WOULD YOU WEAR A CAMEA TODAY? FORGOTTEN JEWELRY APPRECIATED BY THE DARK SUBCULTURE

Would you wear a brooch or medallion with a cameo today? Probably not. A hundred years ago, you wouldn't have left the house without one, but today you wouldn't even wear one at home. Cameos are a thing of the past. However, someone did appreciate them.

What is a cameo? A cameo is a precious or semi-precious stone, shaped like a round or oval plate, decorated with a convex relief. The cameo is an idea that originated in ancient times. The Babylonians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians already made them, but this art form flourished most in Greece. That is why Greek cameos were the inspiration in later centuries, and subsequent ones were created in this style.

During the Renaissance, everything ancient came back into fashion, including cameos. They were worn as medallions and also served as decorative elements on rings, tiaras, necklaces, and bracelets. Cameos were also very popular during the Baroque period, but they were even more appreciated during the Enlightenment, especially as an element of women's attire. In the second half of the 19th century, a brooch with a cameo pinned high on the neck became a must-have accessory for a sophisticated lady. And isn't this how we most often associate cameos? Pinned high on the neck of an elegant lady's dress? Cameos enjoyed great popularity and then suddenly disappeared.

Before this post appeared, we posted on Facebook. We posted a photo of four cameos that we have in our offer, along with a question asking if you think they will come back into fashion. Your opinions were divided, but one statement appeared regularly: "My grandmother had a similar one." Indeed, who wears cameos today? Our grandmothers wore them, but our mothers abandoned the idea, and we hardly ever wear them. And yet, there is a style, or rather a stylistic trend, that has appreciated cameos: steampunk and the associated neo-Victorianism. Steampunk refers stylistically to the Victorian era, when dresses with crinolines were adorned with cameos pinned high under the neck. Cameos have also been appreciated by the gothic subculture, which also refers to the costumes of the 19th-century aristocracy. Steampunk and gothic cameos are often created in a characteristic Greek style, but they also often deviate from it completely, using elements of machines or watches and darker motifs (skulls, skeletons, etc.).

Finally, we would like to add that although today we associate cameos mainly with jewelry, especially medallions or brooches, over the last few thousand years large cameos have also been created to decorate homes, as decorative elements in reliquaries, decorative boxes, or caskets. Cameos were also used to decorate fans and other accessories.