dress/code with The Brooch Guard
"Do what makes you happy. Don't dress for them, dress for you."
Known for his signature style piece, The Brooch, Dan Gifford joined me at Blind Tiger Portland to talk about getting dressed.
Interview and portraits by Georgia Dixon | Blind Tiger Portland, April 14, 2025
“Some things are for lapels — other things, you can have fun with.”
Can you start by telling us a little bit about what you’re wearing today:
Today, I just wanted it to be light because it's springtime. I ordered five pairs of these floral trousers for Art in Bloom [exhibit at Portland Museum of Art] so I could have a different pair every day — so I’m wearing those. And I didn't want to wear a jacket, jacket, because it's a little warm, so I just had this new sweater. And there it is.
And what about the bee on your shoulder?
Well, I like my bee.
Any time I wear the bee or any kind of an insect, I will tend to do them as if they’re landing on me. Like if I wear a spider, I'll typically do it on the back side of my shoulder or on the pant leg or something. So you really have to look for it to catch your eye. It's just more fun.
Some things are for lapels, but other things, you can have fun with.
The first time we met, you told me your first pair of jeans wasn’t until the 7th grade — in part due to the strict style rules in your household. What was it like growing up with a mother who was a style maven?
I mean, I remember my mother doing housework in high heels. That was just my mom, you know?
I had a friend who used to laugh because my mother had these little rubber covers that you step into to protect your pumps from the rain. My mother was never without high heels on.
Are there parts of that style-forward upbringing that still influence your style choices today?
The fashion rules coming up were: Valentine's Day is the last day for velvet. You don't wear white before Easter. You stop white on Labor Day, but it's never worn before Easter. That was just a given.
But I know that some things in fashion have changed as far as ”the rules”. This is the first year that I, in my lifetime, have worn velvet a little bit later [into spring] because it's dark, it's dreary, it's still cold in Maine. So I've cheated a little bit about that.
It’s so funny because I look at kids today will be wearing polka dot and plaids and all this. And in my junior high, during Spirit Week, one of the days was called Clash Day. And you would wear things that clashed.
So I would wear what the kids are wearing today. And my mother would be just like, no, no.
So every time I look at that, I'm like, yeah, my mother would just be like, No.
You were telling me that your 29” waist made you suitable for fitting into vintage pieces as a young man, and helped coin you as The Timewarp Queen by friends who knew about your affinity for vintage. Were there a lot of vintage shops when you were growing up?
No, I can only think of one. My hometown, Fort Smith, Arkansas, is 30,000 bigger than Portland. And I only ever knew of one: Miss Kaye's shop, Old Vogue.
Of course, no matter where you go, there’s always more women's [clothes] but she had a ton of men's too. I remember a specific Edwardian tuxedo shirt that I loved so much. It didn't have the collar and there wasn't a solid back. You had to button up the back too, so with a really good tan in the summertime with the back coming open…
And I would wear that with jeans. This Edwardian tuxedo shirt with black jeans or dark blue jeans.
So you were mixing vintage and contemporary at that time?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
“Well, we can't all be beige.”
A friend recently sent me this New York Times article, Preppy Fashion is Back. I instantly thought of you, because you had been telling me when you were younger, “preppy” was really your style.
What do you think was the catalyst for you moving beyond Preppy?
Boredom.
Probably about six years ago I was just like, I'm bored of it.
And I just Googled “fancy pants” one day, and all these different things started popping up on companies you could buy from that weren't traditional men's things. And that's where it all started.
Before that, I was still wearing traditional button-downs, khaki pants, that whole thing.
That phase of life where you were getting bored with how you were dressing, I think a lot of people go through that kind of style inertia. What would you say to someone who's on that cusp of reinventing their style? What advice would you give them?
Do what makes you happy. Don't dress for them, dress for you.
I mean, yes, they see what you're doing, but do it for yourself.
This is all for me. It makes me happy. It makes me feel good.
One person that really got me started was Lord Bath. He was this English aristocrat, he was just outlandish. And he was known for his clothing. He would wear these velvets and these unusual colors together; he was known for that and lived that way. And he just did not care.
You know, he's supposed to be dressed a certain way for Parliament, but nope - til the day he died [he dressed that way].
Was he someone you discovered when you started researching your next phase of fashion?
Yeah, he just popped up one day on something. Lord Bath. So he was my inspiration, very much so. I said, oh, I want to dress like that.
You’ve worked at the Portland Museum of Art [PMA] for over 10 years, and it’s a really important institution in Portland, right? We need that culture, we need that changing artistic vision. Do you think working in that environment has inspired the way you choose to dress?
When I started working there, we had a uniform. We had to wear black shoes, black trousers, blue shirt, tie, and a jacket. At a certain point it was decided that we should have less of a military/police look, so we got rid of the uniform.
They said, “well, you can wear anything you want to wear to work.”
And I said, “oh, good!”
It's an art museum, so I think that these floral trousers, things like that, fit with the art. And I hear that from the patrons every day that I'm wearing something unique.
So people talk to you about what you're wearing?
This past week, 25-30 times a day I’d hear about the trousers.. trousers, trousers, trousers. Or “you're the Brooch Guy, aren't you?” … I mean, it was all day long.
People love it!
Well, one man came up to me a couple years ago, and said, “Oh, this must be that Liberal Portland Look.” And I just looked at him and said, “Well, we can't all be beige.”
“A brooch is not a boutonniere.”
Dan was a featured floral designer for the Art in Bloom exhibit at PMA. He commemorated the arrangement to a fascinating aspect of his personal style: his collection of brooches.
In your Art in Bloom piece you mentioned that a lot of the brooches were gifted to you by individuals who had either seen you in the museum or who have seen your social media posts. Would it be safe to say that brooches are part of your personal brand at this point?
Correct.
Can you tell us where it all started?
Well, I’d always had a few brooches. But then a couple of years before I started at the museum, which was when I had my flower shop, I went on a kick of wearing crown brooches. I would go on eBay and find these crowns, most of them were vintage from the 60s, some from the 50s. But I would get these little vintage rhinestone crowns and wear those to parties. So I had those.
And then the very first PMA show that I worked was called Thrill of the Chase. It was a private collection of paintings, and in that show the exterior gallery wall had a huge swath of blue butterflies. So I went on Amazon and I searched and I searched until I found the exact same shade of blue.
That was my very first brooch, as far as the museum went. I also worked the front door for that show, and people would chat about the brooches. I actually have a portrait of myself from a patron who snapped a picture of me on her phone, went home and did a watercolor of me sitting there. “A brooch is not a boutonniere.” was the caption on it. And that's hanging in my living room now.
So it started with that blue butterfly at the front door of the museum. And then, people just started giving them to me. From my original 20-25 crown brooches – and that one butterfly – to now: I'm pretty sure that I'm right around 800 [brooches] now. And they still just keep on coming.
You've been gifted so many of them, do you ever buy any for yourself?
In the past five years, I might have bought three that I can think of offhand. I bought a Lily of the Valley brooch at the British Museum when I was there a couple of years ago. But really, I’ve kind of cut myself off because I don't need any more.
So many people know about your brooch collection at this point — do you ever get recognized?
I was on the way to a friend's house and stopped off at this little convenience store on Broadway in South Portland. I'm standing in the line, this woman says, “You're the brooch guard.” — and this was back when it was new, when I was first doing this.
I said, “Excuse me?”
“You're the brooch guard, right?”
And I'm like, “why do you say that?”
She said, “Do you work at the Portland Museum of Art?”
And I said, “yes, I do.”
She was like, “yes, you're the brooch guard.”
I was like…”oh, okay!”
So that was the first time.
With almost 800 brooches, what's the playbook? How do you decide what you’re going to wear?
Well, like now that I've seen spring flowers, I would never wear a fall leaf.
And holiday brooches… I have so many Christmas ones now that I really have to pick and choose what I'm going to wear out.
But yeah, it’s time to reorganize again. I have a little chest with four drawers in it; it was meant for silverware to go in the dining room. It’s perfect because it has a lining to protect the silver, so I just line the brooches up inside that.
So you organize the chest for each season?
Exactly. I'll move and reorganize so that I have everything right there. I can just pull open a drawer and pick out an insect, a flower, or whatever. It's right in the bedroom, so when I'm getting ready I have my main go-to ones, you know.
You do a recurring post called ‘New Week, New Brooch’ on your Instagram; do you really only wear one per week?
No, no, no. It's funny because I do it on Sundays, but I got so carried away with Art in Bloom that I forgot to do a new post for the week. But I thought, I'll just wait till next Sunday. It's not like it’s a law!
I don't know, people are waiting for it now! So you'll do a different brooch every single day that you're going to the museum?
Pretty much, yeah.
You’re posting New Week, New Brooch all year, so you're wearing brooches straight through summer. How is it different in summertime, like without a jacket or layers?
I've worn them on my cuff. I'll do that. I'll wear it just like this [on the shoulder of a shirt]. And on pants, all the time.
I have two really, really small little baby birds. They're little rhinestone birds, and I'll wear them right there and right there. [on the shirt collar]
Then I have these three ‘little demons’, they're called. They’re these little men, they're about two inches tall, and each one is a piece of art. They're from an artist in New York, and a friend had gifted me one a while back. When he passed away, his sisters gifted me the rest of his collection.
I like to wear them like they're coming out of my pocket, so they're just peeking out.
It’s really like an artistic expression.
It is, yeah. People will notice a little thing like that and go, “oh!”
I can remember being on the subway and a lady freaking out because of the spider on my pant leg. That’s what I want; I don't wanna be boring.
“She's filthy rich, and she's horrible …omg I am mad for it!”
What other media do you consume that inspires you in relation to style?
I had a subscription to GQ and all of a sudden I'm like, you know, I'm not going to renew my subscription. It just wasn't striking me anymore.
But recently, it’s been Alexis Bittar – he's a jewelry and handbag designer and he has these reels, with this woman known as the U-E-S Terror, Upper East Side Terror. She's filthy rich, and she's horrible and she has this assistant, Hazel…omg I am mad for it. It’s like a mini series, and whatever's happening in her life, they're doing it while wearing jewelry of his [Alexis Bittar]. I am crazy for it.
I love that he's using humor to sell luxury jewelry, you really don't see that very much.
I think that's brilliant to use comedy to sell your product, I think that's very clever.
He also recently did a selection of jewelry and he used a model that was in her 70s. I just love that he's using an older woman to do that.
Are there other parts of a wardrobe that define your style?
Well, I mean, I've had this ring for 34 years. This is my first anniversary gift from my partner. I always joke — especially to girls who are going to get engaged — “don't ever do an emerald, because you’ll stay engaged.”
It never stops being an engagement ring. [laughs] But no, there are other things like I'll throw on a necklace and just tuck it underneath the collar, just so you see a bit of it. Whatever strikes my fancy, you know?
I'm loving seeing men — and it's not just young men, men of all ages — at the museum wearing pearls now. I think that is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
I need to spend more time at the museum for these fashion moments.
I met a lady yesterday, and she was dressed. I mean, she stood out. She was wearing this beautiful lilac dress and the heels and purse – she was just extremely stylish. I walked up to her and I said, “you know, we live in the least fashionable state in the Union, and you just stand out in the crowd.”
Do you think the museum is where you see the best dressed people in Portland?
It’s funny because it's very rare to see people dressed up here [Portland].
Although, there has been a young man at the museum recently that is just outlandish and wonderful every time I see him. He was in the other day wearing jeans and a top and 50 pounds of bracelets.
I stopped him and told him he’s got the look – he's got a really, really good sense of style and it's his own style. Just a very interesting, stand apart person.
But for bigger events, like the Winter Bash at the museum, every year I have my winner. Every single year, I will have one person, I will go up and tell them, you're my winner. After the last Winter Bash I found out that the woman started crying because she felt so good about what I had said to her. She was just outstanding.
Wow, so this is a formal gala?
It was, yeah. Every year, there will be about three contenders, but I'll only have one that's my standout person.
It means a lot for someone to hear that, coming from you. Has anyone told you that you've inspired them to start wearing brooches?
I have a friend that I work with, Terry, we've been friends for almost 40 years. Terry has his nose in a book. That's the kind of guy he is. He stays to himself. But this week he wore these yellow floral shoes.
Oh, I saw him! I took a picture of his shoes!
Yes! Everybody kept talking about the guy with the yellow shoes.
He also started putting on some of my brooches for this week too [Art in Bloom]. Terry would have never, ever, ever have done that. So yeah, there's that.
This interview has been edited and condensed — follow along with Dan’s brooch posts @dan_gifford_1962.
Georgia Dixon writes about getting dressed. For more content like this, follow on Instagram @geo.styled and receive weekly substack edits by becoming a subscriber.
Excellent Interview! You made the fun come through in the writing.
These are stunning portraits G xoxo