Not everyone likes public displays of love and affection, but that doesn’t diminish their desire for romance. And some of the most suitable jewels for such circumspect behavior are lockets, designed to conceal words, images or souvenirs of love, passion or commitment.
Lockets today, however, are vastly different in style and message than the classic models. New designs are playful, sometimes even subversive, expressions of empowerment, self-love, friendship and, of course, romance.
“A locket is a sexy piece of jewelry,” said Monica Rich Kosann, whose namesake brand headquartered in Connecticut specializes in contemporary lockets. “Women are wearing them for inspiration and empowerment, and a way to manifest what they want.”
That sounds like a lot packed into a small gold or silver piece around the neck, but jewelers have been creating novel ways to hold words, symbols, and declarations so lockets can be customized to express just about anything.
One of Ms. Kosann’s popular styles is a locket in the shape of a shield, engraved on the back with the word Fearless, and hung from a steel or 18-karat gold chain. She said that the singer Usher wears this style, with photos of his children inside.
She has created the Locket Bar, an online and in-store service that allows buyers to customize their locket purchases with scannable digital images and words that can be engraved in the original script or printing. One person, she said, had photos from her mother’s worn recipe book put in a locket, and another, an avid gardener, keeps images of her favorite flowers inside. Prices start at $195 for a sterling silver locket to several thousand dollars for gold and diamond lockets.
Secret History
Since medieval times, lockets have been a jewel weighted with meaning and hidden messages. They concealed portraits of secret lovers, indications of political allegiances and carried covert messages. Queen Victoria popularized the locket as a sentimental accessory when, after Prince Albert’s death in 1861, she wore one containing a lock of his hair and had others made with portraits of her children.
Secrets are still part of the locket’s appeal.
“In an era of oversharing, it’s nice to keep some things private,” said Melissa Levy, the founder of the locket company Devon Woodhill in Westport, Conn. Like many women, she had fond childhood memories of her paternal grandmother’s locket, which held images of Ms. Levy as a child. That inspired her to put a modern spin on the traditional jewel.
Ms. Levy’s slim gold lockets resemble pendants, decorated with designs including a diamond-accented Tree of Life, jeweled moon and stars, and evil eye motif ($2,250 to $12,250).
“Words are fleeting these days,” Ms. Levy said, “people don’t write letters, and engraved lockets are a way for someone to express their love and sentiment in a way that’s lasting.”
Recent commissions include a mother’s locket inscribed with “I love you more,” and the daughter’s with “Not possible.” A trio of friends recently commissioned three lockets that all say, “Love, friendship and coffee talk.”
Playful Stories
Marie Lichtenberg’s 21st-century take on lockets might raise some eyebrows, but the concealed joke is intended only for the wearer. For example, an enameled barrel-shape locket in 18-karat gold is decorated with the words “Everything little thing gonna be alright” and opens to reveal a representation of a marijuana joint.
Ms. Lichtenberg has gained a cultish following for her colorful six-sided barrel-shape lockets, inspired by a necklace that she received from her mother on her 14th birthday. It was a chunky chain with a barrel-style closure, a symbol of her mother’s roots on the Caribbean island of Martinique, where centuries earlier former slaves had made such necklaces with their chains when they were freed.
About six years ago Ms. Lichtenberg recreated the necklace for her young daughter, but turned the barrel closure into a locket and engraved the words “To the moon and back” on its surface. It became her company’s first design, and she said it continues to be a best seller (starting at $2,300).
“We live in this crazy world,” the designer said. “The locket brings some sense of permanence, where you can mark milestones and the things you love and carry them with you.”
A similar sentiment motivated Félix Marcilhac Jr., the director of Galerie Marcilhac, an art gallery in Paris, to purchase for his wife an 18-karat gold barrel locket accented with a garnet heart and the words “Love you to the moon and back,” suspended on a cord of silk and gold threads.
“I was drawn to Marie’s modern and meaningful reinterpretation of traditional lockets,” Mr. Marcilhac wrote in an email. “Marie’s playful use of symbols and the uniqueness of each design made her work stand out in a world of homogenized luxury.” He also recently commissioned another locket with each of their three children’s names engraved on the exterior.
Significance
The Loquet jewelry company in London has made shopping for lockets a playful experience. The starting point is a 14-karat gold and clear sapphire-crystal case, which can be filled with any number of charms, from jeweled fruits to a martini glass.
In search of a sentimental gift for his wife, Dillon Newell, a British businessman, recently brought their two young children to Loquet’s shop in London, where they selected a heart-shape crystal locket and three charms to go inside: a diamond-accented butterfly, a rainbow and a heart. He added a coffee cup charm, to represent their mornings together.
“Letting the kids help made this gift so much more meaningful,” Mr. Newell wrote in an email. “My wife sees a little piece of all of us in it, and that’s more special than anything else I could have given her.”
Loquet’s founder, Sheherazade Goldsmith, said, “there’s something inherently playful about the tiny charms, it reminds you of all the lovely, magical things in our youth.” Established in 2013, the brand has charms in stock as well as a bespoke service that can make almost anything — recent commissions have included a diamond pavé surfboard and a stethoscope (small gold lockets start at $1,200; charms begin at $40).
As much as lockets designs have changed, they still are most often given and worn in love.
That has been the case for Kathryn Phillips, a business owner in Laguna Beach, Calif., who began collecting Ms. Kosann’s lockets when her first grandchild was born 13 years ago.
She now has seven lockets, including one that was a gift from her husband on their 30th anniversary. It is engraved with the words “Best blind date ever” and contains four images, one for each decade and one of their family.
“The lockets have far more significance than just their material value,” Ms. Phillips said.
And that impact is shared. Ms. Kosann herself was moved as she described a locket with her favorite Robert Frost poem inside that her husband gave her about a year ago: “People wear lockets to tell their stories, to curate their life and be reminded of what matters most to them.”
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