Zodiac jewellery is enjoying a resurgence: how jewellery brands like Van Cleef & Arpels are tapping into astrology to provide relief from daily stressors – and Rihanna and Hailey Bieber are loving it

During Copenhagen Fashion Week, I stopped by a chic space tripling as the boutique, office and workshop of local jewellery label Elhanati.

Despite its location on the popular Bredgade thoroughfare, the hushed environs – a sleek fusion of Scandi and Italian postmodern design – provided welcome respite. I circled the displays with founder and designer Orit Elhanati, whose Danish and Middle Eastern roots inform the brand’s jewels.

At one point, she showed me her latest release, a line of 18k solid gold rings and necklaces featuring star signs that, handcrafted and hammered, looked like they’d been excavated from a mysterious ruin. A true romantic, Elhanati told me she envisioned people wearing their own signs alongside those of their loved ones, in the way some do with initials.

Since the visit, I’ve seen zodiac jewellery everywhere. At Goossens Paris, a maker in Chanel’s Métiers d’Art family of brands, astrological signs and turquoise stones are affixed on chunky chain bracelets. There’s London-based Alighieri, whose founder Rosh Mahtani renders star sign medallions in recycled gold, and Louise Sinclair, whose more minimalist take on astrology sees gold pendants adorned with sign-specific diamond constellations.

And, of course, there’s Van Cleef & Arpels’ Zodiaque collection, which features intricate art deco tableaus that nod to the French house’s pendants of the 1970s – in fact, zodiac-inspired charms, pendants, clips and cufflinks have appeared throughout Van Cleef’s oeuvre since the 1950s.

Your favourite A-list style icons? They wear zodiac jewellery too, and it’s hard not to notice. See Rihanna’s penchant for her diamond-studded Briony Raymond Pisces medallion, which can be yours for a cool US$17,800, and Hailey Bieber’s US$8,300 Sagittarius pendant by Los Angeles-based jeweller Anita Ko.

There’s clearly ample demand for star signage, and it’s easy to understand the appeal. For those of us who are astrologically inclined, zodiac signs are, on a deeper level, a way to understand the complexities of ourselves and others, and present them to the rest of the world. Crucially, they’re also beautiful conversation starters and gifts – especially when realised at the hands of a luxury jewellery label.