It's hard to look anywhere but Milly Alcock's bright pink Lilly Pulitzer dress when she first appears in Netflix's Sirens. Her character, Simone, is dressing to impress Nantucket's tight-knit upper crust—and intending to ascend from socialite Michaela “Kiki” Kell's mere assistant to HBIC of the entire coastal elite residing in the fictional Port Haven. Punchy flamingo prints like the one Simone wears in episode one are a closet (and social) requirement for her aspirations that series creator Molly Smith Metzler first noticed while vacationing in Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
"Lilly Pulitzer is for real," Metzler told Variety. "They all have it on in Nantucket. It also takes a certain status to put on a dress like the one Simone has one when we meet her."
Lilly's bright prints speak to the same social rungs from Palm Beach to New England islands. No matter the vacation location, they're capsule wardrobe basics for one-percenters with a preppy streak. But Simone has another status item in her social-climber wardrobe on Sirens that's specific to Sconset—one that's soared in Google Trends searches as audiences streamed the series from its start to its shocking finale. That piece is the Nantucket basket necklace delicately hanging over her dress.
Metzler refers to Nantucket basket necklaces as another "real thing" on the island—and she's correct. They're as prominent on the island IRL as the "hey, hey!" greetings the Sirens cast gives one another on the show.
Historically, gold pendants with wicker basket charms aren't merely a status symbol in the vein of a luxury designer bag or nascent It-shoe. They're a reference to the 150 year-plus history of rattan and wooden baskets made on whaling vessels called "lightships" that sailed into the Atlantic just off Nantucket, according to the Nantucket Historical Society. These "lightship" baskets were originally woven by sailors during the day; at night, their boats functioned as floating lighthouses for passing ships.
Most lightship baskets have a lidded circular compartment with a single or double top handle, made from a combination of wood (for the base), cane (for the woven sides) and rattan (for the staves). When production eventually moved on land—and the basket's purpose transitioned from storage necessity to island keepsake—they also included illustrations on the top of the lid and the signatures of their designated weaver. Some even incorporated ivory and porcelain. Crucially for Sirens' design story, they are only sold on Nantucket, just like the pendants they would later inspire.
Nantucket basket necklaces are the Cape Cod bracelet's snobby cousin. Like last summer's viral accessory, they're available primarily at family-owned jewelers at the vacation retreat and also inherently beachy with their visual nods to the shores of Massachusetts. But these aren't only exclusive because of their limited stock. Purchasing the real deal is a pricey endeavor: Some from trusted local jewelers can cost between $1,200 and $2,500.
In other words, "It’s a status symbol. You’re not in the club if you don’t have one," Metzler told Variety. Women who really live in (or vacation on) Nantucket wear them as a point of pricey, local pride. For Kiki and Simone's power struggle to feel realistic—and for Simone's sister, Devon, to worry about her sibling's commitment to the bit—a Nantucket basket necklace is essential.
"It’s a great symbol of having arrived. You have the key, you have the necklace, but it’s a little culty. It’s a little like wearing a cross, like a religion," she said in her Variety interview. "You know something that everyone else doesn’t."
Simone spends all five episodes of Sirens hell-bent on climbing the Nantucket social ladder. It's a spoiler to reveal exactly where she lands here, but her tiny golden basket necklace says it all: Even when she's still on the outside as an assistant, she's already dressing for the socialite status she wants.
