Marie Lichtenberg’s Fanion pendants channel Americana in heirloom style

Marie Lichtenberg turned the French word fanion, meaning pennant, into something far more intimate than a novelty charm. At Couture in Las Vegas, her new pendants read like miniature flags with message and memory built in, a luxury take on Americana that feels made for necklace stacks but strong enough to stand alone.

The Fanions collection carried words such as hope, In God we trust and amour, and Lichtenberg used ceramic for color for the first time in her brand. That matters because the effect is not the glossy loudness of a sports souvenir or the sparkle of pavé-heavy jewelry. The pieces feel weighty, talismanic and slightly antique, as if they had already lived a life before landing at the collarbone. In a season when fashion keeps circling icons, fandom and personal emblems, Lichtenberg’s version lands as the heirloom-minded one, the kind of pendant that can move a necklace stack from pretty to identity-driven.

That sensibility has roots in Lichtenberg’s own biography. Her jewelry line launched in 2019 after 12 years at French Elle, and her first design spark came from a gold chain her mother gave her for her 14th birthday. The Couture Show has described her work as shaped by French sensibilities and global influences, especially the forçat chains tied to her mother’s native Martinique and centuries-old Indian jewelry traditions. It also notes that her mother gave her a traditional chain in her teens, a gesture linked to emancipation in Creole culture, which helps explain why Lichtenberg’s pendants carry emotional weight without feeling literal or sentimental in a shallow way.

That narrative is part of why the Fanions feel like more than another branded statement pendant. Lichtenberg has built a practice around transforming culturally loaded motifs into jewelry meant to be worn, collected and eventually handed down. Her early proof came fast: in January 2019, after she posted two lock designs on Instagram, 40 pieces sold in 48 hours. The Fanions extend that same instinct, translating symbolism into objects with enough personality to anchor a chain, and enough restraint to make room for whatever comes next in the stack.