lit NPR hallway. She selected her pins with deliberate, careful thought — every pin sent a message and communicated a feeling, whether it was optimism or very specific signals. From USA Today:

"There was a story behind every choice," she told InStyle magazine in October 2021. When meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, "I wore a bee … because bees sting and I needed to deliver a sharp message," she said.
Having learned the Russians had bugged a room in the State Department, Albright on her next meeting with Russian diplomats, "wore a very large bug pin and they knew exactly what I was saying," she told CNN in 2015.

I’ve said over and over again that what we wear is so much more than just “fashion,” — what we wear can impact our health, our ambitions, and even how much we earn. It signals who we are, and who we want to be. In honor of Madeleine Albright, I thought there’d be nothing more fitting than sharing some fabulous brooches currently featured on fashion resale and consignment platforms around the web. Take a chance on one.