Styling jewellery: How to be understated & interesting

There’s been a lot been said about styling jewellery – from necklace mess and ring stacks to curated ears.

If you are a "more is better" kind of girl, then you probably don’t need to much advice, because you are likely to be happy with all sorts of clashes, which means you will also wear it well.

It’s when you are going for the understated look (and yet still interesting) that the styling task becomes a little more challenging. In this case, here are a few tips to help you make some choices.

Identify one theme for your jewellery

While you don’t need to go so far as to have matching pieces, it is often good to think of a theme for the style of jewellery you are wearing as part of your outfit. For example, you may decide that botanical jewellery will offset the style your outfit. In this case, you could have blossom earrings complemented by a flower bud necklace.  Another option is that you could mix and match different shapes or motifs, but choose pieces that share a similar organic style. Alternatively you could choose jewellery that shares the same streamlined shape and finish. There are many options, the important thing is to choose a singular theme and check that each piece fits within this.

Use your jewellery to balance the focal point of your clothing

Statement necklaces are great to add interest to simple tops and jackets, however if your top is already a statement, it may be best to enhance it with dramatic earrings.

In contrast, a pared back outfit can carry a range of jewellery styles, from simple lean lines, to dramatic shapes and colours providing you have a focus and consider where you want to draw attention. For example, do you want to draw attention to a great neckline or do you want to counterbalance your sleek outfit with statement earrings? If it's the neckline you want to focus on, then choose simple earrings that complete the look, but don't fight for attention. If you're going all out on the earrings, then skip any neckpieces or necklaces.

Choose jewellery to complement the colours of your outfit

Can’t decide whether to wear gold or silver and don’t want to wear both? It's as simple as remembering cool clothing colours work with cool metals and warm clothing colours work with warm metals. You'll find that sterling silver jewellery looks great on icy pastels including pale blues and baby pink, while gold enhances earthy and autumnal colours such as olive and camel. And when it comes to dark, strong colours, often both silver and gold will stand out beautifully. Both silver and gold look wonderful on navy and black as well as the new purple and jewel coloured teals starting to to appear this season.

Play with different lengths of necklaces

If you are after the layered necklace look without the mess, mix and match two to three necklaces of significantly different lengths. If you are just wearing two necklaces, then the difference in length is not so important as the two will naturally balance one another.

When wearing a few necklaces at once, try to choose one or two necklaces with chains that have a number of large links that allow you to customise your length.

Another thing to consider when wearing multiple necklaces, is the type of top or dress you are wearing. Necklace layering works perfectly over pared back shirts, simple camisoles, shifts and under jackets.

And remember, you may dress to impress, but the wise accessorise 

Never underestimate the value of clever accessorising, great jewellery can breathe new life into a much loved outfit.