Mourning Jewelry
There seems to be jewelry for every occasion. There is jewelry for weddings and special styles from different countries. Jewelery for parties and jewelry for dancing and items just for babies and youngsters. What you may not have heard about yet is mourning jewelry. Not so new on the scene but staging a comeback is jewelry you wear when you have lost a loved one or are in mourning for some reason.
Mourning jewelry is apparently all the rage right now, and with vampire chic taking over our pop culture – from Twilight to True Blood – it’s no wonder. So what is mourning jewelry exactly? Let’s get into some more details. The first examples of mourning jewelry were found in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. Black and white enameled heads or skulls were often set into both rings and brooches and worn to indicate a period of mourning after the death of a loved one. This type of jewelry became most popular in England with Queen Victoria after the premature death of Prince Albert in December 1861. Black jewelry soon became a must-have accessory, as thousands of Brits sympathized with their grieving Queen. So, the Brits made it most popular during the mourning over the death of Prince Albert?
In the United States the use of mourning jewelry increased with the outbreak of the Civil War, which included the emergence of hair jewelry – lopped off locks given to loved ones by soldiers who went off to war, often worn as pendants or in closed lockets. Today, mourning jewelry is making a comeback, with young designers like Anna Schwamborn from London designing a range of styles made with the hair and cremated ashes of loved ones mixed with black bone china. Her “Mourning Objects” collection includes a rosary, necklace and a watch chain tear catcher, among other styles. Does this sound a bit grotesque? Macabre? It is, actually. But don’t let that stop you from joining in on the trend. Hopefully, you won’t have to lose a loved to to take part.
It does seem a bit sick, for example, to put the ashes of someone you knew in a locket around your neck? This is most likely against the beliefs of some religions that consider the dead body to be sacred and not a form of adornment. Pieces of hair may not be so controversial and are often kept in lockets or jewelry boxes as keepsakes of people both living and passed away. Rings and pendants having skulls and blood and spiders on them is something more for the younger set with a passion for the dead and legends and stories of love and death and the undead. As vampires and other creatures continue to entertain and intrigue, there will always be those that take it further and dress in black, have tattoos and other piercings made to their bodies to join a crowd of death worshipers.
Whatever your interest or motivation, now could be the time to embrace the trend. If you are wearing mourning jewelry because you are truly in mourning, you have our deepest sympathy.
