For the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, Chappell Roan alluded to power via her style of dress. On the red carpet, she channeled a medieval version of royalty in a sheer Y/Project gown. Her accessories were aggressive: talon-like nails and a life-size sword. The final touch? An ornate silver cross perched regally on her chest. “The necklace, aside from sitting more perfectly than the other 100 I had on hand, adds to the historical realism of the outfit,” Roan’s stylist, Genesis Webb, tells ELLE.com. “It completed the world that we were trying to build.”
That same night, Camila Cabello went gothic in lieu of historic with an inky lace Tony Ward dress. She layered crosses by Loree Rodkin around her neck, later sharing via Instagram that she “had a funeral for all the bs.” Roan and Cabello are not the only pop stars to sport this emblem of religious iconography lately. Dua Lipa walked the New York streets this summer bedecked with a gold crucifix from Veneda Carter—paired with Celine jeans and an Alaïa fishnet bag. Billie Eilish often peppers them into her layered accessories, whether it’s in the form of a silver dog tag or a charm bracelet. In its most oversized, embellished form, the motif is (literally) bigger than ever.
According to Etsy’s trend expert, Dayna Isom Johnson, subsequent interest in cross necklaces has spiked on the platform in the last few months. Pearl styles are leading the way, with searches more than doubling in the last three months (compared to the same time the previous year). Other popular “cross necklace” search terms include “gold,” “silver,” and “black,” as well as “wood/wooden”—and on a broader scale, “goth necklaces.” Isom Johnson attributes their popularity to the resurgence of Y2K fashion, heralded by the aforementioned stars.
Rihanna has been spotted in oversized cross necklaces.
Influencers, including Camille Charrière and Blanca Miró, have also helped popularize the look. One, Lilly Sisto, opts for colorful cross charms layered with others from her collection. She turned to the secondary market to source something unique (she believes “the best ones are vintage”). “I found this amazing cross in Patmos, Greece, this summer and then took it across the street to this really cool rope store,” where she had the proprietors string the charm from yellow rope, she says. “I wore it all summer.”
The vintage market is rife with options, thanks to the cross’s popularity in the ’80s, ’90s, and early aughts fashion scene. Madonna set a precedent for the stage with her “Like a Prayer” music video in 1989, in which she wears a black bustier and ornate silver cross. Catholic iconography exists at the root of Dolce & Gabbana, launched in 1985, giving way to many cross sightings in collections leading up to today. Designers from Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel to Vivienne Westwood to Christian Lacroix continued to champion the motif in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and they reached critical mass thanks to brands like Chrome Hearts in the early aughts. (The Kardashians have publicly endorsed Chrome Hearts via their ensembles on numerous occasions in recent years.)
On the primary market, designers have revamped these traditional silhouettes through their own lens. Popular contemporary jewelry brands like Alighieri, Ben-Amun, and Sophie Bille Brahe have all folded the motif into their product offerings. Tessa Tran, founder of jewelry and ready-to-wear brand Chan Luu, “saved every last dime in high school for a Chrome Hearts F*** Y** cross-embellished hoodie.” Though her label is not inherently Y2K-inspired, Tran has reimagined the era’s crosses for a 2024 consumer. Her baroque pearl crosses, replete with an inset diamond, toe the line between gaudy and understated with every—“believe it or not”—naturally occurring structure. “The shape of each pearl is completely unique, lacking the hard regimented lines of a more traditional cross necklace,” Tran says. “I think it makes it a little bit easier to wear, especially if you are wearing it as a fashion piece.”
Vittoria Ceretti wearing cross earrings in Dolce & Gabbana’s Madonna-inspired spring 2025 show.
In addition to the cross, she has toyed with the symbolism of Buddha, evil eyes, and fish in past collections. “The cross is obviously such a strong Christian symbol, but its meaning has been absorbed into pop culture,” Tran reflects. They “can also be worn as decorative symbols,” she notes, choosing to leave interpretation up to the wearer.
Webb, Roan’s stylist, who grew up in Oklahoma, firmly in the Bible Belt, posits, “The iconography is classically beautiful, and it’s also rooted in a sense of trust to be protected by something you believe in.” The stylist has a cross tattooed on her throat, though she’s admittedly not religious. “It’s a ‘what if?’ Or a ‘just in case’ thing.”
Sisto, the influencer, identifies as Christian, but doesn’t think that’s a precursor to wearing a cross in 2024. “Of course, it’s a part of my religion, but I also think they are so beyond chic to wear,” she explains. “It can be a fashion statement; you don’t need to be religious to wear one.”
Madonna at the premiere of Desperately Seeking Susan in 1985.
Elizabeth Doyle, board member of the American Society of Jewelry Historians and co-founder of Doyle & Doyle, a jewelry boutique known for vintage and antique jewelry, massages this blurry symbolism further. “The cross has always been a symbol of power even when used in a religious connotation,” she says, citing the British royal family, heads of church and state, as evidence. She goes on to address the famous diamond and amethyst-encrusted cross the late Princess Diana wore numerous times, including to the 1987 Birthright charity gala. “It was this big moment where she came into her own independence,” Doyle outlines. “Wearing a huge cross is a symbol of empowerment.” (Kim Kardashian purchased the pendant via Sotheby’s for nearly $200,000—double its pre-auction estimate—in 2023.) “Christianity has also never been separated from consumerism,” she notes.
The other night, I spotted a cross in an early episode of Friends on the neck of evidently spiritual Phoebe Buffay. I looked up from my computer while writing this the next day and glimpsed another on a patron of my neighborhood Brooklyn coffee shop. Wondering about the deeper meaning behind each, I remembered, as is often the case in the fickle world of fashion, it’s not always that deep. The cross addition to Roan’s outfit for the Hinterland Music Festival? “A formality,” Webb states. “I couldn’t have her dress like a nun without the most gaudy wooden cross necklace I could find.”