Chokers make a comeback as luxury jewellers create new classic pieces

Historically, the choker has had a difficult relationship with fashion. From its connotations in post-revolutionary France as a sympathetic gesture of death by guillotine to its indication of a woman’s nightly profession, it has been associated with the less salubrious sides of society.

Nevertheless, the choker is far from dead. Fashion dictates that it ebbs and flows according to fads – last year’s proliferation on runways and as the accessory of choice at festivals is making way for longer styles that suggest it is losing its grip on the high street.

But high-end jewellers pay no heed to such whims. Luxury jewellers have a long-standing affair with the choker, continually reinventing the sumptuous, sometimes erotic possibilities it offers for design. In turn, some of the world’s most photographed women have immortalised the choker’s place in history.

Think Elizabeth Taylor in vivacious Bulgari interpretations and Princess Diana’s penchant for a seven-string sapphire and pearl choker, for example.

According to a recent Robb Report, the momentum gained by the choker last year as “the perfect complement to all the off-the-shoulder looks”, will continue with “bold and dainty designs to accentuate the neck as a feminine statement”.

Indeed, a quick tally of chokers seen at red carpet events this year suggests it is the statement accessory of the moment, and as far removed from the elegant but safe pearl version borrowed from granny’s jewellery box as the dog collar favoured by punks in the 1980s was stylish.