Pearl Jewelry - Can It Keep Up?

In the beginning of the 21st century, with millennials becoming the top spenders in the jewelry industry, pearl jewelry may be considered dated, out of fashion.

If we take a look into the history of pearls, they were presented as gifts to Chinese royalty as early as 2300 BC, while in ancient Rome, pearl jewelry was considered the ultimate status symbol. So precious were the round natural gems that in the 1st century BC, Julius Caesar passed a law limiting the wearing of pearls only to the ruling classes.

With such a long and ancient history, it is no wonder that, over time, the pearl became shrouded in myth and legend. In ancient China, pearl jewelry was said to symbolize the purity of the wearer while, in the Dark Ages, knights often wore pearls on the battlefield, believing that the precious gemstones would keep them safe. According to legend, Cleopatra crushed a pearl into a glass of wine to prove to Marc Antony that she could give the most expensive dinner in history.

Pearls have been an important trade commodity since Roman times, and the discovery of pearls in Central and South America in the 15th and 16th century led to the so-called Pearl Age. With the escalating demand for pearls in Western Europe, where ladies of nobility and royalty wore elaborate pearl necklaces, earrings, pearl bracelets and brooches, by the 19th century, demand for pearl jewelry became so high that oyster supplies began to dwindle.

Back into the modern era, long story short, somewhere around the 1980s pearls gained a reputation as the preserve of older ladies in twinsets with blue-rinse hairdos. Now, however, the tide is turning and pearls are once again back in favor with the fashionable set. A number of top jewelry houses prominently feature pearls in their high jewelry collections and they are also being incorporated into contemporary jewelry designs by innovative designers such as Perlesa.

Matching pearls with a number of colorful gemstones like: jade, opal, coral, lapis lazuli or onyx can make those jewelry pieces more interesting. Also, in current trends, using any other shape than round and using "not so standard" dimensions for the beads or pendants can make the pearls shine again like they did throughout the history.

To conclude, adapting to the new trends can make jewelers seek for combining the old classy pearls with more precious materials with various shapes and sizes in order to keep up.