The beauty and resilience of pearls

By Kellie Murphy

  Pearls are a precious stone that have withstood the test of time. Pearls are a timeless and classic object used in jewellery, often associated with royalty and elites, giving the gemstones an eternal association with wealth and opulence. Pearls have moved along with the passing of time, from Botticelli’s Venus emerging from a shell like a pearl, to the Vivian Westwood pearl choker necklace. It would be a stretch, but it can still be argued that Princess Diana’s favourite tiara, the Cambridge lovers knot, was a part of the media’s presentation of Diana as a pure, innocent and ethereal beauty. My overarching point is that pearls have a rich symbolism that has adapted to fit the present day while being a timeless classic, they have kept in fashion in jewellery styles through the centuries and in the 21st century have been reimagined to fit modern tastes. 

  Right now the current trend of pearls is a funky reimagination of jewellery design, creating an eclectic style that I hope will be carried into 2023. There has been a change in the view of pearls since my nana’s time, who lovingly responded with a warning that “pearls are tears” when I excitedly said I wanted a pearl necklace someday. Thanks Nana. The rise in popularity of pearl jewellery can be attributed to several things, including Harry Styles. Love or hate his style, Harry Styles is a global superstar and his fashion sense has often caused headlines. Besides his skilful and beautiful lyricism, Styles is also known for his clothes which are often forward thinking and adventurous, he proceeds to express himself despite criticism, like his choice to wear a dress on the cover of Vogue, receiving hateful comments in return for his disparagement of fixed gender roles. His style changes often, leading his fans to characterise it as “eras”. Fans of Harry are prone to emulating his clothing, creating trends, which can be short lived or create a lasting impact on the fashion world. One of these trends is pearl necklaces. During his “Fine Line album era”, Harry styles completed this albums debut with wide legged trousers and a pearl necklace that was to create a trend of men’s jewellery. While not long lasting, it did aid the rise in popularity of pearls. It transformed from a very stately image to something alternative and sexy and helped influence the way jewellery is viewed as a gendered item. Another cause for the pearl revamp and the love Gen Z gave to it is also the Bridgerton series. Bridgerton is a Netflix series set in the Regency period centring on a fictional noble family, and the family members in their search for love. The costumes are gorgeous with loud colours, beautiful dresses, and absolutely horrifying hairstyles á la Cressida Cowper. Beautiful jewellery is found across the cast which is a small but important part of a period drama. Bridgerton made its debut during the pandemic, which led to it gaining a wide audience along with popularity for its refreshing take on  the expression of physical intimacy in period dramas. Bridgerton caused a craze in the fashion industry, which included jewellery. The use of pearls in jewellery takes clear inspiration from this period, not being completely accurate but presenting a classical, vintage look in simplicity that was pretty.  Pearls infiltrated jewellery designs from many areas, from the Harry styles angle and the regency period as seen in Bridgerton, which led to a dainty design in jewellery using anything from white stones to pearls. 

  All the attention on pearls in jewellery design has raised interest in a reimagination of pearl jewellery. The style of pearl jewellery has transitioned from the settled, Jackie Kennedy-esque style of the past. The current trend of pearls still includes a classical style, but I have noticed that some designers aren’t afraid to throw some colours into their pieces or think of new shapes. Pearls are a constant statement, often the centrepiece and focal point in designs. The current trend in jewellery is no different. For example, the Vivian Westwood pearl choker was one of the highlights of the fashion industry in 2022. It is unlikely to persevere into 2023, but it was a statement piece. With a severe, beautiful line of pearls covering your neck, coming together through the Westwood logo, it’s a reimagination of the classic pearl necklace. The focal point of the necklace isn’t another gemstone but the brand logo itself, putting an irrefutable claim on this particular design, making Westwood’s most popular item so distinctive as the necklace gained traction in 2022. The necklace took inspiration from jewellery popular in the 19th century, when chokers were abundant but today they have been reimagined and pulled into the 21st century with the brand being the centre point, the pearls constituting the whole necklace but not drawing attention to themselves. There has been a departure from the stately pearl jewellery to create rejuvenated, critical appraisal of jewellery designs using pearls. This has resulted in looks like the Vivian pearl choker, which is sexy, simple and opulent. Designers have not shied away from using colour, using playful and bold pearl design in their jewellery. The Raucous is one of these designers. This is a small New Zealand jewellery business where each piece is designed and handmade using semi fine jewellery, all pearls used are freshwater pearls. On The Raucous’ website they state their designs “meld fine materials with a playful boldness and raw uniqueness in every piece.” They’ve reinterpreted the use of pearls with colours and unique patterns in their necklaces, twisting modern styles to fit the lasting idea of pearl jewellery. One necklace uses pearls shaped as love hearts, breaking up the otherwise never ending loop of pearl beads. Another necklace uses refreshing pops of colour to revive the bland image of pearls. Called the checkerboard pearl necklace, multiple colours are used to create colourful pieces, making it a playful and new way of designing pearl jewellery.

 The pearl harvesting industry is difficult to regulate. Pearl cultivation is the farming of oysters or mussels to find pearls and there are differences between the two, influencing their price. Saltwater pearls are formed in oysters and are considered more beautiful, which raises their price as well as the difficulty that is caused when trying to cultivate them. Freshwater pearls are found in mussels who live in lakes, rivers and ponds and are the most common pearl you can cultivate, coming in a variety of colours. If farmed sustainably and humanely, saltwater pearls are considered environmentally friendly as they’re produced naturally by oysters as a defence mechanism when an object enters its shell. However, there is difficulty regulating the pearl harvesting industry due to the industry transforming from pearl hunting to a farm system of cultivation. Culturing is surgically opening the oyster and inserting the irritant, less then half of them survive this. Stress is subjected to the oysters and after the extraction some oysters repeat the process while others are killed. A solution to this unethical treatment is to buy fake pearls but of course this is resisted by customers and designers, who want to design jewellery with luxury pearls to gain profit through the high price it would guarantee. Customers also desire real pearls and are perhaps unaware or uncaring of the unethical practices of pearl cultivation. 

   I hope that pearls continue to enjoy popularity this year but the use of pearls in the fashion industry should be subject to more scrutiny. I hope the fashion industry begins to change their relationship with pearl cultivation in the future.