What's a bracelet?

A bracelet designates a piece of jewelry worn around the wrist.

They can be made of different materials: plastic, metal, fabric, leather, wood, or stones etc.

It can also be just a fine strap with charms or a larger one with gemstones for instance.

BandZ

The story of those bracelets with funny shapes takes us back 11 years ago, in 2000, in Japan.

In the beginning Japanese researchers were looking for a solution for elastics (those which are used to maintain documents) which break too easily.

In 2002 they found the solution and created the first elastic in silicone, which are unbreakable and whose shape reverts when it is distorted.

The year after, they created these same elastics with funny shapes as animals but the product sold badly.

It was only 2 years ago that the Americans rediscovered this product and diverted its utilization: do you ever wear elastic around your wrist at work?

Millions of American have succumbed to those colored and funny elastics and wear them as bracelets.

As you can see on the photograph, worn around the wrist they are completely distorted and look like nothing but a big mass of colors, a little rainbow on the arm.

But when you remove them, they revert to their initial shape.

They are extremely resistant which makes them impossible to deform.

Brands and shapes have increased and they appeared in France only this year thanks to the brand BandZila.

What is surprising is that not only children wear them but also stars, such as, Sarah Jessica Parker (actress of Sex & the City), Shakira and the singer Katy Perry for instance. 

History

The story of the first bracelet takes us back 5000 years BCE in ancient Egypt.

At this time it was a religious and spiritual object in bone, wood or stone. 

The most known bracelet had a scarab form, which symbolized ancient Egypt. It represented birth and regeneration; we can find it worn as a jewel under mummies’ linen bandages.

In Bulgaria there is a tradition called Martenitsa at the beginning of the month of March. During this time people wear white and red bracelets to please Baba Marta, a fictional grandmother who decides on the arrival of spring.

They do that to make spring come sooner.

Martenitsa bracelets

In Greece there is another tradition which seems similar. On the first day of March, the Greeks wear white and red bracelets until the end of summer. This tradition is called Martis and is believed to permit Greeks to protect their skin from the burning sun of Greece.

In some parts of India, the number and type of bracelets worn by women indicate their marital status (for instance red and white mean that the woman is married).

Bracelet in silicone

Bracelets in silicone are a new type of product and advertising. They are a new type of communication that is less expensive and more easily diffused.

It was Lance Armstrong who launched the first bracelet in silicone: it was red and showed that he participated in the fight against cancer.

The silicone bracelet is a sort of a symbol of affiliation to a group as each color has a specific significance:

-         red: medical or humanitarian cause

-         green: ecological cause

-         white: peace in the world

-         black: blind people

-         and so on.

These bracelets are an original way of attracting the attention to a cause, as well as to a product or service: many companies use them in their own promotions, such as BMW, Renault, Mini and the Army.

But their original purpose has been distorted in playgrounds. 

There, each bracelet has its own signification too but less nice:

-         yellow = a kiss

-         green = a hickey

-         black = a sex act

If someone unfastens a bracelet on someone else’s arm, the one who was wearing it must do one of these things.

These bracelets are called “friendship bracelets” have been transformed to “sex bracelets”.  

They were banned in Brazil last year following the rape of a teenage girl and the death of two others.

The problem is not whether one wears a silicone bracelet or not, it is the meaning that we give them that is important, and furthermore the meaning they have for others.

Etymology

The word bracelet originally designated a little arm.

This meaning disappeared in the IV century and was replaced by the word “brachialis” which designated jewelry worn on the arm. 

In 1387, it meant a piece of shield covering the arm. 

The word designating a jewel entered informal language in the XVIII century.

Advices

Small wrists should wear impressive bracelets to highlight them whereas larger wrists must choose fine bracelets to refine the forearm.

The trend is the superposition of bracelets: the most fashionable bracelets are those with charms or that are very colorful.

Bracelets are great with all necklaces, short or long.

Cuff bracelets are better on just one arm, so not both at the same time. 

You can wear cuff bracelets on each arm if they are the same and you can wear them on long tight sleeves to be more original.

Great example of superposition

Brazilian bracelet

Brazilian bracelets were in fact never worn in Brazil. These bracelets which are supposed to bring luck originated in Central America and South America (Guatemala, Chili, Peru, Brazil…).

They are handmade and easy to make. A large variety of bracelets is possible because they are made by knotting colored threads.

The myth is that the person who receives one of those bracelets has to make a wish before knotting it around her wrist, and when the bracelet breaks her wish will be realized.