A hot accessory at intersection of faith and culture

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 jewellery each time she takes the Metro, and they are now a regular presence on Capitol Hill, where she’s held multiple internships.

As a millennia-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 jewellers 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.

Bondi, 59, wrote in a statement that her necklaces are an expression of her “strong Christian” upbringing: “My faith is very important to me,” she said. “It is what gets me through each day.”

Across TikTok, young Christian women have been sharing the meaning behind their cross necklaces, saying they help cultivate a sense of belonging and connection with others.

The cross, a symbol most associated with the crucifixion of Christ, first emerged during the Roman Empire when it was an instrument of mass torture, said Robert Covolo, a theologian and associate pastor at Christ Church Sierra Madre near Los Angeles. By the fourth century, Covolo said Christians had begun to use the cross as an emblem of their religion. Referencing its original use, Covolo said the cross was a “symbol of the Roman Empire asserting its power with impunity.”

Over centuries, the cross evolved as a signpost of the moral compass one shares with fellow Christians and a kind of talisman with deeply personal significance. “They have an official meaning, but people bring their own meaning, which is where symbols really get their power,” said Covolo, 58, who in 2020 published a book about the link between Christianity and fashion.

Many still wear theirs as a straightforward declaration of their faith and as an expression of communion with other believers. About 62% of US adults identify as Christian, according to a Pew Research Centre study released in February. The group’s annual religious landscape study also found that the country’s Christian population has stabilised after decades of decline.

“It’s the easiest way to know that I have shared beliefs with people,” said Mills, 20, who received her cross necklace as a gift to celebrate her rebaptism last year.

Cross necklaces have, in a way, become the jewellery of choice most associated with President Trump’s second administration.

Lucy Collins, an assistant professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, said while cross necklaces are often worn apolitically, their appearance in the political sphere in the US has introduced implications of partisan politics. “The cross itself is not a complicated symbol; it represents Christianity,” Collins said. But in contrast to the simplicity of the cross, she added, “at this moment, Christianity is much more complicated.”

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