How Charming. 💍

Strung together

As a young girl, I loved digging through the jewelry boxes of the women in my life, learning about each piece and its significance as if they made up a physical timeline – the first pair of diamond earrings, a promotion, proposal, birthday gift, or family heirloom passed down for generations.

Jewelry is one of the few things that can follow trends but remain deeply personal, similar to a makeup routine. Charms are unique individually, and no two are the same when made into bracelets or necklaces.

I distinctly remember both of my grandmothers’ charm bracelets, sterling silver with every chainlink, home to vintage charms I always remember looking like monopoly pieces. Each charm is a part of their story.

Personal Touches

My TikTok feed has become increasingly filled with conscious consumers and influencers looking in the mirror to address their role in the rise and fall of trends at an exponential rate. In the last year, I have consumed many TikTok on defining and establishing personal style; PigMami has significantly influenced how I evaluate trends based on my style and is a popular influencer known for her love of charms and bag charms. 

“I think it strikes the balance of being something you can build yourself, but then you still have
the trend at large happening.”
- Susan Korn of Susan Alexandra

My collection consists mainly of charms passed down to me from my grandmother. My favorite charm in my collection resembles Robert Indiana’s Love sculpture. I wear it with pride almost every day, knowing how special it once was for my grandmother and how I am now the lucky owner of such a unique piece, a unique piece that, even if someone had the same charm, the value would never be the same.

That’s the power of this trend: people can participate, but the likelihood of running into someone with the same charms is slim to none. These unique, individual takes on trends are how we will see conscious consumers continue transforming them into more nuanced trends in the next few years.

Implementation

In defining my style and continually growing my list of endless creative hobbies, I was determined to make a collection of hand-painted polymer charms. I’ll learn to cast metal and make jewelry one day, but I’ll stick to polymer clay for now.