Pearls

The World's Oldest Gemstone (& everything old is new again)

pearls for texture: ultimate in layering @immillieholmes

Pearls: On Trend

If you’ve read any fashion stories lately, chances are you have read about how on-trend pearls are right now. They are on the runaways, on the list of jewelry items that Glamour thinks you should have for 2024.

And they do provide some critical texture to any necklace stack (see above). But let’s get some backstory, shall we?

Yes. The Romans put pearl jewelry on their statues. Head of Venus, c.100, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu California.

When in Rome, Wear Pearls

Roman emperors adored pearls — the more, the better. The emperor Caligula wore shoes encrusted with pearls and decorated his favorite horse with a pearl necklace. Pearls were an important component to Roman pagan religion and were often dedicated to Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, who according to mythology, emerged from a shell.

See the animal crawling on Queen Elizabeth’s left arm? That’s an ermine. It’s a sort of weasel that was popular in the Elizabethian era - both as a pet and as a pelt (Uggg). But do you notice that even the ermine is wearing pearls?

In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue
& found pearls

Well, actually it was his third voyage to the Americas in 1498, when he stumbled upon the pearl fisheries of Central America and returned to Spain with 50 ounces of pearls. The knowledge (and exploitation) of those New World fisheries set off a pearl rush we now know as the great Pearl Age. And no one was quite as obsessed as Queen Elizabeth I, who had 3,000 pearled gowns, pearled wigs and certainly, pearl jewelry.

The Pearl Age ended in the 17th century due to wars, changing tastes and lack of supply (aka over fishing)

Victorians Heart Pearls

The Victorians believed that pearls represented tears so when in 1861, Queen Victoria went into mourning, she fully embraced the tear symbolism and wore long strands for the rest of her life.

However, the pearl wasn’t down for the count. In the mid-1800s, new sources were discovered around Australia and South Pacific islands. Freshwater Scottish pearls had been known of since the 12th century, but had become inconsequential (and largely forgotten) by the 19th.

Then in 1860, a German dealer traveling through Scotland found pearls in the possession of the local people. He bought all he could find and set off a storm of pearl fishing.

“Lace is one of the most wonderful imitations of nature. But pearls are perfect for every occasion.” - Coco Chanel

Coco Chanel wearing her famous pearls.

Over-the-top Carrie

Why it still works"

There are a couple of things that pearls can do for your modern outfit. First, they can provide some texture to a look.

amysmilovic sent me on a hunt for chunky pearls.

Pearls breaking up the all-metal neck-mess with some beaded texture.

Pearls on the Gucci runway.

Wrong Jewel Theory

The other thing that pearls can do for a look is throw in a bit of the Allison Bornstein wrong shoe theory. Stay with me for a minute. The point of the wrong shoe theory is to add a little tension to a look. Keep it from being too expected and perfect. And I think that’s exactly what pearls can do for a look. You can certainly wear them with a little black dress. But you can also lean into

Caroline Bessette-Kennedy wearing pearls with a LBD

This episode of And Just Like That was called “Little Black Dress”

There’s so much more pearl history to dig into… faux pearls, Mikimoto, pearls for men…

Let me know where you’re interested in going next. And I’d love to know, if you own a strand (or two) or if you’d like me to talk about sourcing!