I ran across this great article on Martha Stewart's and thought it was worthy of sharing.

Suede choker & tassel necklaces featured are available in our Etsy store: Womans Renaissance

The tassel has almost always been a symbol of power and prestige. The word for "tassel" originated from "tassau" -- which, translated from Latin, refers to a clasp at the neck of a garment. In the beginning, tassels served as a weaving knot in garments to prevent unraveling. Then, over the course of time, they took on a more powerful significance: They were worn by ancient priests and military officers as talismans that warded off evil spirits. Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun was unearthed from his tomb wearing them around his neck.

In 330 AD, Roman emperor Constantine decreed that all Christians should be clothed, leading to a high demand for tassel trimmings. Flash-forward to 540 AD: Emperor Justinian and two Persian monks smuggled in silkworms from China -- just to make the tassels fancied by royalty and aristocrats in the Western world.

We can thank the French for turning the tassel into a trendsetter. Around the 16th century, the Guild of the Passementiers established the art of "passementerie." It took seven years of apprenticeship to be trained in this craft, and a single tassel would cost the equivalent of thousands of dollars to commission, not to mention weeks of labor and valuable materials. (Can you imagine how long it might take to weave the trimmings for an entire throne?!

Scholars from Oxford and Cambridge affixed them to their graduation caps to mark their intellectual superiority. The church tied them to robes to denote rank among clergy members. Napoleon decked out his imperial throne with them. King Louis XIV even commissioned them to decorate all royal costumes and residences. Shortly after that, the rest of the Western world followed suit by adding them to, well, everything and anything. They inspire us to feel smart, strong, even statuesque.

By Alexandra Churchill