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.
If you are in search of wrist watch stores near me and want to know more about it then please contact us in the comment section.
If you are in search of wrist watch stores near me and want to know more about it then please contact us in the comment section.
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