The Initial Necklace Is The Personal Touch Your Jewellery Stack Needs
What is the one thing that unites Anne Boleyn, Beyoncé and Bella Hadid? An initial gold-and-pearl “B” pendant, of course. Few pieces of jewellery can claim to have crossed centuries, royal dynasties and pop-cultural eras in such the same way – yet this particular necklace continues to find its way onto the necks of the fashion set today.
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Few portraits of Anne Boleyn have survived from her lifetime. It is thought that after ordering her execution, Henry VIII had many of her portraits removed from public display and destroyed. One of the few surviving examples hangs in London’s National Portrait Gallery, where Anne is depicted wearing the now-iconic “B” pendant. The piece is thought to have been passed down to her daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, before becoming one of the most recognisable pieces of Tudor jewellery. Centuries later, Beyoncé paid homage to the historic pendant with her own pearl-and-gold interpretation, while Bella Hadid has also been spotted wearing a similar version.
And while the initial necklace trend has existed for centuries, it has enjoyed some particularly memorable fashion moments along the way. Pretty much every pop princess wore an initial-bearing necklace in the early 2000s, from Britney Spears, Kelly Rowland and Alicia Keys to Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Gwen Stefani. Typically emblazoned with diamantes and adopting a swirly serif typeface, these were decidedly more Y2K than Tudor, but you could say the sentiment was very much the same.
Then there was Celine’s 2018 viral bamboo initial necklace, worn by every celebrity and fashion editor under the sun at the time. For many, the chunky letter pendant became a lasting relic of Phoebe Philo’s Celine era, quickly establishing itself as a street-style staple of the late 2010s and spawning a wave of high-street imitations in its wake.
Nowadays, the initial pendant is more of an everyday jewellery box staple. Wear one alone for a subtle, personal detail, or layer yours with chains, pearls and charms to give a necklace stack a little more meaning. And, if you’re feeling particularly sentimental, there’s no reason why you can’t wear more than one: your own initial, alongside those of the people closest to you.
Scroll on to discover our edit of the best initial necklaces, from delicate pendants and playful charms to gold, silver and diamond-set designs.
The perfect pendant
Like a charm
Tiny Initial Gold-tone Sapphire Necklace
Personalised Initial & Droplet Birthstone Necklace
Go for gold
Say it with diamonds
