The Enduring Bead Bracelets of Summer

By Brittany Siminitz | July 26, 2023

The camp aesthetic has endured for several summers now, a nod to the golden age of childhood, simpler times, and easy friendships. Beaded bracelets are a cornerstone of this trend, a play on the ones we’d make with summer friends, as a symbol of our time together that would come to an end with the start of the school year.

Bead bracelets have managed to stay über-relevant for another year, thanks to one very famous blond woman dominating the headlines. It’s not Barbie, though she probably wouldn’t turn up her nose at a good friendship bracelet. It’s Taylor Swift.

For Swift’s attention-grabbing Eras tour, concertgoers are piling on the bead bracelets to trade with fellow Swifties. Taking advice from one of Swift’s song lyrics, the bracelets have become a staple of this year’s tour—even celebrities are getting in on the frenzy, wearing armfuls of homemade bracelets.

Like most things pop culture, this trend doesn’t live in a Taylor Swift vacuum—it has reach. Whether or not someone scored a concert ticket, and even for those who can’t name a single song by Swift, the common bead bracelet might have piqued an interest this summer, because it’s too easy an accessory not to.

And why not layer on a few? They’re colorful, fun, and a breeze to wear—and many can even be customized. Personally I love the idea of mother-daughter ones, and plan on scoring a pair to send my oldest off to kindergarten. She doesn’t really know who Taylor Swift is, but she does appreciate a good jewel with sentimental value.

Here are some of the latest bead bracelets, though you’ll find these versions to be very grown-up and not at all what you’d want to trade away, Swiftie or not!