When Taylor Swift sang “I want to wear his initials around my neck..”, these celebrities took it to heart…
Selena Gomez rang in her 32nd birthday earlier this week and shared photos from the beach celebrations on her Instagram. While her butter-yellow romper was perfect for the breezy beach-themed party, it was her bling of choice that caught the fans’ attention.
In the photos, the singer-actress can be seen wearing a necklace with a diamond-studded ‘b’ on it.
The Diamond Gothic Old English Initial charm from the fine jewellery brand Baby Gold was a tribute to her boyfriend Benny Blanco, who was over the moon with her choice of jewellery. The producer commented on the picture, “I got the hottest chick in the game wearing my chain…”
Selena and Benny confirmed their relationship back in December 2023 and made their red carpet debut in January 2024 at the Emmys. Since then, the couple hasn’t shied away from PDA, both on and off social media, this is why the necklace doesn’t come as a surprise.
Amongst the many ‘cores’ that appeared on the scene (we’re still Team Barbiecore), the trend of celebrities wearing their significant other’s initials on their jewellery crept in seemingly unnoticed.
Giving and receiving jewellery has always been synonymous with romance. Still, over the years it has taken the shape of people opting to flaunt their partner’s initials on necklaces and rings.
While it’s not a new trend, we can trace our fascination with ‘boyfriend necklaces’ back to 2007, when we saw Troy Bolton present Gabriella with a ‘T’ necklace in High School Musical 2.
Over the years, we saw many (oft ill-fated) couples rock their partner’s initials on their jewellery, with Hailey Bieber bringing back the trend with a vengeance.
The beauty mogul can often be seen rocking custom-made jewellery with her now-husband Justin Bieber’s initials.
Kourtney Kardashian joined the bandwagon when her stylist gifted her a ‘TB’ necklace (for Travis Barker). Forever Ken Ryan Gosling, too, decided to proudly wear his wife Eva Mendes’ initials on a necklace at one of the Barbie premieres.
In 2016, Meghan Markle, reportedly, got in trouble with the royals when she wore a necklace with ‘H’ and ‘M’ charms on it.
Closer to home, Janhvi Kapoor made a statement when she stepped out for the screening of Maidaan in April.
The actress paired her mother’s vintage Emporio Armani pantsuit with a necklace that spelt out ‘Shiku’, the pet name for her rumoured boyfriend Shikhar Paharia.
What do you think of the ‘boyfriend necklace’ trend?
Salva Mubarak is the Digital Editor of Manifest. In her free time, she likes to read murder mysteries, discover new KitKat flavours, and rank movie makeovers (not necessarily in that order). View Profile