Fashion Cycles: Italian Charms and Personalization in Fashion
Written by Talia Frans
In a world of microtrends and influencers, personalization in fashion has helped individuals find their styles in the cozy corners of their algorithm. One trend from the early 2000s is making a comeback like no other: Italian Charms (also known as nomination bracelets). This trend that started as a result of increased tourism in Italy has taken the world by storm.
Image courtesy of Thecuratedklub on Pinterest
If you haven’t heard of Italian charms/nomination charms, they’re a series of stainless steel bracelets that you can link to create your own personalized bracelet. To create a full bracelet, you would need about 14-18 charms. With each charm being interchangeable and incredibly durable, the possibilities are truly endless. No bracelet looks exactly the same.
I first heard about this trend on TikTok in 2024 and was pleasantly surprised to find that it had reached my humble shores in Bali, Indonesia. At the time, two brands dominated the market with styles and patterns mostly imported from manufacturers in China. As I was looking through their catalogue I can’t help but wonder: Is personalization the new fashion frontier?
This concept of personalizing items is not new. For years, high-end brands have provided engraving options for an array of products (think of Longchamp’s Le Pliage and Hermes’ engraving services). Not only does this significantly reduce the potential resale opportunities for these products but it scratches our itch to individualize items as not one buyer is the same as the next. Personalization is a platform that enables consumers to participate in what I think is a core of fashion: self-expression.
Regardless, many brands opted from this option as it adds more logistical components that smaller companies simply can’t afford in this era of fast-fashion and mass production.
Instead, personalized items are now categorized into the artisan space with limited drops and long wait-times. Yet, Italian Charms remains as an exception to the rule, with brands competing for the most innovative styles, designs and stacks. Some brands have even created other products including watches and bag charms. This was a feature not present in their original launch in the late 90s.
In my opinion, this trend not only highlights just how great the trends of the late 90s and early 2000s were but it also highlights the thirst of the public to create a personal fashion statement at an affordable price tag. As seasons change and aesthetic trends wear off, having a product that you can instantly adjust to your liking is a great investment that you can carry on even through adulthood. I know for sure that when I was growing up, holding down an aesthetic to define who I am was like choosing the“ perfect” pair of jeans: absolutely fucking impossible.
“I know for sure that when I was growing up, holding down an aesthetic to define who I am was like choosing the “perfect” pair of jeans: absolutely fucking impossible.”
In an attempt to understand this market better, my partner and I decided to launch TheCuratedKlub and create our own Italian Charm manufacturing in the comfort of our Indonesian home. What started as a passion project became a method for us to express styles and reach out to the younger generation of our country that have been long repressed in their speech, fashion and opinions. The response of the public has been an outpour of support and thirst as we became the first in the country to fully self-manufacture these products, creating album covers, Indonesian exclusive designs and collaborating with fellow small business owners to launch brand-exclusive designs.
We also wanted these styles to incorporate pandora-like aesthetics with bold, shiny and variable designs that we didn’t see much in the market.
When in store, customers often come with a blank slate. They have an idea of what they like, but are also interested in exploring more. In workshops, customers often consult for their styles and stacks. They place meaning in each charm chosen as a reflection of who they are, their values and the message they want to say to the world. This was perhaps our most shocking revelation as customers would create charm pairings that we didn’t even think of.
All in all, consumers will always be drawn to purchases that resonate with who they are. In the era of easy access, I hope that other fashion items will follow-suit in the path weaved by Italian charms and others alike: to allow fashion to be accessible, personalized and as a platform for self-expression as well as discovery.
