On Jewelry and Culture

Jewelry is like a personal billboard, ready to be seen, understood and interpreted: wear a diamond ring, and everyone will know you are engaged, wear a seven chakra-bracelet, and everyone will know you are on a spiritual healing path, wear a Christian cross, and everyone will know you are the religious kind - or in a full 1990s Dolce Gabbana vibe.

Elizabeth Taylor’s iconic Krupp engagement ring

Think about rappers such as Slick Rick, who made jewelry part of his artistry and identity, and made the icing flex a cultural phenomenon. In hip-hop culture, this symbolic adornment vindicates not only the social and economic status, but allows the wearer to rediscover deep cultural roots. Like African empires, but also as a form of liberation. “The chains meant freedom”, as rapper Talib Kweli once said.

Rick popularized the thick double rope chain.

It’s all about symbolism: from status and wealth to cultural identity, from religion to ceremonies.

When Sociologist George Simmel analyzed the role of jewelry - or adornments, as he would describe them - he stated that they "enlarge or intensify the personality's sphere”.  Jewelry is simply a language extension, and a way of using appearance to claim not only your identity, but even your relationship with yourself and how and what you want to show about your own self to the world.

Overall, jewelry really transcends its aesthetic function to become a powerful tool for cultural expression, social and personal identity.