The jewels to help you do it
Remember those cheap plastic chokers from the ’90s, the black plastic ones that had a vaguely barbed-wire look that you had to stretch over your head to put on? I don’t want to say they’re back, but well, they’re kind of back. In high school, I used to tie a black ribbon around my neck and just call it a day (I stand by it). These days, the choker has gotten an upgrade. No longer the déclassé piece relegated to adorn the necks of teenagers with attitude, the 2016 choker is grown up and legit. As in, Game of Thrones‘ Maisie Williams just paired a $17,000 dress with a choker legit.
Sure, there are plenty of stores selling the tattoo choker necklaces à la ’90s, and yes, people are totally buying them. And why shouldn’t they? It’s a cheap, easy way to flirt with a trend (even though the thought that I wore one of these like 20 years ago makes me a bit nauseous). And yeah, the typical customer purchasing such pieces is quite young and probably won’t go dropping a ton of cash in your store. Still, established shoppers like trends too, darn it, and there’s a good selection of jewels to satiate them. And the thing is, there’s something to be said about jewelry that straddles the trend line; if it looks cool, then it probably is cool. But if it’s crafted to last a lifetime, then it’ll do that, too—trends be damned. And that’s precisely what we have with these fine pieces here: a selection of choker necklaces so gorgeous that we (you, me, your customers) will want to wear them all the time, no matter what the current neckwear styles demand.
Geo Cube necklace in silver and 24k gold–plated stainless steel with Lucite, price on request; Coeur de Lion
Arrowhead & Chain choker necklace in suede and 14k yellow gold with 0.35 ct. t.w. diamonds, $3,650; Fern Freeman
Victoria collier in 24k gold–plated sterling silver with freshwater pearls, $699; Bernd Wolf
Montecarlo necklace in sterling silver, $655; Giovanni Raspini
Two-tone necklace in gold-plated and oxidized silver, price on request; Marcin Zaremski
Rock Candy necklace in white gold with diamonds, $11,050; Marli
P.S.: That cheap ribbon I may or may not still have lurking in my jewelry box? Rachel McAdams recently got away with it—and at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, no less. So…#goals.
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