The world of insect jewellery: morbid or magical?

How the curious history of live insect jewellery inspired my latest novel

You’ve probably seen jewellery being sold in places like Etsy, featuring dried beetles, spiders or butterflies encased in resin or preserved in metal settings. Pretty standard, right?

Well, let me introduce you to the trend of live insect jewellery. Yep, living, breathing insects being used as fashion accessories.

This morbid trend is what inspired the latest novel in the Dr Vanessa Marwood series, Death’s Final Sting, where Vanessa finds herself drawn into the seedy, intoxicating world of illegal insect trading… and a very sinister set of deaths linked to jewellery made from live insects.

While the jewellery in the book is fictional, it’s not too far from reality. The illegal insect trade is a thriving black market, with collectors willing to pay top dollar for rare, exotic species. Sometimes for display, and other times, for dangerous fashion statements. And sometimes, live insects are being used.

Here are some insights into the gruesome facts I learnt about the use of live insects in fashion over the centuries while I was writing the novel….

Mexican maquech beetle

A famous example of live insect jewellery is the Mexican maquech beetle, a calm, gentle beetle bedazzled with gemstones and attached to a small chain or pin, which allows it to be worn as a brooch. The idea is that the beetle stays alive and moves around, creating a living piece of jewellery. It's not everyone’s cup of tea, but it has been a longstanding tradition in some cultures, particularly in Central and South America. In fact, it goes back centuries in Mayan culture, where these little beetles are seen as symbols of good luck and status.

Fast forward to today, and Maquech beetles are still used as fashion accessories in parts of Mexico. You can find them for sale, bejewelled and attached to small chains or pins, ready to be worn as a living, crawling brooch by tourists and locals alike.

Victorian insect jewellery trend

Victorians loved nature and all its oddities, so much so that they began wearing entire dead insects in their brooches and pins. And it wasn’t just for shock value; butterflies, beetles, and dragonflies were celebrated for their beauty, preserved in intricate designs that combined the delicate wings and iridescent bodies with gemstones and gold. It was an era of romanticising nature—even the parts that buzzed!

But it wasn’t just dead insects that fascinated them. In some cases, Victorians took it a step further, using live fireflies as fashion accessories. These glowing insects were placed in tiny cages or glass containers and worn as jewellery during evening parties, giving off an ethereal glow. The Victorians had a fascination with combining the natural world with elegance, even if it meant turning a living creature into a temporary decoration.

The modern-day bug trend

So, what about today? In modern fashion, the use of live insects as jewellery has made occasional and controversial comebacks. One of the more notorious examples is the roach brooch created by designer Jared Gold in 2006, which featured live Madagascar hissing cockroaches adorned with Swarovski crystals. These brooches were sold as wearable, moving jewellery pieces, drawing both fascination and criticism, particularly from animal rights activists.

While fascinating (and a bit creepy), the use of live insects in jewellery has understandably sparked a lot of debate. Animal rights advocates argue that this practice is cruel, as it forces insects to become decorative objects rather than living creatures with needs and natural behaviours.

Let’s end on a positive note, shall we? It’s not all bad thanks to a growing trend of ethical insect jewellery, where artists use sustainably sourced insects that have died naturally, such as butterflies collected after their short life cycles. This practice aims to celebrate the beauty of insects without causing harm to the environment or contributing to illegal insect trading.

Curious to see how the world of deadly insect jewellery unfolds in fiction? Dive into Death’s Final Sting where Vanessa Marwood navigates the dark underworld of illegal insect trading and murder. Grab your copy today to uncover the chilling mystery!