Fashion

THE ‘DARK SIDE’ OF THE CHOKER

To be honest: I'm not really into the accessory of 2016, the choker. All the fashion girls, Gigi Hadids and god knows who else are wearing the trend, but I find it quite suffocating, such a tight ribbon around your neck. Ever thought about the name choker? The strangler? Brrr...

But just because this isn't for me, doesn't mean I can't thoroughly investigate it, so I dove into the depths of the web to explore the phenomenon of the choker. And now it turns out that this fashionable neck ribbon had a very different function in the past...

Did you know, for example, that the choker was used by women during the French Revolution as a tribute to their beheaded husbands, who had died by guillotine? No kidding. The widows wore the ribbon during parties meant to mourn and dance away their trauma. Everyone knew back then: if you wore such a ribbon around your neck, your husband had died in a horrific way. Yikes.

‘Looking for a prostitute, anyone?’

Looking at the 18th century, the ribbon takes on a completely different meaning again. The necklace was then typical for prostitutes. We didn't know that either. After that, it became trendy among ballerinas, then a symbol of status and power for the elite. Did you have money?? Then your ribbon was specially ‘custom made’ for your neck with diamonds, pearls, you name it.

But let's go a bit further. Anne Boleyn, (queen of England from 1533 to 1536) made the link between the choker and the slit throat even more characteristic. In her most famous portrait, she wears a neck ribbon with pearls, and not long after the painting was finished, she was beheaded because she was accused of witchcraft and infidelity. 450 years later, it's Courtney Love who sings: ‘Someone please tell Anne Boleyn chokers are back in again.’

The accessory makes a comeback in the 90s as a sign of female pride and rebellion. I also wore such a ’tattoo choker‘ around my neck, was so cool at school. But little did I know that our friend would come back into fashion again. Dear fashion girls, can I skip it for now? Just give me a shout when it's trendy again in 50 years. Then I'll be the most badass grandma that ever existed. Yikes.