How to Wear Molten Jewelry
Like many of us, the jewelry market is entering a new era this season. Thinking back, it’s hard to forget the over-the-top statement pieces à la the 2010s, which were immediately followed by a “less is more” approach with dainty jewelry reigning supreme. But oftentimes, those styles feel a little too simple and begin to lose their essence as personality-barring pieces.
Nonetheless, recent seasons have begun to show us the answer to finding the happy medium between minimalistic styles and options that, well, may take it a bit too far. The answer lies in architectural jewelry and, most recently, the molten aesthetic.
Where the Molten Trend Started
We first started to see movement kick-off when mismatched earrings came into play in 2021 with Area, Marine Serre, and Dior all taking part in the trends. This approach unleashed a new lens of creativity and brought back an unconventional sense into jewelry that encouraged us to move past our tried-and-true gold hoops.
Since then, a more artful approach has begun to grow throughout the market. Take the increase in mixed metal jewelry, crafty materials like beads and shells, as well as the interest in baroque-shaped pearls rather than the standard, perfect sphere. Keeping metal at the core, the puffed or molten look is an easy alternative. It checks the boxes that your go-to metal pieces do, as well as brings a conversation-sparking and one-of-a-kind look (even if it’s not). Taking all of this into consideration, it’s safe to say that consumers are craving creativity and designers are fully prepared to answer.
Why Molten Jewelry Is Trending
According to Elizabeth Hooper, founder of her namesake jewelry label, this feels perfectly aligned with societal affairs. “The pandemic shifted many aspects of our lives, like how we spend our money and place value on things. What we invest in and place value on had to be examined and reimagined; people want more bang and look for their buck,” she tells Byrdie. “I also think that being locked up during COVID has given people the motivation and desire to live loudly—the value of our time and depth of our experiences has become more serious which I believe is a driver towards bolder choices in fashion.”
With that being said, it’s no surprise that designers like Hooper are ones to watch, given an artistic and anthropological approach to design lies in their brand DNA. The designer has a degree in anthropology and shares that this is key to her brand. “My process starts with that initial idea or spark and then I research the topic; the history, the ideology, and how that spans out into music and fashion,” she says. “I look at images and try to imagine what would fit design-wise into the culture. That’s when I start sketching out ideas until things gel and I feel like I have a tangible, wearable direction to interpret the original inspiration and idea.”
Jenny Bird, the founder and creative director of her eponymous label, echoes that art and the pieces we wear, especially those as personal as jewelry, reflect our culture and how we want to feel in the world at large. “We are subconsciously drawn to curves right now because they bring us peace,” she says, making puffed, molten jewelry a natural fit for this time period.
Bird adds that she’ll be leaning into this mindset further for her next collection. “For fall, we’ll be doing spheres—they’re the ultimate peaceful shape. There’s something so serene about spheres,” says Bird while also noting the obsession with space and extraterrestrial life within ready-to-wear and the cultural zeitgeist as a whole.
How to Wear Molten Jewelry
So, should you ditch your favorite gold hoops? Absolutely not, but if you’re feeling drawn to natural-derived shapes, this might just be your answer. Below, shop the jewelry from earrings to perfectly curved bangles for an of-the-moment approach to styling this season.
Rings
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Child of Wild
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Oma the Label
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Pearls Before Swine
Necklaces
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Biko
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Missoma
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Arvino
Earrings
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Agmes
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Alexis Bittar
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Elizabeth Hooper
Bracelets
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Jenny Bird
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Karine Sultan
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Wolf Circus