Necklaces: A Short History, and What Vivienne Westwood Added

Necklaces are the least neutral items you can add to your look. Long before they were simple accessories you could wear without thinking twice about them, they were talismans, items of witchcraft, showcases of faith and markers of social rank. 

And that’s why they always so much. Today necklaces can be much less crucial in defining who we are, right? Nope, that’s quite wrong, as necklaces are able to edit the face, frame the voice and dictate how the collar behaves. 

With necklaces you can surely make a t-shirt smarter, or you can also tone down a very extravagant attire. When you are wearing a definitely-too-plain dress, it’s again the necklaces coming to save your day. 

Vivienne Westwood’s latest collection of necklaces for women is a great contribution to the history of necklaces – let’s discover together why. 

Wearing ideas

The question is never a to wear a necklace. It’s which idea to add to your neck today. Do you need a touch of severity? A little charm? A dash of wit? Or do you simply want a piece that serves as a warning to others?

Different necklaces can help you with different looks and different moods and temperaments. 

If you’re planning to wear closed collars, choose precise chokers. On days when you wear V-necks, mid-drop pendants that move with your breath will complete the look far better.

Bare shoulders suit sculptural collars and monumental items and accessories more. 

These are the general rules most people follow. Can you break them? Of course you can. Use layers as part of the sentence and as your own language: add more than one piece to start a conversation about what’s left of the old world of fashion. Or go for three or more necklaces at once. Less is not always more.

Vivienne Westwood’s Intervention

Into the long-running conversation about necklaces, Vivienne Westwood walked with a teacher’s stare and an appetite for breaking rules. 

For her, heritage was raw material, not a hushed homage to bygone methods. Pearls arrived with a new attitude, refusing obedience. Chains remembered the street and Britain’s
rebellious impulse, yet with couture composure. The crowned orb served as a witty emblem, proof that two opposing ideas can share a single sign and still make perfect sense.

Westwood’s real gift was to restore intent, with pieces that had drifted into cliché were made to think again. And behave in a new, unexpected way.

A real gift to fashion and to necklaces for women.

Perfection Is Never the Point

Perfection often looks machine-made. That’s not what the Vivienne Westwood designers had in mind when creating the latest collection of necklaces.

There are slightly off-centre lines, drops hanging a bit lower than expected, and other tricks to keep the eye alive. And there is real heritage, drawing on elements of fashion history. There is also homage to craftsmanship and to the imperfections of handmade pieces.

Asymmetry is used to restore energy, to please the beholder, and to provoke those who live by rules made by others. It prevents bland prettiness, keeping rebellion from becoming crude as well. It’s louder, but not by much.