Guide To Jewelry And Clothing For Women

Here are some basic elements of jewellery styling.

NECKLINES

Collared shirts – Chunky statement necklaces or pendant chains are optimal. Short earrings are also a good option.
V necks – Short necklaces or long necklaces work really well as long as they sit either above or below the neckline. What you don’t want is for them to sit right at the v. Long earrings are also a great alternative.
Crew neck – Short necklaces worn at the neckline or long necklaces work best here. In this case what you don’t want is the necklace to sit above the neckline. In regards to earrings, a shorter length or static type button earring or stud is best.
Off The Shoulder – Statement short necklaces are best with this cut. Long necklaces can also work if the fabric you’re wearing is smooth.
Cowl Neck – It’s best to not wear a necklace with this neckline. Stick to earrings if possible.
One Shoulder – Chokers look great with this cut. You can wear a short or long necklace if you like to play with lines, but if you want to show off the cut, then don’t. Alternatively, any type of earring is a good option.

COLOURS AND PATTERNS

Basic Colour – If you’re wearing an outfit that is basic black, white, or nude, any colourful jewellery works to add a pop of colour.
Patterns – If you’re wearing an outfit with patterns, wear solid colour jewellery or a basic metal with no sparkle. Try to focus on silhouettes and pick up a shape in the pattern of your outfit to correspond with the piece of jewellery you wear. For example, if you’re wearing polka-dots, try a pair of earrings that are rounded in some way.

Small Hands / Long Nails – If you have small hands but long nails, don’t shy away from chunky rings. Thin rings are also a good option.
Small Hands / Short Nails – If you have small hands and short nails, thin rings and dainty rings look best.
Big Hands / Long Nails – If you have big hands and long nails, sport medium size rings or large chunky rings to make a statement. The choice is yours.
Big Hands / Short Nails – If you have big hands and short nails, opt for medium sized rings. Avoid chunky rings.

Matchy-Matchy – Your earrings and necklaces must always match well. An identical match is great, but not necessary as long as the colour and style work well together. For example, if your necklace has floral rosettes, don’t wear geometric earrings. Your bracelet however is situated lower and while it looks great for it to identically match your necklace and earrings as a set, it doesn’t have to be an exact match. As long as it ties in by colour or style that’s perfectly fine. For example, if you’re wearing a gold crystal necklace and matching earrings, don’t wear a plain metal bracelet. Try to tie in something that has some gold crystal in it.
Large Wrist – If your wrist is large, you have the luxury of wearing wide bracelets and showing them off because you have enough scale. However you may find that they may make your wrist look even larger. If that bothers you, opt for thinner bracelets for a slimming effect.
Small Wrist – If your wrist is small, you may find that large thick bracelets look off balance. You can wear a wide cuff but as long as its flat as opposed to chunky, you’ll be on point. Thin bangles or wire bracelets look best.

FIND YOUR PURPOSE

Now that you have some of the basics covered, I hope you feel ready and inspired to use this time to develop the new habit of wearing jewellery! It begs the question, why do women even want to wear jewellery? Why should we even bother wearing it? In order to stick with the commitment of wearing jewellery, it’s important to find your purpose in wearing it.

In prehistoric times, once survival necessities like food and shelter were satisfied, our ancestors began to wear jewellery made of leather or reeds decorated with things like animal teeth, bones and feathers. This represents humanity’s tendency towards “higher needs”. In this sense, wearing jewellery was a form of elevation and is still today.

Today with most of our survival needs being met, for the most part, there are so many more reasons as to why we wear jewellery. For one, wearing jewellery is a form of a statement. It expresses who you are, what you feel and what you like. In this sense, it adds flavour to your life.

Wearing jewellery is also a visual indicator for some: it reveals wealth or a class you want to belong to or may belong to.

Some women wear jewellery because it symbolizes some kind of special meaning for them: a past or present love and connection to something or someone special. It can imbue a memory and in this way a feeling as if you’re looking at an old photograph. It can capture a moment in time.

Some women wear jewellery consciously or unconsciously to enhance beautification and attract attention, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Embrace it! You may even be a point of inspiration for someone else. After all the world needs more beauty.

Wearing jewellery is also a form of empowerment. It’s like wearing armour: it becomes a part of your personality and builds personal confidence.

It’s also interesting to note that the parts of the body where we typically wear jewellery is strongly sexual: necklaces may draw attention to the breasts, earrings direct the eyes to the erogenous zones of your ears, rings draw attention to the hands that can give pleasure. It’s important to note that whatever you feel your reason to wearing jewellery, you identify with it and have fun with it.

How can I not wear too much jewelry?

Don’t overwhelm your appearance with too much jewelry. Don’t wear more than one oversized piece, or you’ll appear to be playing dress-up with your mother’s jewelry. Select one statement piece and downplay the rest of your jewelry. Although it is acceptable to wear a set, be careful not to be too matchy-matchy.

Should jewelry match clothes?

Apply what you know to your jewelry as well. Just like the color of your clothes can make your skin tone look good, jewelry can compliment you as well. Cooler skin tones pair well with white, gold, and silver. Jewel tones like red, purple, and blue also compliment cooler tones.

How to Pick Jewelry to Match Any Outfit?

Think of the Occasion

Like any outfit you pick out, you’ll want to consider the occasion when you’re picking out your jewelry. There are some pieces that are too dressed down for formal events and some pieces that are far too extravagant for every day.

When matching your jewelry, the occasion will determine which pieces you pick out. If you’re dressing up for an event like a wedding, cocktail party, or date night, pieces that are elegant and formal are the go-to. Think lavish jewels in classic styles.

Everyday outfits call for jewelry that’s a little less fancy. This is where you can play with different trends and experiment with styles. A laid-back outfit with jeans and a tee can handle much more playful jewelry types.

Start With Color Scheme

One of the easiest ways to pair your jewelry with your outfit is to do so in a color scheme. Use the color wheel to find interesting pairs that might make you step out of the box. Color theory will help you create harmonious outfits with visual interest.

There are six basic techniques to create a color scheme using the color wheel. Complementary, analogous, triadic, split-complementary, tetradic, and square are the color schemes you can build your look with.

Along with the color scheme, consider hue and saturation as something you should match as well. If your outfit features muted tones, jewelry with the same saturation and hue would be a compliment rather than jewelry in vivid jewel tones.

Complement the Neckline

When it comes to necklaces, you’ll want to pay attention to the style of your neckline on tops and dresses. Ideally, these two will play off each other without one overshadowing the other.

The wrong necklace clashing with your neckline can create a dissonance that throws off the entire look. In general, it’s best to take cues from the shape of the neckline and let the jewelry follow that.

As a rule of thumb, your necklace should stop a few inches above where your neckline starts. Longer necklaces look best with necklines that aren’t complicated with a lot of details and features. The more skin you show, the more complex your necklace can be.

Define The Style

The way you define your clothing style can also be applied to your jewelry. If there’s a certain aesthetic you like to follow, that can make buying jewelry a whole lot easier. So how do you define the way you dress?

Are your clothes edgy with lots of black and leather? Or do you dress more sophisticatedly with simple lines and clean, polished pieces? Or maybe you like a laid-back style with boho influences, wearing lots of jeans and flowing tops.

If you can define the way you dress into descriptive words, it’ll make finding jewelry that matches much easier. Someone with an edgier look may opt for layered necklaces, lots of metal, and bold earrings. While a sophisticated look may use classic pieces.

And if you’re someone who likes to dabble in a ton of different styles, categorizing your jewelry can still help. You’ll have go-to pieces you know work for a certain aesthetic. But when you want to a little wild and mix styles, you’ll still know what pieces to grab.

Keep Skin Tone In Mind

Your skin tone may not be a part of your outfit, but it still plays a part in making one look good. You probably already have colors you don’t like to wear or you don’t think compliment you. Maybe pink washes you out, or orange is too harsh for you.

Apply what you know to your jewelry as well. Just like the color of your clothes can make your skin tone look good, jewelry can compliment you as well.

Cooler skin tones pair well with white, gold, and silver. Jewel tones like red, purple, and blue also compliment cooler tones.

Gold does best with warmer tones and stands out from darker hair. Yellows, oranges, greens are optimal for warm tones.

Neutral skin tones pair well with both gold and silver and most gemstone colors. This doesn’t mean you can’t wear the other. It just means that gold and silver highlight and complement two different tones.

Choose a Focal Piece

To make your outfit look well-thought-out, it’s best to choose a single focal point. Pairing together many bold pieces can make your outfit look rushed and gaudy. And your jewelry can overwhelm your look instead of complementing it.

Think of your main jewelry types of earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings. With each outfit, you should choose one or a maximum of two categories where the jewelry is considered statement pieces.

If you are choosing two statement pieces, it’s best to spread them out. This means you should avoid wearing a pair of statement earrings and a bold necklace. You’ll overwhelm the top portion of your outfit, leaving the bottom feeling unbalanced.

Instead, try a bold pair of earrings with a simple necklace. If you want two pieces, bold earrings are best worn with a larger bracelet and rings. There should be one piece that stands out and other jewelry that complements the focal point.

Balance is Everything

Similar to balancing your statement pieces, you want your jewelry to bring balance to your clothes. This has to do more with the print of your clothes than physically balancing your jewelry.

Think of the details of your outfit. Are there busy prints or a lot of added details? Or are they mostly solids and simple patterns?

You’ll want your outfit and jewelry to feel harmonious. Busy prints and lots of details are better complemented by understated jewelry, while an outfit with fewer adornments can benefit from bolder pieces.

That doesn’t mean a bold outfit needs dainty jewelry. You can pair a bold look with bold jewelry if it fits the style and won’t overwhelm the look. Keep in mind colors, textures, and prints when going for bolder outfits.

Play With Weight

Weight doesn’t necessarily mean how much the jewelry weighs in pounds or grams. Rather, it’s the difference between dainty chains and thick metalwork. Playing with jewelry on this spectrum will create interest in your outfits.

The material of your clothing is a good starting point to play with weight. Heavy knitted sweaters and fabrics like wool, tweed, corduroy pair well with dainty jewelry. While lighter fabrics like cotton, chiffon, and nylon can benefit from heavier jewelry.

Don’t be afraid to try different looks or to mix materials and weight. Try a button-down blouse with heavy gemstone-studded jewelry. A simple t-shirt dress pairs well with long, dainty necklaces.

Try to Layer

Layering jewelry is currently on-trend. Mixing necklaces of three different lengths is a great way to play with style while adding texture and weight to your jewelry. A large gemstone along with two dainty chains is great for any everyday look.

Stacking bracelets and rings are also trendy. With bracelets, try adding beading, textures, and colors. And with rings, try different shapes and placements.

Ear stacking and constellation earrings are another way people are layering their jewelry. Earring studs in different shapes and sizes can show off your personality and add a unique flair to your outfit.

Mix and Match

No one wants an outfit that’s one-note. Combat this by mixing the sizes and shapes in your jewelry. Gems, beads, and metal charms can pair together when you keep style and color in mind.

Mix and match the length of your necklaces and the thickness of your bracelets. The key to mixing pieces is to have a common thread. Whether that’s metal, color, or style is up to you.

You can have a look of a controlled chaos when you mix your jewelry pieces together. Remember not to overdo it with a ton of jewelry. It’s important to strike the right amount of jewelry for mixing and matching to look best.