Remember your first anklet?

Less daring than a belly chain, more exotic than a bracelet, it was likely your first foray into body jewelry. Maybe it was made from multicolor embroidery thread, laced and knotted by a BFF at camp (where is she now?). Or your mom passed down a slouchier, sexier version in silver or gold after her week with girlfriends in Florida—the fancy anklet (potentially thrifted for a similar effect). Then there's the alternative anklet for the Alternative crowd: the harder-edged silver-ball dog-collar-style anklet, popular with the unpopular.

This assumes you were a devoted, long-term, anklet-as-lifestyle wearer. Some anklet memories are more time- and place-bound. A micro-trend in 1953 had girls wearing small dog collars around the ankles to signify relationship status in the dark times before Tinder. There is a strain of anklet design forever tied to sea, surf, and vacation—summering in Ibiza (or, say, Tampa) and coming back with sun-kissed cornrows, wicked tan lines, fabrications about a summer crush, and a loose, beaded anklet with crystalline blue beads.

But, for anyone whose anklet may have fallen by wayside (or into the washing machine by way of a sock), know that they are back, and they are back in full force. 2015—we think, we hope—is the year of the power anklet.

If you're asking how exactly a power anklet differs from your standard issue, look no further than the Victoria's Secret girls; Candice Swanepoel (and the rest of the winged crew) has had a recurring anklet fixation in these Eco Gypsy contraptions since December. Beaded, feathered, and full-coverage, these are next-gen anklets. But Angel Candice is also clearly a fan of lounging and dreaming with just a plain, simple-strand anklet. And, for further inspiration for tying one on below, recall the summer of 2011, when Ashley Olsen foreshadowed the anklet’s glorious return by rocking a double set all summer long—one on each ankle. Clearly the power anklet can take many forms. (If in a fit of new-year-new-you fervor you need something ASAP, you can always wrap a gold chain around your ankle a few times. Congratulations! You’ve just donned your own powerful version.)

So now the question is: How do you anklet? And how powerful does it make you feel?

—Trace Barnhill

Photographed by Tom Newton.