Katie Holmes gives the cord necklace revival celebrity approval

Katie Holmes gave the cord necklace revival its most persuasive celebrity stamp on Thursday, May 7, in New York City, where she wore a simple leather cord with a shimmering gold pendant against a black cropped cardigan, purple ankle-length jeans, sneakers, and a croc-embossed tote. The effect was not precious or formal. It was easy, slightly undone, and exactly the kind of off-duty styling that makes a piece feel current before it feels nostalgic.

That is why the cord is landing again. In a jewelry stack, it does something polished chains cannot always do on their own: it adds matte texture, softens the shine of gold, and keeps a necklace group from reading as too severe or too expected. Paired with delicate chains or a single pendant, the leather line grounds the whole arrangement, giving the metal something to play against. Holmes’s look worked because the cord did not compete with the pendant; it framed it.

The runway had already been moving in this direction. During the Spring 2026 fashion week circuit, cord necklaces and pendant-on-cord designs appeared at Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, and Gabriela Hearst, with additional spring-summer jewelry coverage pointing to similar styling at Dries Van Noten, Celine, and Gucci. Several of the pendants had the rounded, biomorphic feel of Elsa Peretti’s Bean designs, which helped give the trend a softer, more sculptural edge than a simple throwback accessory might suggest. The message from the collections was clear: the cord necklace is back as part of a broader return to relaxed, wearable layering.

Holmes’s timing sharpened the point. Fashion writers have been reading her as a Dawson’s Creek-era style reference point, which makes the necklace feel especially resonant for a generation that remembers late-1990s and early-2000s dressing as something clean, minimal, and slightly rebellious. The trend is also getting lift from other familiar faces, including Jennifer Lawrence, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Gigi Hadid, and Bella Hadid, all of whom have been seen in pendant-heavy jewelry. As temperatures rise, the cord necklace offers exactly the right balance for the spring-to-summer wardrobe shift: a little nostalgia, a little restraint, and enough texture to make even the simplest gold pendant feel newly considered.