A little while ago, I found myself completely taken by a niche trend: nail rings that look almost like real fingertips, wrapping the hand in a kind of delicate armour. There was something thrilling about those precious ornaments celebrating the shape of the body, so I began to wonder if this idea went any further. It turns out there is an entire world to explore: a fascinating realm of anatomical jewelry, where designers play with lips, ears, lungs and other forms in ways that feel artistic, but also terrifyingly human.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room — Elsa Schiaparelli. She was one of the earliest designers to play with human anatomy in fashion, weaving surreal body motifs into her work as far back as the 1930s. And while high fashion was taking the surreal direction, artists like Gerd Rothmann were approaching the body from a different angle, casting noses, fingerprints and skin textures directly into metal to explore intimacy and memory.

Fast-forward to today, and Daniel Roseberry has carried that spirit into a new era with the famous gold lungs necklace he sent down the Cannes red carpet, and other anatomy-inspired creations that blur the line between jewelry, human body and art.

And while Schiaparelli still leans more towards surrealism, Belgium-based into into hits you with full hyperrealism. In the collections created by artist and designer Into Niilo, you will find rings that resemble teeth with braces and necklaces with actual vintage ocular prostheses.

The materials may look bold, even a little shocking at first, but the idea behind the Precious Parts collection is disarmingly gentle. It is about self-love and physical acceptance that begins with the smallest details — the curve of your nail plate or the shape of a birthmark, the features we tend to overlook.

With a pinch of dark humour, into into explores what it means to be human and embraces the vulnerability, fragility and imperfection that come with it.

One of the nicest aspects of anatomical jewelry is how often it is made to measure — literally shaped around the curves, textures and tiny details of your own body, turning adornment into something deeply personal.

A beautiful example of this approach is Incarnem, the French brand founded by Marine Billet, an architect-turned-jewelry designer whose work includes some of Schiaparelli’s most recognisable pieces (including the now-iconic lungs necklace).

Incarnem specialises in custom-made rings, brooches and body pieces created from casts of your own finger, ear or any other feature you wish to immortalise. When you place an order, you receive a silicone casting kit and a simple tutorial to make the mould at home — or you can book an appointment in Paris to do it together. The result is jewelry that fits like a second skin, because in a sense, it is one.

The name comes from in carne — in the flesh — and reflects Billet’s fascination with transforming the everyday. Her practice revolves around capturing fleeting impressions and elevating the banal, freezing moments of the body in time.

Another name worth mentioning is Fangophilia, the Tokyo-based label by Taro Hanabusa. Trained in dentistry but long drawn to body modification culture, Hanabusa shifted from crafting dental prosthetics to creating jewelry cast directly from the body itself.

His process involves making precise moulds of teeth, fingers, ears — even the curve of a jaw — and turning them into silver pieces that feel more like extensions of the wearer than accessories and taking anatomical jewelry into a more futuristic, slightly transgressive space.

Anatomical jewelry might come across as a bit weird at first, but it touches on something deeply familiar — the honest business of being human. These pieces invite a gentler, more curious look at our own bodies, which feels surprisingly refreshing in a world determined to sand away every rough edge.