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CELEBRITIES, READY-TO-WEAR designers, couture houses and jewelry maisons are all drawing on past eras, underscoring the old adage that “everything old is new again.” As we head from ’70s and ’80s inspiration into the ’90s, arm bands or armlets have returned as statement jewels. While we have seen them sprinkled here and there over the past five years, this year might solidify them as the bracelet to watch for a new generation.
Arm bracelets date back centuries and were popular in multiple cultures. But let’s stick with what we are seeing at the moment and saw in the late ’90s, early aughts and a few times on the runways in 2022.
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Emma Stone’s first look at the 2025 Venice Film Festival was for the Bugonia photo call. She wore a black halter dress, an asymmetrical lace skirt, black sunglasses, short hair and one piece of jewelry, an Elsa Peretti for Tiffany & Co. 18K yellow gold and diamond snake bracelet on her bicep, which immediately caught my eye. I also recalled seeing a similar-looking bracelet on Zoe Kravitz recently.
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It was at the photocall for Caught Stealing in Paris on Aug. 21 just seven days before the 82nd Venice Film Festival began. Kravitz wore a lingerie-inspired look paired with a Jessica McCormack thin gold and diamond bracelet on her upper arm.
It’s not unusual for celebrities to reference the films they are promoting, and in this case Kravitz’s choice echoed the arm bracelets she wears throughout the movie.
Back in Venice, Shailene Woodley wore a Bulgari bracelet at the Motor City premiere that was somewhere between a wristlet and an armlet, which also appeared to nod to earlier periods in jewelry history.
Credit: Tori Burch 2022 Runway Show
Speaking of which, do you remember the many versions of armbands and bicep bracelets at the 2022 runway shows? There were at least five that I could count, and one of my favorites was this Tori Burch style. However they seemed to be a blip rather than a possible trend that the likes of Stone, Kravitz and Woodley might set.
And if we go back a little further …
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Nicole Kidman wore an intricate bracelet climbin g up her arm to the premiere of Eyes Wide Shut in 1999.
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One of the standout celebrity jewelry moments of the early 2000s was Cate Blanchett in Cynthia Bach designs. The arm bracelet, along with the rest of her look, has frequently appeared on best bejeweled Oscar lists since she first wore it in 2000.
So, what’s your take: Will the arm bracelet return as a trend along with the workouts we saw in the 1990s? And, are you willing to do 20 reps of 10 bicep curls and tricep dips a day to wear one?
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