@SrRochardBunson
Okay, if you like. Not really all that exciting or private. 😉

Before going into the career I recently retired from (sysadmin), I spent 25 years in the restaurant business. The last job I had in that field, around 1990, was in management at a place where the owner/founder wanted an upscale New York-ish artsy super-hip-and-modern feel (there was space set aside here and there for art installations that changed every month or so), despite being located in Columbus, Ohio. She had been the governor's chef just before opening the place, so had a good background for taking that approach; she knew everybody who was anybody, locally anyways.

At that time, if you were artsy and cool, you probably mostly wore black. She wanted us to do just that, but not with the usual tie or waiters' jacket or whatever the other super-fancy places were doing. She encouraged personal creativity as to neckwear. Most of us wore brooches and pins at the collar. I wore a priests' shirt with a pin of some kind.

I was chatting one day with the boyfriend of one of our waiters and I complained about not being able to find something I thought really original and fun. He worked at a vintage jewelry shop, so had the right background to immediately think of using a vintage rhinestone art-deco shoe clip-- my first one was from the thirties, but they're still sold new today. It was a perfect idea, and I looked FLAWLESS in it. I couldn't wear the same thing every time I went to work, so gradually accumulated an assortment to choose from.

I still use them here and there nowadays as a substitute for a pocket square when I wear a blazer, which is very frequently this time of year when it's cool enough to want a tweed or other sort of wool jacket or blazer. I just clip them on the pocket where the silk would have gone. It's a fun way to add a little flash and acts as a conversation starter; I often get to explain what a shoe clip is and a bit about their history.

Should you ever get to know somebody artsy or yuppie-ish from Columbus who was there in the early 90's, they'll likely remember the place-- it was the hottest of the hot for a time, and was called Nonni's (the owner's name).

And there's your story!