The History of the Brooch

The brooch nowadays is a very decorative piece of jewlery for many, it ranges from different shapes and sizes with different designs on them such as the Highland Coo Brooch or the Scottie Dog Brooch, used to help stylize outfits or add some colour. Was it always this way though?

The brooches' first development was the Bronze Age, roughly 2100 B.C. The main use for it being something which could help hold together cloaks or other clothes like that. More like a safety pin rather than anything, however it was mainly designed with a enviromental look to it but that wasn't it's main intent. 

In the 5th century, it developed more colour and flare to it. Like designs of birds or different colours to help it stand out some more. The design was still a ring like shape most of the time, and only some used it. It wasn't really until the Victorian era though in which it really gained popularity.

When Queen Victoria's husband died, came the mourning period in which all the royals would mourn (for up to a year). This is when the 'mourning brooch' was introduced (and also by this point brooches had been introduced to the masses), a design which respected and symbolised the loss and devastation of the death. Many started to see these brooches being worn and wanted to mourn alongside them, creating their own designs which consisted sometimes of lockets of hair, or pictures of people and even coffins to show this idea of death or loss.

Nowadays though, as mentioned above the Brooch is a way to show a bit of personality or add some glamour to your outfit. Much different from what it once was. We even have our own category dedicated to brooches on this website which you can browse and pick from a large amount of different kinds.