Handmade Costume Jewelry

Handmade Costume Jewelry - The Prehistoric Fact

Handmade costume jewelry as a subject for a blog may be something far from anyone's mind.

Handmade costume jewelry was far from my own mind when I even remotely entertained the thought of starting a blog in the past. But just before writing this post, I decided, not without the shadow of procrastination looming over my head, to turn the laptop off and turn the TV on instead. I had marked seven p.m. today on my planner as HBO time: 10,000 BC, the prehistoric epic film was going to be shown. It turned out to be the better choice as it turned on the light for me on what exactly to write about.

Since this is not a film review blog, I will have to skip the critique - the film is quite entertaining, there is no question about that. What struck me though was how jewelry played a prominent role in fashion as shown in this film - or was it just me desperately searching for an angle to tackle?

In the first ten minutes of the film, the character of the wise woman - Old Mother - appears wearing a... you guessed it... handmade costume jewelry! Of course since this is set in 10,000 BC the necklace she carries around her neck is no chunky Louis Vuitton Fall '08 blown glass disk encased in steel must-have. But chunky it sure is (there is a reason I used the word "carries")! It is a long layer of different bones tied by a cord in all its raw, animal rights-deficient glory.

Now why am I writing about this? In those times when men had to hunt down a mammoth at their own peril so that the whole tribe may have red meat for lunch, the Old Mother managed to adorn herself with the leftover bones. If that doesn't speak about how far back and how covetable what today is known as the statement necklace goes, I don't know what does.

In a later scene, the lead character D'Leh presents his hot girlfriend, Evolet with a bone necklace, a smaller scale than Old Mother's. When she gets captured by raiders called the "four legged demons" she tries to do a Hansel and Gretel using the bones, piece by piece so that her hero can trace the tracks.

Now why do i mention this? Just to say that jewelry does not only serve as adornment but survival tool as well. Okay, okay... so it's just a movie. I have not really reseached on the history of fashion jewelry but I bet my bones the production designer did and such necklace did exist. Hah!

Oh, did i mention that the men didn't mind accessorizing their very rastafari mane with saber tooth pendants either? Yeah, that with painted faces, dirty nails, exposed undergarment and leather hide clothing.

This makes me realize how essential jewelry has been for a long time. Whether or not people in those early times even had a vague notion of what vogue is or wore jewelry to signify position or merely produced a creative byproduct of hunting and an unconscious move to recycle, it was a part of their lives like survival itself.

And jewelry continues to be a part that makes fashion whole. How it has evolved is a topic of what I'm certain are many other write-ups. For now, Old Mother's fossilized teeth must be grinning, even mingling with her own handmade costume jewelry.