The fashion of the 21 century is diverse and bold. It constantly creates new things as well as revisits the trend known to humanity for centuries. Skull imagery is the prime example of the latter. Skulls have been used as means of decoration since prehistoric times. Small skulls, such as the skulls of birds, rodents, and other animals, served as excellent material for crafting jewelry. At the same time, their bones became the prototype of body piercing. If you could travel back in time, it would be possible to understand a person’s status in a primitive society by simply looking at their jewelry. Those clad in necklaces, bracelets, earrings, as well as various types of body piercing, were from the top of a social ladder. Alternatively, the quantity of jewelry and its type was the sign of bravery, skill, or deftness of a hunter or a warrior.

These were the times when people started crafting skull earrings. Millennia later, skulls are still around. You can see them on rockers of different magnitudes and caliber, movie stars, influencers, and basically everyone who wants to stand out against the crowd. Thanks to renowned fashion designers boldly experimenting with visuals in the 1980s – Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Ed Hardy, just to name a few – skulls became mainstream. Interestingly, before that, skull earrings and other pieces of skulled jewelry had remained a solely niche product. They were widespread among bikers, rockers, punks, and Goths, but people outside any subculture were puzzled about such an unconventional fashion choice. You can find a vast selection of jewelry for these subcultures at http://www.bikerringshop.com.

But what did help skull jewelry transition from subculture-only to a worldwide phenomenon? 

The Beauty of Skull Symbolism

How do skulls make you feel? Frightened? Rejected? Puzzled? Or maybe, on the contrary, the sight of a skull makes your heart melt? In fact, there is no wrong answer. The skull is a multifaceted symbol, and it causes emotions of a diametrically opposite spectrum.

If you are afraid of skulls, you have every right to be, because the skull is a representation of death. The most infamous figure that embodies death, The Grim Reaper, is basically a skeleton (i.e., it has a skull face) clad in a black rope and holding a scythe. Simultaneously, the skull is the symbol of poison and danger plastered on the bottles of high-voltage equipment. These poisonous substances and dangerous things easily convert into death if you are not cautious enough. One more textbook example of skull-means-death is the infamous Jolly Roger, the skull with crossed bones. While the image of a pirate is inexplicably romanticized, coming across one on the high seas did not bode well. For many sailors, the Jolly Roger flag was the last thing they saw in their lives.

So yeah, if you associate skulls with death, you are totally right.

Surprisingly, if the skull to you is a symbol of life, you are not wrong. Death is just a continuation of life. It is one of life’s natural phases. The cycle of death and life is eternal and perpetual, and the skull is its best-known symbol. After the physical death of a body, the only thing that’s left is the skeleton. These bones are a reminder that the person is in a better place; he or she continues its existence in a new form.

The skull can even protect against death. People of the past believed that skulls buried in fields could cast away diseases and help grow generous crops. At the same time, skulls installed in altars inside the dwellings were supposed to drive away evil spirits and death itself. Bikers, although they don’t live in caves, rely on skulls as their patrons as well. They believe that a person who has a skull symbol will never cross paths with the Grim Reaper.

But these are not the only meanings of skulls. This symbol also stands for wisdom because our head is where our wisdom is. Along with that, it represents bravery, might, decisiveness, and other traits that can describe a real man. That’s because skulls are traditionally found on military insignia, and those who hold weapons in their hands to protect others are made of sterner stuff. Finally, skulls denote brotherhood and equality. These principles are especially important in the biker community, where every member has the same rights as others, and helping those in trouble is a sacred duty of every motorcycle rider. 

Fashionable Revival

At first, people rejected skulls as fashion statements because little was known about their significance. The representation of death is their obvious function, but not that many would like to introduce death symbolism into their wardrobes. Only after we started digging deeper and eventually discovered the wealth of beautiful meanings the skull possesses, we finally learned to appreciate this contradictory symbol. And with a restored appeal, it was only a matter of time before skulls could find their way into fashion.

The liberalization of fashion in the late 20th century also contributed to the popularization of skulls. Now it is difficult to say what happened first – the use of the skull as a provocative symbol or comprehension of its meaning – but one thing is for sure, without the boldness of introducing the skull to the masses, today we wouldn’t have such a generous selection of skull earrings, necklaces, and rings.