Phone Charms Are The Unsung Heroes Of The Y2K Revival

When we think of Y2k fashion, the last thing that comes to mind is functionality. Do tiny sunglasses protect our eyes from the sun? Not really. Do low-rise jeans and whale tails serve any other purpose than showing off some skin? Absolutely not. And yet, for all their inconvenience, phone charms, those pesky things that surely caused an injury or two back in their heyday, are indisputably back. 

But according to the likes of Dua Lipa, Gigi Hadid and Devon Lee Carlson, the dangly phone attachments that may have gone hand in hand with your Nokia brick phone, have gotten a 2021 rewrite, courtesy of brands like London-based String Ting and Aussie label Trove. Instead of little Playboy bunnies and Hello Kitty icons, the modern phone charm doesn’t totally skimp on practicality. Instead, they act as a wristlet making your phone 100x easier to keep hold of, and, with their bold colours and shapes, you’ll easily spot it in your oversized tote amongst all the hand sanitiser and backup face masks. 

Ok, we know what you're thinking: when will Gen Z let the 2000s go?? And in the case of visible G-strings and cut-out everything, we hear you. But the thing is, while these tech accessories are synonymous with that bygone era filled with sartorial moments most of us would like to forget, phone charms were always bound to come back.

In a time when our phones are not extensions of our lives but also our connection to the outside world during lockdowns, it's no wonder we're looking to dress them up in mood-boosting colours and fun shapes like smiley faces and evil eyes. Just like with other fashion and beauty trends that don't serve a practical function when we're spending most of our time indoors, there is some merit in finding new (or old) ways to seek joy in the little things.

Just ask those of us who fell deep into the 'craftcore' boom of 2020 that saw a number of nostalgic accessories get their time in the sun again. From crochet hats to tie-dye sweatsuits and beaded necklaces, we looked to old school crafts that were both easy to DIY and kept us preoccupied. And just as we looked around and decided to upheave our interior spaces, so too did we decide to revamp our tech with these simple, yet effective thingamajigs.

But don't just take the word of us and countless style icons, dive into those YouTube tutorials and indulge in some productive crafting to have a crack at the trend yourself.

Making these wristlet phone charms is fairly straightforward and even the most uncoordinated of people will manage to fashion something worth showing off, but if you're looking to support some businesses doing the work for you, shop our picks below.