New diamonds please — the invention of the tennis bracelet
Summer is the season for tennis with its green lawns and strawberries and cream. And if rain happens to pause your Wimbledon viewing, why not take a moment to consider your sporting jewellery?
Tennis bracelets are a classic option — slim lines of gemstones to wear on tanned tennis-playing arms. According to a 1923 advert for 'Bracelets for bare arms' — 'when fashion dictates the short sleeve, it is a good opportunity to display a dainty bracelet'.
Line or eternity bracelets became inseparable from tennis in 1978 when Chris Evert's diamond bracelet fell off during a match, halting play while it was retrieved. When she was asked what had caused the delay, she explained, 'It was my tennis bracelet', giving the jewel its new name.
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The classic line bracelet, now marketable as a tennis bracelet, took off in style. In 2022 Evert collaborated on a modern line of tennis bracelets with the jeweller Monica Rich Kosann. One design joined different diamond cuts to represent the white lines of the court with a rectangular green emerald or tsavorite for the grass. A diamond drop adds a glamorous representation of the player's sweat (£800 to £20,000, monicarichkosann.com).
Cartier's current version of the tennis bracelet can be found in its Essential Lines range, including a pretty example with alternating diamonds and sapphires (from £26,000, cartier.com).
Boodles' tennis bracelet features a diamond and gold ball attached to a line of diamonds (£13,000, boodles.com) while Tiffany's Victoria collection has a little floral detail, forming the clasp (£20,500) or encircling the wrist (£56,500, tiffany.co.uk).
Chris Evert wasn't the first to connect tennis and jewellery. In July 1877, The Times noted that lawn tennis was 'the most recent pastime which has lately been adopted as an outdoor amusement'. Tennis became the sport of choice for fun-seeking young Victorians and 1920s flappers. Not only did it offer the pleasures of exercise and competition, it was also a way for young people to socialise in mixed-sex groups, with the appropriate clothes and jewels. Many a love affair or marriage started on the tennis court.
Tennis players and fans could buy racket-shaped brooches decorated with jewelled balls or charm bracelets with tennis-themed accessories to show off their hobby. In 1893, the Fleetwood Chronicle's list of Christmas jewellery for men stated that 'the latest cufflinks have each side of a totally different design; for instance, a jockey cap is combined with a whip, a horse shoe to a hunting crop, a tennis racquet to a ball, all highly appropriate if presented to lovers of the various sports thereof'. Fans of vintage jewellery could look out for Tiffany's green and white enamel cufflinks with racket detail or tennis rackets set with diamond balls, originally retailed by Hennells of Bond Street.
Sport has been an inspiration to fashion designers from the early 20th century. Coco Chanel's beach wear and comfortable sports inspired clothes turned away from the corsets and laces of the prewar years and caused a sensation. The New York Herald, June 4, 1916, claimed they were 'so smart that the women must have them at all costs'. Chanel continued to explore sporting fashions in their 2024 Haute Joaillerie Sport collection with clean graphic lines united to fabulous coloured gemstones. Aluminium tube chains become necklaces and snap hooks turn into sporty brooches.
Yachting is also a summer pleasure, both a sport and a social occasion, particularly at competitions such as the Cowes races. Yacht owners and visiting sailors in the early 20th century liked to wear little pins and brooches in the shape of the triangular burgee flag. Colour could be added through enamel or gemstones. Nautical styles appealed to the British royal family, especially Edward VII, Queen Victoria's society-loving oldest son. Jewellers like Cartier and Fabergé created fantastic nautical jewels, like a lifebelt-shaped brooch enamelled with the name of the Russian Imperial yacht and an iconic egg with a model of the Standart Yacht.
Nautical jewellery was also available for less exalted wearers. The Daily Mirror told its readers in August 1912 that 'few people living on board a yacht go away without purchasing some piece of yachting jewellery. […] Bangles adorned with little jewels and enamelled port and starboard lamps are one of this year's novelties, and jewelled burgees set in circles of diamonds are also to be seen'. Benzie of Cowes has supplied these yachting novelties since 1862 and continues to do so.
In the 1960s and 70s, Cartier took inspiration from naval life with its gold anchor-shaped brooches and chains shaped like the links of an anchor chain. A 1960s Bulgari necklace used a fully functional carabiner to connect golden links of ship's chain.
Messages at sea, before the invention of direct ship to ship communication, were transmitted through a system of flags. This nautical language was deployed to send jewelled messages of affection or to spell out the initials or name of the wearer. But, caution was required, according to a newspaper of 1895, which warned its readers that the flag brooch or bracelet might convey an unexpected message, noting that — 'one sees a saucy little brooch with three flags, which to the yachting man plainly says 'come alongside'.' Perhaps not quite the intention of the wearer.
Golf offered the same opportunities for socialising and stylish dressing as tennis and also inspired jewelled accessories. Golf-themed jewellery was particularly popular around the end of the 19th century, with tie pins and brooches in the shape of niblicks, drivers, golf bags and balls, sometimes enamelled with the apt motto 'Far and Sure'. Today Aspinal of London has a range of sterling silver sport-themed cufflinks, including these featuring a little golf bag (£220, aspinaloflondon.com).
Sport offers healthy exercise, a feeling of independence, freedom to socialise and even the opportunity for romance, but through history, it has also inspired jewellery firms to create the perfect themed objects for their customers.
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