1990s chokers return as seasonal stars

In the 1990s, the choker was the symbol of an entire generation. It could be worn with a sweatshirt or an evening dress, and was made of plastic, velvet or taffeta, all the better if decorated with a gem, a cameo or Swarowski crystals. Hordes of teenage girls were mad about them, and wearing one made them feel like stars of cult TV series, like Beverly Hills, 90210, or like actresses who often wore them in films.

Nowadays, thanks to its return on the catwalks, the black fabric band is back around the necks of models and celebrities like Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Rihanna, who are never without their metal or black velvet chokers. Not to mention the sophisticated version with a pearl-decorated pin featured on the catwalks by Dries Van Noten for the next winter season, or Moschino's street-style version with metal lettering, which Jeremy Scott matched with a jeans skirt and fishnets.

For Spring-Summer 2016, Etro has reinterpreted chokers in navy and mauve hues, combining them with folk pendants and embroidery, while others are using it as a hairpin to rein in billowing manes, like Christopher Kane and Marc Jacobs in their headscarf versions. In addition to being versatile (it combines with anything, it can be worn singly or as a twin set, and has no age limit), a choker enhances the neck and is a high seduction-value accessory.

Contemporary chokers are a far cry from the red kerchiefs French women tied around their necks in memory of the guillotine after the Revolution, or from 1970s punk London's studded ones. Yet they have returned, carving a place in the heart of fashion victims, almost as a reminder that, in fashion, everything comes back and nothing is discarded. Even Sasha Obama wore one at the historic Cuba meeting between Barack Obama and Raul Castro. You can safely say that in the next summer season the choker will not risk going unnoticed.