Fashion History Lesson: Chokers

Hello, lovelies! I hope everyone is doing well today. It's actually supposed to be in the 70's here this week and I'm super excited. I'm trying not to get my hopes for an early spring...but I'm totes getting my hopes up for an early spring.

Today I'd thought I'd talk about my two favorite things: fashion and history. I am a huge history buff and I actually love watching different trends turn up again in different ways throughout history. What's cool about fashion is that it's circular, even though they may look a little different with each go around.

So we'll start off with one of my favorite trends going on right now: the choker. I'm obsessed with chokers you guys! Like they are the perfect way to have a little edge in your lives: whether you're trying to channel a little bit of 90's kid vibes into your style, or go full blown Edge Queen.          

See? From 90's Princess to Power Witch, get a girl who can do both.
Or you can go full-blown goth like:
   
While chokers are super cool to look at, they do have a really interesting if not a little bizarre history. So let's get started!!

Ancient Egypt 

Photo from Google 

Chokers where first found in Ancient Eygpt where upper class and royalty who wore these necklaces for protection, often adorning these with special beads and amulets. Egyptiansions believed that the most important areas of the body where the neck, the wrists, and the heart.

France, Late 1700's

Photo from Bustle

Flash forward a couple hundred centuries to France, you know, the height the fashion. Shortly after the French Revolution (one of my favorite period of history to study) High Society women would wear thin red ribbons around their neck, crossing over into an "X" on their back as a nod to those who had died at the guillotine. Proof that chokers have always been edgy and goth. 

                                        1900's 

In the early 1900's, chokers were a status symbol, wore by the upper class and ballerinas. The trend was started by Queen Alexandra of Denmark who started wearing chokers to cover a small scar on her neck (also one of the reasons I started to wear chokers. Twins!).
On the flip side of it, by the end of the 1900's, the simple black or red choker were commonly worn by prostitutes, probably to give their clients an illusion they were getting a taste of royalty. This is a really good example of the rise and fall of fashion.

1920's and 1930's 

Fast forward to the 1920's when the flappers were in full swing and chockers were all the range, wore by socialites and celebrities like Josephine Baker and Joan Crawford (left). It's not surprising that the choker would make a comeback during this time period as it was an age of both wealth and breaking of traditional rules, both of which the choker is famous for. 

On the flip side, during the depression era, the choker became a code for other lesbians to find each other(right picture), which we should TOTALLY bring back for lesbians and bisexuals. It would sure as hell make dating a little easier. 

1990's 

Chokers came back in style during the grunge era that took off in every other part of fashion. You could watch a TV show without looking at a choker. Even Gwyneth Paltrow wore one to the Oscars when she won her award, cementing its place in our fashion history forever.

Today 

Photo by Timothy Paul Smith on Unsplash

The chokers are back in style, partly because of celebs like Rhianna and Kylie Jenner. Also because Modern Witchcraft is becoming more of a trend that people are getting into (same). It's just a really cool look to make things a little but more edgy, fun, and so freaking hipster. 

If you would like to get on the choker trend, I recommend starting with Amazon's 10-pack of Chokers  for $7.98 (and the time of this post) which is the ones I was wearing in the picture above. There are very nice for how much you pay (There was only one that felt too cheap to wear without breaking). My own problem with them is that I have a thin neck so there's a bit of a gap. But these are so nice, feel good, and have a great variety to play with. And it's a good way to get introduced to the chocker trend. 

That's all for me loves, are you into the choker trend? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to follow me on Twitter @deathbydiamond and on Instagram at sarcasm_in_heels

Stay Stylin, 

Elle