The TikTok Pearl Necklace Everyone is Talking About is Actually 34 Years Old
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What do you get when you combine Bridgerton with Japanese anime? Vivienne Westwood's pearl choker with her crystal orb logo, apparently. The necklace was originally designed as a single strand in 1987 and in 1990 was updated to a triple-strand for Westwood's Portrait collection. Now it is the newly crowned the It-Girl accessory of 2021 thanks to its popularity on TikTok. Celebrities including Janelle Monae, Bella Hadid, and Dua Lipa have all been spotting wearing the TikTok Necklace, as it is referred to by the influencer set.
Pearl jewelry has been everywhere lately—Harry Styles and A$AP Rocky are fans and Rihanna recently stepped out for dinner at Carbone in NYC with long strands wrapped around her neck—call it the Bridgerton effect. On TikTok that Regency-era romanticism collided with Japanese anime Nana, which was created by a former fashion student who outfitted the main character in Westwood's orb design (prompting a collaboration between Nana and Vivienne Westwood), and a new wave of Gen-Z fans emerged.
Authentic vintage Vivienne Westwood orbs can be found on eBay, but the single strand necklace is available on the brand's site for a cool $195 (the triple-strand is also still around, but currently sold out). Although now it feels obvious, Westwood was a pioneer in mixing obviously faux pearl jewelry with high-end designs. Then and now, throwing a dash of pearls into an otherwise rebellious outfit adds just the right zhush, flipping Diana Vreeland's dictum on a little bit of bad taste on its head..and it doesn't hurt that it fits oh so perfectly into a TikTok selfie either.
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