Saving Your Soul One Bead At A Time
Saving Your Soul, One Bead at a Time
Holy jewelry catches on like a new mantra
9.19 a.m. ET (1319 GMT) August 26, 1999
By Tracey Middlekauff |
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NEW YORK — Back in the early ’80s, Madonna revealed that one could exhibit both piety and fashion sense simply by donning a rosary or a crucifix.
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But that’s soo yesterday.
These days, fashion has turned to the East for inspiration, borrowing heavily (or downright stealing) from Buddhist and Hindu faiths.
On the streets of Manhattan, street vendors sell Buddhist prayer beads as bracelets. Styles range from simple wooden beads to stones in a variety of shades, like brightly colored azure or pink. And at $3-$8 a pop, people are snatching them up by the handful. Retail chains have begun to carry them as well: at Steve Madden a prayer bracelet can be had for $12.
You can bet designers are cashing in on the craze. Zoe Metro has designed a line of prayer bracelets for Stella Pace made from semi-precious stones like mother-of-pearl, rose quartz, and hematite; each stone supposedly possesses a property that will benefit the wearer. Rose quartz is for love, hematite will bring happiness, mother of pearl bestows wealth, and green stones bring success.
Breukelyn, a design product store in Brooklyn, N.Y., carries the Stella Pace line, priced at about $25 a bracelet. John Snyder, the store’s owner, says the bracelets have taken off all over the country since early spring. “It’s crazy, these bracelets are so popular now,” Snyder says. “People really believe in them — they want to know what (the bracelet) will do for them, not just the color.”
But do authentic Buddhist prayer beads purport to bring the wearer success, wealth and love?
Not exactly.
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There are different types of genuine prayer beads— longer strands contain 108 beads, shorter ones have 18, or as little as 9. The 108- and 18-strand beads are used for chanting and praying “na mo a mi to fo,” which roughly translates to “very bright” or “Bring brightness to this world.” Chanting this phrase 108 times constitutes a complete round of prayer.
Sue Yeung, a devout Buddhist, notes that “a lot of Americans are wearing beads as fashion statements. Some are offensive, some aren’t, it depends on the person. But if you just buy (prayer beads) for the hell of it, you might hurt someone’s feelings.”
Two young New York designers, Michele Quan and Robin Renzi of Me & Ro, have created a line of jewelry that, rather than simply copy religious articles, takes inspiration from spiritual items and ideas, resulting in fresh and interesting designs.
One of Me & Ro’s variations on the prayer bracelet features an alternating pattern of silver beads and knotted red cord. The beads are inscribed with the Chinese characters for bone and spirit, which translates to body and soul. This piece retails for $440.
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Another striking piece designed by Quan and Renzi (retailing for $310) is inspired by Hinduism. Silver beads alternate with red stones, reminiscent of rosary beads. The silver beads are inscribed with na ma si va ya, a mantra which means “Adoration to Shiva, the supreme being who resides in us all.”
Other items in the Me & Ro line include flat silver bracelets inscribed with old Indian scriptures, peace disc necklaces, and bone and spirit silver earrings. Michele Quan believes the jewelry “becomes a piece of inspiration.”
As beautiful as Quan and Renzi’s pieces are, practicing Buddhists probably aren’t going to shell out, say, $595 for a silver prayer-bead inspired bracelet.
“Anyone into Buddhism isn’t going to spend $600 for prayer beads,” Sue Yeung said. “They’ll buy it in the temple.”
Breukelyn is located in Brooklyn, NY and can be reached at (718) 246-0024
