The choker necklace has gotten so hot so fast this spring — especially at Coachella — that Vogue is ready to declare the style so over in favor of ankle bracelets, aka anklets.
Forget the choker necklace, this is the accessory you need this summer: https://t.co/FEVuX8Liqf
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) April 20, 2016
When I saw that tweet, I was like …
… because last June, I declared anklets were due for a big fine-jewelry comeback.
Click to read the whole post from June 2015.
Stick with me if you want to get an early jump on the hot jewelry trends, people.
I have some new anklet styles debuting this spring/summer, but in the meantime you can shop my barbed wire style from last year. I have it in silver …
$350. Modeled by Eryn Patton. Click to purchase.
… 18K yellow gold with diamonds …
Click to purchase.
… and my personal favorite, platinum and diamonds.
Click to purchase.
I’ve been all about using platinum in unexpected ways, and not a lot of people dare to put platinum around their ankles!
Speaking of the Coachella music festival, if you follow my personal Instagram, you know I was there last weekend, accompanied by my concert-loving friend Jessie.
A photo posted by Wendy Brandes (@wendybrandes) on
If you follow Taylor Swift’s Instagram, you know she was also at Coachella last weekend and wondering if chokers are the new flower crowns.
Flower crowns have been a very popular and increasingly mocked part of Coachella fashion for years. Based on my observations, the crowns are indeed over. I saw one or two gals with cat-ear headpieces made of flowers, one or two guys wearing the old-style flower crown, and one young lady with a good sense of humor sporting a crop top that read, “Fuck your flower crown.” (Nope, I don’t know where you can get one of those tops!)
A photo posted by Wendy Brandes (@wendybrandes) on
I even managed to get through the first two days of the weekend without spotting a non-Native American wearing a feather headdress. It seems the notion that that is offensive to Native Americans has finally gotten through to people. (Then, on the last day, I saw a couple of guys wearing them.)
But chokers! Chokers were everywhere, so common that they’re already dead to It girl Alexa Chung. What I saw were mostly black fabric or plastic chokers, and those are dead to me too. Those inexpensive trend pieces weren’t all that attractive in the 1990s, and they’re not any better now. I’ve always loved a fine-jewelry choker. Those never get old to me.
I got my first beautiful choker from my mother, who gave me her own piece while I was still in grade school. I used to wear it as a bracelet as well as a choker. Admittedly, this one is costume jewelry, not fine jewelry, but it’s pretty damn stunning and it’s still in good shape after all these years.
I’ve still got it!
Much later, but before I started designing jewelry myself, MrB bought me an exquisite aquamarine, platinum and diamond choker by Cathy Waterman. I wore it to Lutece for my Y2K New Year’s party.
That’s me in the middle! Click for original post.
A few years after that, I got this pearl, diamond and yellow gold choker from the diamond wholesaler with whom I would eventually go into the jewelry business.
Seen in 2014.
I first wore a version of that choker to the Oscars in 2003, with the Versace dress I found at a consignment store.
I’m looking for a bigger photo but this is all I have right now.
That was my future business partner’s original version of the choker. As you can see, it was too big for me. Later, she made one in my size, and I’ve been wearing it for the past 13 years … including to this year’s Vanity Fair Oscar party.
Basically, people wearing or over-wearing black ribbons on their necks aren’t going to put an end to my lifelong love for a gorgeous choker. You can’t compare ribbons and real jewelry! Judging from her envelope-pushing new “Needed Me” video, Rihanna is on my side, because the pearl choker she wears looks hawt paired with her gun and exposed nipples. As you can see from my “twins” collage of me and Rihanna below, a pearl choker looks just as good with MrB’s white shirt.
A photo posted by Wendy Brandes Jewelry PR (@wendybrandesjewelry) on
Everything old is new again. It feels as though we traveled back to the 90’s seeing those ribbon chokers. No thank you! Time to break out my sterling, jeweled, & pearl ones from back in the day (not as beautiful as yours, Miss Wendy).
I like your style!
I have always loved chokers, and it’s nice to see them in fine jewelry (those 90s ones were hideous). I have a beautiful Austrian crystal one with gold-plated settings (and the matching earrings and bracelet), from my grandmother from the 60s that I pull out sometimes.
I like anklets! I might need one…
I think you do need one!