In the 1990s and early 2000s, choker necklaces were all the rage.
You saw celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton wearing a choker everywhere. As we know, jewelry trends tend to repeat themselves every twenty or thirty years.
By that math, we’re about due for a choker revival — but are they back in style yet? Keep reading to find out!
What Is a Choker?
Despite the name, choker necklaces aren’t literally meant to choke you. Rather, you should wear a choker so it fits snuggly at the base of your neck.
If you want to emulate Lindsay Lohan a la Freaky Friday, though, you could also wear chokers halfway up your neck. Plastic “tattoo” chokers from the 1990s, which come in a variety of colors, are also meant to be tighter.
Despite jewelry trends, make sure to choose accessories that best match your outfit. A big part of this is the perfect necklace length. It’s both an art and a science, but it has the power to tie your whole outfit together.
The Origin of Choker Necklaces
We don’t exactly know when people started to wear chokers, but they’ve been around since at least the eighteenth century. In France, women wore red ribbons around their necks to symbolize lives lost to the guillotine.
Some historians even claim that Anne Boleyn popularized the necklace trend in the sixteenth century. Maybe you recognize the painting of her wearing a choker with pearls and a “B” pendant.
Despite its cloudy origins, the trend didn’t show signs of slowing down. Royal women like Queen Victoria and Alexandra, Queen of Wales wore chokers throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Wealthy women of the Victorian Era followed suit, sporting chokers to signal status. Into the 1920s, women would wear chokers in a variety of necklaces styles. These included ribboned or beaded chokers.
After a brief dip in popularity in the 1930s, chokers became known as “dog collars” in the 1940s. From there, the necklace styles branched into velvet, lace, pearl, and diamond chokers.
Are Choker Necklaces Still in Style Today?
Although it’s been over twenty years since their last heyday, choker necklaces already had their renaissance in the mid-2010s. With it came the resurgence of grungy 1990s trends like oversized sweaters and flannels.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t wear chokers today. In fact, young people have embraced Y2K fashions, so wearing a choker wouldn’t totally be out of place.
Try layering choker necklaces with a bundle of other necklaces varying in length. You could also pair a choker with an oversized t-shirt blasting the name of a classic rock band. Tie off the outfit with ripped, light-wash jeans.
Reliving Jewelry Trends of the Past
Choker necklaces have risen and waned in popularity for hundreds of years. However, they’ve never gone completely out of style.
What’s important is that you wear whatever you want, regardless of trends. There’s no shame in keeping the torch of 1990s nostalgia alive for decades to come.
For more insights into jewelry trends, keep reading our site.
