Popular 1970's Jewelry

September 10, 2007 9:18 AM

What types of jewelry was popular in the mid 1970's for teenagers and young adults? Particularly in the US and Canada. What did you buy for yourself and what was commonly given as a gift?

Anything you remember is appreciated. What sort of jewelry/watch graduation gifts did you receive? What was the 'in' jewelry to wear? Etc.

I'm specifically interested in the Linde Star stone rings, otherwise known as Destiny Stone's, if anyone remembers giving or buying one of those.

Thank you!

posted by LadyBonita to Society & Culture (25 answers total)

My mom was in her 20's during the 70's. She and her sisters had several pieces of turqoise indian jewerly set in silver. Pieces like this are pretty representative of it.
posted by pieoverdone at 9:22 AM on September 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

Star sapphire rings and opal rings and mood rings were huge on the US East Coast, as were all the moddish pop colors of plastic and lucite rings such as the ones sold at carrot box. Tooled leather belts and bracelets and ponytail holders were also super hot.
posted by iconomy at 9:25 AM on September 10, 2007

charm bracelets

handmade leather bracelets/watch bands

modular sunglasses kit - interchangeable lenses
posted by yesster at 9:40 AM on September 10, 2007

One of my much older foster sisters appears in a highs chool photograph wearing a choker necklace - I think it was a daisy on a black velvet ribbon.
posted by orange swan at 9:49 AM on September 10, 2007

LED watches, spoon rings, and add-a-bead necklaces.
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:50 AM on September 10, 2007

Upon googling -- I had one of those rings in the 1970s -- one of my great aunts gave it to me. She called it a "star saphire." So I always thought it was an old piece that she had had a long time. But maybe not. She could have been re-gifting.

While I have no idea what happened to it, I remember proudly telling everyone that it was a "star saphire," as in a reeeal jewwell.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 9:55 AM on September 10, 2007

ALL I wanted for Christmas was a puka shell necklace. It was the first present I opened and I actually felt I was done opening them at that point.

Had a mood ring too. And a pet rock on a chain. We were hip kids, yup.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:55 AM on September 10, 2007

Oh, I just remembered something else we used to wear... MACRAME CHOKERS. Ooooooh!
posted by miss lynnster at 9:57 AM on September 10, 2007

MIA bracelets
posted by caddis at 10:19 AM on September 10, 2007

Some good pictures here. I remember we got a lot of jewelry from Avon. Name bracelets also were popular.
posted by JanetLand at 10:20 AM on September 10, 2007

Black velvet chokers with a cameo or turquoise or opal.
POW bracelets.
Watches on wide leather bands.
Italian horn charms
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:58 AM on September 10, 2007

Whatever Shaun Cassidy wanted me to wear!
Definitely macrame chokers. My dad made me one with name beads circa 1976.
posted by cocoagirl at 11:01 AM on September 10, 2007

I remember silver rings (I think they were called puzzle rings) which were made out of 3 or 4 interlocking rings that linked together to form a pretty knot-like pattern. You had to intertwine them correctly to make the knot, and they were fun to fidget with during boring classes.
posted by Quietgal at 11:40 AM on September 10, 2007

I had a gold floating heart necklace (not like that but close) in the late seventies that was definitely an awesome - and even a little popular - gift when I received it.
posted by jessamyn at 12:52 PM on September 10, 2007

Those thick, braided white string "sailors" bracelets....
posted by tristeza at 3:00 PM on September 10, 2007

All the stuff in Urban Outfitters today pretty much reminds me of what we all wore in the early 70s anyway. They have pretty much nailed it. (sorry, I was going to link, but the internets are very slow today)
posted by nax at 3:41 PM on September 10, 2007

One of those gold loops that you wore on a chain around your neck, allowing you to hang charms. The name escapes me, but I had one of those and a collection of charms accumulated over birthdays and such. I remember a ski charm, my name, a lily, things like that.
posted by astruc at 4:10 PM on September 10, 2007

Since you specifically said "mid-70s", that is when Mood Rings were faddish. (They weren't around in the early 70s, and the fad had died well before the end of the decade.)

Other jewelry I remember seeing often in that period:

Necklaces: ankhs, little (coke) spoons, floating heart, Italian horns, stars, your name in cursive writing (like the ones on this page).

Some of the same things were popular in bracelets as well.

I remember seeing the Linde Star rings in catalogs, but never owned one.
posted by litlnemo at 4:40 PM on September 10, 2007

lucky tiki necklace
posted by maloon at 5:26 PM on September 10, 2007

I recall moonstone rings
posted by canoehead at 5:49 PM on September 10, 2007

Oh, also in the mid-70s, lots of red, white and blue Bicentennial stuff, like watches with a sort of pop-art patriotic theme.
posted by litlnemo at 9:13 PM on September 10, 2007

This takes me back to my favorite necklace. It was one of two millefiori trade beads, strung on a leather lace. Even looking at that picture transports me back to the 70s.
posted by la petite marie at 9:43 PM on September 10, 2007

OMG mood rings! I am so late to this thread...
Does anyone else remember these hand-made barrettes made from two thin ribbons woven into a rectangular metal barrette? I made tons of these for myself and friends back in the day...
posted by misozaki at 3:16 AM on September 11, 2007

Does anyone else remember these hand-made barrettes

In sixth grade (1979 for me) you needed to have those. I can still to this day remember both the ones I got from my friend Michelle and the ones I made myself (screwed them up, ribbons a little too short, mortified). Ellen Forney who is basically my age has a comic called "I Was Seven in 75" which talks a lot about weird things like that and is all collected in one book called Monkey Food.
posted by jessamyn at 6:41 AM on September 11, 2007

Thanks for the link, jessamyn!
posted by misozaki at 4:46 PM on September 11, 2007