Frost Yourself

Jewelry is an important part of everyone woman’s wardrobe. There are different types of jewelry depending on how you want to represent yourself. I feel like simple things like this in our society our recognized as different, but never actually analyzed.  For example, what I mean by this is the jewelry you wear on a day to day basis, is clearly different than the jewelry you may wear for a black tie event. A person may not always be able to describe how the jewelry differs, but can definitely be distinguished by look. Below in the pictures I have provided, it is a person’s natural instinct to make assumptions based upon what accessories a person chooses to wear.

There are different types of jewelry to wear to tell someone your relationship status. For example, a clatter ring is worn different depending if you are in a relationship or not. If you are part of the Greek system, in a serious relationship a girl can wear her boyfriend’s letters to tell everyone she is taken and by who. Everyone knows that a diamond ring on a women’s left hand indicates that she is married. These are all ways for a person to say something about themselves, without actually saying anything at all.

Relationship Status

Claddagh Ring

Greek Letter Lavaliering

Wedding Ring

Different groups of people tend to wear different types of jewelry. For example, someone who is preppy typically wears pearl jewelry, vs. someone who is “hipster”, “scenester” or “emo” may have several dark metallic piercings or even gauges. These are all generalizations that we can conclude just from the jewelry that a person chooses to wear on their body.

Lifestyles

Edgy

Hippie

Many cultures have specific customs that require followers to wear jewelry in a certain way.

Culture

In the same way, a person can definitely tell when jewelry is geared toward a younger audience. There are specific stores such as The Icing or Claires that target youth jewelry. These types of jewelry are cheap material, usually brightly colored and fun shaped. A business woman in her 30s would never wear the cupcakes earrings shown below to a business meeting. Jewelry can define different age groups.

 Age

When a person is wealthy, you can often see it through flashy accessories or brands. David Yurman and Tiffany’s are top jewelry designers because they will only use top of the line materials to make their products and everyone knows that. Because they have built their brand, they also have a “look” to their jewels that the jewelry connoisseur can point out at ease. A person who does not have a high income would not be able to afford top of the line jewelry.

Wealth

Lastly, a bracelet, necklace or earrings is another way to represent a person’s specific interests or extracurricular activities. For example, the sorority I am a part of, one of our symbols is the key. Because of this, there are always girls wearing a key necklace to represent their pride in being a part of Kappa Kappa Gamma. In the same sense, if a person loves to play basketball, they can wear basketball earrings or something alike.

Interests

Kappa Kappa Gamma's Symbol, The Key

Charm Bracelets represent different interests

Charm Bracelets

In conclusion, a person does not always realize that everything we do says something about who we are. Like McLuhan said, media are extensions of the man. Jewelry can say so much about who you are or what you believe in so you must be careful about how you share this information. With all stereotypes, generalizations can be made about people who wear certain types of jewelry, so wearing a particular style will give off a message of some kind about you. Over the course of the semester, I have strongly changed my opinion to think that everything we do is an extension of ourselves. Media is the message.