A Hot Accessory, at the Intersection of Faith and Culture (Cross Necklaces)

[Coventina]

When Arianna Salerno first moved to Washington, D.C., in 2022 to attend Catholic University she didn’t see many people wearing cross necklaces. But in the past year, she says she has noticed an uptick of the jewelry each time she takes the Metro, and they are now a regular presence on Capitol Hill, where she’s held multiple internships.

As a millenniums-old symbol of Christian faith, the cross would seem somewhat immune to trendiness. But cross necklaces and pendants have been in vogue before and may be again as some feel more comfortable embracing their faith and seek community with others.

On red carpets, on social media, at protests by high-ranking Democrats and in the White House, necklaces with cross pendants are appearing with renewed prevalence. Chappell Roan wore an oversize one to the MTV Video Music Awards in September, and one dangled from Sabrina Carpenter’s neck in the music video for her single “Please Please Please.” The trendy online store Ssense sells them in nearly 50 variations, and mainstream jewelers like Kendra Scott and Zales carry numerous designs.

Lately, the cross necklaces flash across cable news screens several times a week, suspended between the collarbones of Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/style/cross-necklaces-christian-faith.html?

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They are all just pale imitations of THE QUEEN:

[yardwork]

1. I was thinking of that video while I read this column!

[Scrivener7]

2. Those big honking things always look performative to me.

I always look at them and wonder, "Who are you trying to convince?"

[617Blue]

3. I prefer the giant crosses that football players paint on their faces

Touchdown Jesus

[ms liberty]

4. Would Jesus be all happy

To make his return and see all his fans wearing the instrument of his torturous death as talismans around their necks? Or would he try to get away from them as quickly as possible? " hey uhh, I've got this thing down in Cali, uhhh, I'll catch you later."
I think it's the latter.

[JHB]

5. Performative piety. Just like their performative patriotism.

Very superficial, they assume they're the only ones who have it, and they rail against people who have the real thing and don't need to make a display of it.

[struggle4progress]

7. Maybe guillotine necklaces will make a come-back

[Karadeniz]

8. A God deciding that one mans death could entitle anyone of faith to an

eternity of bliss is NOT the theology of the gospels. That theology is hidden in the parables, but no one wants to dig out those truths (which are not for the lackadaisical). A much more appropriate symbol of the truths Jesus taught would be the fish, not for its spelling out Jesus Christ son of God in Greek, but for its meaning in the theology imagery of the parables.