[Trendzilla] Friendship Is Back in Style

A A A Comments By VICKIE CHANG Thursday, Oct 1 2009

You know the saying: Everything old is new again. Eventually, that is.

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There’s just something incredibly comforting and familiar about revisiting items from your past. And it seems nothing really escapes the age-old standby that if you keep something around long enough, it’s probably going to be cool again at some point. You’ve got nostalgic toys, art and photography, foodstuffs, music, and, of course, clothing and accessories.

Starting last spring, I’ve been spotting woven friendship bracelets all over boutiques. While most have stuck to the familiar colored-floss designs from our childhoods, designers such as Mary Kate Steinmiller (also Teen Vogue’s associate fashion market editor) have chosen to update the brightly colored bracelets with charms and even clusters of chunky rhinestones. Though Steinmiller’s bracelets are only available in boutiques on the East Coast (fist shake!), you can, as always, look to Etsy.com for tons of affordable friendship-bracelet options for much less than $10.

Tie on one or two to mix in with other accessories, or go all out with an entire wrist full of the braided jewelry. Or, if you’re feeling particularly crafty (or have an awesome memory), pick up some colored floss at the craft store and try to remember all those skills you learned at sleep-away camp.

But my favorite nostalgic childhood piece of jewelry has to be the classic, two-piece best-friends necklace. There’s no shortage of lighthearted accessories—online storefronts such as Fred Flare (fredflare.com) offer a fun, retro, broken-heart pair that reads “Besties” for $18. A quick search on Etsy even brings up toast-slice pendants—one side slathered with peanut butter, the other with jelly.

After hopelessly scouring Etsy for pages and pages for an updated alternative, I was excited to finally come across some unique pieces that didn’t reek of sixth-grade-yearbook scrawls of “BFFs forever” featured on favorite style site NotCouture.com.

Australian jewelry designer Danielle Maugeri offers a modern, sophisticated version: Art Deco-inspired interlocking necklaces. Or, in other words, a necklace for you and your favorite pal to split without compromising style. (Or, if you’d like, a unisex necklace for you and your significant other to split without compromising style.)

Dani M.’s understated, subtle jewelry is the perfect evolutionary step from the brightly colored plastic hearts with the squiggly crack down the middle that you remember from your childhood. The necklaces come together to form ordinary, simple shapes—but on their own, the separate pieces are entirely unique. Some are polished, some are matte, some are gold-plated, some are silver, some are blackened, oxidized silver. Whichever piece you favor, each pairing would make a thoughtful gift for whatever occasion.

Or you could just keep both pieces for yourself. Whatever.

Dani M. jewelry is available at www.danimdesigns.com. Necklace sets, $192-$310, or $96-$155 each.

vchang@ocweekly.com

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