Charmed, We’re Sure

Since the earliest days of men and women, there have been charms — bits of stone, animal bones, shells — that were talismans against evil, souvenirs or mementos of good times.

Put a few together and what do you have? A charm bracelet.

The jangling adornments, which in modern times had a heyday in the 1950s and ′60s, are having yet another renaissance. Some credit the fun furry figure of Karl Lagerfeld in his fall 2014 show for Fendi with the new interest. But given the recent trend for statement dressing and millennials’ love of personalization, what could be more timely?

“You can really go wild and add anything from smiley faces and stars at Rosa de la Cruz to spiritual symbols at Alemdara,” Ida Petersson, women’s wear buying director at Browns in London, wrote in an email. The shop also has Venessa Arizaga’s threadwork bracelets with gold peace symbols and ceramic beads spelling Twitter-inspired labels like #squad.

Materials have been updated, too. The London-based jewelry designer Diane Kordas uses titanium for her charm cuffs as, she said, “it’s very lightweight and you can do it in really fun colors,” like purple, pink or blue.

And, she added, the cuff makes charms “face front, so you could see the charm symbols first.”

After all, myriad charms add variety to jewelry. “Every time you wear a charm bracelet people see a different charm,” said Tarang Arora, creative director of Amrapali, “and they are easily wearable on more clothing because there are usually many colors, angles or subjects.”

The house’s charm bracelets range from a glittering diamond, ruby, tanzanite and emerald trinket bracelet for Net-a-Porter.com to a bracelet with charms honoring Shiva, the Hindu god, which Tribe by Amrapali introduced in February. It sold out online almost immediately; there are plans to restock it.

Even the way people wear charm bracelets has changed.

“It’s all about stacking,” Ms. Petersson said. “We see charm bracelets being worn with Cartier Love bangles, ID bracelets — and in the summer, it’s multiple colorful bangles to complement their tans.”

The vintage aspect of the style has had an attraction, too, especially as, auction house representatives noted, charm bracelets don’t often appear in sales.

“Their popularity at auction tends to flow with two things, fashion and gold price,” Kristian Spofforth, head of Sotheby’s London jewelry sales, wrote in an email. “The price of gold has also been quite high over the last few years, and charm bracelets tend to be solid gold.”

(The house’s Fine Jewelry sale March 20 listed a Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet with five diamond-set charms, including a racing dog and an airplane.)

At Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale in December, Mamie Eisenhower’s 14-karat gold curb link bracelet with 21 charms, depicting her marriage, World War II and her husband’s presidential election victory, sold for $20,000. The sales estimate was $4,000 to $6,000.

Mrs. Eisenhower was hardly the only public figure to love charm bracelets. Queen Victoria sparked a 19th-century craze with hers, including one with 16 oval- and heart-shaped lockets enameled in black on gold that is in the Royal Collection. In Hollywood, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis and Natalie Wood were photographed with theirs.

From a jewelry designer’s standpoint, the challenge of creating a charm is considerable.

As Andrea Buccellati, creative director and president, pointed out about his house’s multigold and diamond Macri Classica bracelet featuring a Renaissance-style rosette on a round disc: “The back has to be finished exactly like the front because as it moves, you see both sides, so it is not nice to see one side nice and the other not finished.”

For its charm bracelets, Loquet London had tiny details like the antennas of its scarab charm filed by hand, “to make it true to the drawing,” said Sheherazade Goldsmith, who founded the house with Laura Bailey.

But the style also offers creative joys. Charles de Viel Castel, the New York-based private equity financier and founder of CVC Stones, said, “it is more playful, designing charm bracelets.”

His first charm bracelet collection — created with Leandra Medine, the fashion blogger and founder of Man Repeller — was introduced in July. It continued his hallmark style of setting diamonds into stones collected on beaches from Greece to Argentina but added coral, pink sapphires and more.

“I could do a lot more diamonds and precious stones on the charms than there are on our regular stones as the gemstones are smaller,” he said, “and I liked the idea of finding a stone that would work on both sides, so not only the side you are wearing it but the other side, too.”

He also added clips to his charms, so they can be easily removed and added to other jewelry or chains.

Carolina Bucci, the Italian-born and London-based designer, has a similar approach. “Charms always push me to have fun with fine jewelry so I have to keep coming up with new offers for new charms,” she said, like creating bracelets of colorful beads like bamboo coral or white jade interspersed with charms. Or contrasting spiky star charms with round freshwater pearls: “Putting two things that almost don’t go together, together,” she said.

She also has done a take on the cotton friendship bracelets of her childhood, recreating them in an 18-karat gold diamond-cut chain braided with colored silks, which the wearer then ties in a double knot to secure. The bracelets are finished with charms like balloons, palm trees and an evil eye amulet.

When it comes to trends, charm bracelets even stand up to the gender-fluid style of recent fashion.

“Even men wear a lot of these bracelets around the wrist, whether in silver or black and gold with dead heads or bones,” said Caroline Scheufele, Chopard’s artistic director and co-president.

She was wearing a prototype of the Happy Heart charm bracelet, which wraps four times around the wrist, that Chopard will be introducing at the Baselworld fair this week.

And, in the future? There are, she said, “more fun things coming up.”

We asked some fans of charm bracelets and charms about their favorites. Their replies have been edited.

Camilla Grimaldi

An art consultant, curator and owner of Poderi di Capo d’Uomo wine and property estate in Italy

 My favorite charms are from Pomellato. They are a yellow-gold sun and moon; a little dolphin in rose gold; labrador’s head, as I had a lab in the past; and a starfish that is blue and yellow gold. I wear them on a rose-gold Pomellato bracelet in winter, for a more formal look and a bright pink leather bracelet in the summer. They are small, cute and sophisticated and I wear them altogether. I also inherited a gold chain bracelet from my grandmother with several charms. I love the sphere with little stones all around because it’s full of color and a perfect circle, so there was lots of hard work involved. There’s also a traffic light with a red ruby, yellow semiprecious stone and an emerald, which I find so contemporary as well. I wear it a lot during the winter in the evening with a cocktail dress or smart jacket. It comes from my grandmother so it is like having that person near that I love. I also wear a Prada robot on my simple black Prada bag or light pink Fendi Peekaboo bag. It’s fun because the robot has fur and very cheering. It’s a very nice detail which adds color and makes the difference on an otherwise simple bag.

Helen McCrory

The British actress, recently of the TV series “Peaky Blinders” and “Fearless”

Dame Judi Dench gave me my sea gull as a brooch on the first night I played Nina in Chekhov’s “The Seagull” and she was playing Arkadina early in my career. And now every first night I will always pin it somewhere in my costume to still give me good luck. I wear it inside of a pocket so I know it’s there but the audience never sees it.

Azzi Glasser

The founder of The Perfumer’s Story, a fragrance line based in London

I’ve collected charms since I was 7 as I was fascinated with anything that glittered. My charms are quirky and eccentric like the Rich Tea biscuit by True Rocks, which has a bite taken out of it, which I wear on a bracelet and as a necklace. I bought it last year when the designers had a mini pop-up at the Groucho Club as I love these biscuits and ate packets when I was pregnant so means something to me.

Beatrice Tecchi

A shareholder in her family’s Basaltina stone quarry in Italy

I wear my Bulgari sun charm every time I travel, on a Bulgari necklace. It’s a lucky charm and every time I wear it I feel empowered. When I wear it for professional reasons I wear it with a suit, and being yellow gold with diamonds, it’s a chic, sophisticated accessory and brings glamour to every suit and a feminine touch. I bought it on a trip to the Caribbean with cuff links for my husband. I also wear a white gold and diamonds Chantecler bell as a necklace when I ski.

Camille Barbier

A junior specialist in jewelry at Bonhams New York

I have been collecting charms for my silver bracelet since I was a child. I can turn the wheels of the little roller blades and can turn the bucket in the wishing well; I like the mechanical ones. Most are gifts from my mother and the rest I’ve bought. I saved up my pocket money during a family trip to Disneyland when I was 10 to buy a Magic Kingdom charm.

Abigail Gurney-Read

Managing editor, Because Magazine

I have no idea what the charm is in my ear as it is a woven abstract shape. It’s like a hanging half-circle in gold braiding with little things hanging from it, which dance around as I walk. It is purely decorative and I liked the idea of having something charm-like in my ear and close to my face because it is at eye level. I wear it when I want to peacock a little bit.

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