How to Wear Jewelry to Complement Your Look
You've got the clothes. You've got the jewelry. But how do you put them together?
Learning how to wear jewelry to complement your look can be the final frontier when it comes to dressing well. No outfit is complete without some accessories. But if you overdo it or wear the wrong thing, the whole outfit can look out of place. To wear jewelry correctly, you need to understand flattering shapes, complementary colors, and aesthetics. Don't be overwhelmed though, in the end, it is up to your personal taste.
How To Wear Jewelry to Complement Your Look: The Practical
Building an outfit should be a fun and rewarding experience, but before we get to the fun part, you have to start with the practical. These guidelines will help you learn how to accessorize with jewelry in a flattering and complementary way. They deal with the aesthetic qualities of shapes, cuts, patterns, and colors so that you can make the best jewelry choices.
Consider Your Neckline
If you're wondering how to pick jewelry for your dress, there's a very logical place to start: the neckline. The neckline of your dress will greatly determine what kind of necklace you can and should wear with it.
If your neckline is high, suck as a turtleneck, you already have a lot going on at the base of your neck. You should opt for a longer necklace in those circumstances because a short necklace or choker will get lost among the fabric of your clothes and look awkward.
A midline neckline such as a strapless neckline, a scoop neck, or a collared shirt can sustain a choker or short voluminous necklace. You can get away with a choker in some halter and collared shirt styles as well.
For plunging necklines, allow your necklace to plunge with it. A V-shaped pendant (voluminous or dainty) is best with a v-neck dress or shirt. Just make sure that it isn't so long that it ends up getting caught at the beginning of your top.
If you love a particular necklace style that doesn't fit with your top, you can layer multiple necklaces to get the best of both worlds. For example, a choker with a deep v-neckline leaves an unflattering and unadorned expanse of bare chest, but if you add a pendant you complement both your choker and the overall line of the outfit.
Choose a Focal Point
When putting together any outfit, consider what you want the main focal point of the look to be. Is it your makeup or natural beauty? Do you want everyone to notice your new shoes? Is your necklace a stunning family heirloom? Is the dress you're wearing particularly flattering on your body?
While you want the whole outfit to be stunning there should be only one or two things in any outfit that you want people's eyes to be drawn to. Everything else should complement that thing and direct the eye to it instead of distracting from it.
How to Wear Jewelry With Printed Clothes
Prints create interest for the eye on an outfit. That's the same role that jewelry plays so it's no wonder that having both can end up feeling like two pieces in competition instead of collaboration.
If you're wearing something printed and want to add jewelry to your look, simple is better. Look for delicate lines and minimalist designs. It's an even better idea to keep your jewelry away from your print. For example, if you have a printed sleeveless dress, wear a bracelet instead of a necklace, because the bracelet won't sit directly on the pattern of your dress.
Complement Your Face
We mentioned focal points before, if your focal point is your own face or your makeup look, there's one piece of jewelry that is sure to support that focal point: earrings.
Whether dangly or studs, earrings draw attention up to you head and then frame your face. Reflect the shape of your face with the earrings you wear (long lines for angular faces or rounded jewels and spirals for round faces).
How to Match Colors
If colorful jewelry is your thing, you need to know how to pair colors together in an outfit. A good general rule is to use the color wheel to find complementary colors.
It also helps to keep in mind warm and cool tones. You can help a gemstone pop by contrasting warm and cool tones with your clothes and jewelry. If you have a red ruby, for example, pair it with cool tones like blue or green in your outfit. If you have a blue sapphire, help it stand out by wearing yellow or orange.
How to Complement Your Skin Tone
One of the first rules for wearing jewelry is to learn to complement your skin tone. People typically fall into three categories: warm-toned, cool-toned, and neutral. You can figure out the undertones of your skin by looking at the color of the veins on your wrist.
If you're cool-toned, silver metals will look best on you. If you're warm-toned, gold will look the best. And anyone with a neutral skin tone is lucky enough to be able to wear both.
Really pay attention to your skin tone because it can also affect what colors look good on you. You can take that information into consideration next time you're purchasing a piece of jewelry with a gemstone. But remember, diamonds look good on everyone.
Always Opt for Quality Over Quantity
If you have to choose between a lot of jewelry and a few good pieces, always choose the few over the many.
First of all, you'll save money in the long run. Gold, silver, and diamonds really last so you'll only have to pay for the item once. Even if you have to pay a lot at first, you'll be able to wear them repeatedly, and they will appreciate in value. Cheap jewelry on the other hand, begins to tarnish. So you'll only get a few wears out of it before you're spending more money to replace it.
There's another benefit to high-quality jewelry. It goes with everything. A piece of jewelry made by an established jeweler using impeccable materials is much more likely to match the clothes you already have. Cheap jewelry follows trends that tend to go out of style with clothes before you know it.
How Do You Match Jewelry To Outfit: The Fun
Now that you understand the logistics of the rules for wearing jewelry, you get to start the fun part. Let's personalize!
Your outfit is only as good as you feel in it, and you'll feel best in the outfits that express who you are and what you like. These tips can help you create outfits and jewelry pairings that express the truest and most fashionable version of yourself.
Find Your Personal Theme and Aesthetic
Think of your outward expression as a work of art. Every artist works within a theme and has certain aesthetic qualities that distinguish them. What categories do you and your outfits tend to fall into, and is that how you wish to be perceived?
Your aesthetic can be professional and classy, traditional and sexy, whimsical and dark, bright and playful, etc. You can even base aesthetics off of actual pieces of art that you love. Consider what makes them work and start using those adjectives to describe the clothing and jewelry you want to wear. Someone who is classy or traditional may prefer pearls while someone bright or whimsical might prefer playful acrylic earrings.
Bulletin boards and collages (both real and digital) are a great way to start narrowing down your personal aesthetic. And once you know it, creating looks to match it will be much easier.
Think About Your Style Influences And Periods
Another way to find a personal aesthetic is to look for time periods and style influences. You can use this method to find what styles look good on you for your overall aesthetic or to help with inspiration for a particular outfit.
When planning an outfit, look at the silhouettes, colors, and materials that you're working with. In all likelihood, you'll be able to find some influences from past time periods. You can use that knowledge to help choose jewelry that goes well with it.
For example, if you're outfit includes a pair of flared bell-bottom or palazzo pants, you're already working with a disco influence. You can lean into that style with a pair of graphic dangly earrings.
If you're wearing a velvet shift dress, think of the 1920s and opt for sparkly headbands and long beaded necklaces.
You won't feel like you're in costume because not everything will be completely historically accurate, but by including fashion history references in your look, you'll elevate it to the next level.
Match the Occasion
When in doubt, consider the theme of the event and see if it comes with inspiration for your jewelry.
If you're going to a Christmas party, why not wear something sparkly or snowflake-themed. If your event is taking place in an old hotel, you can use art deco as an inspiration for your jewelry choices. Garden parties are the perfect opportunity for floral touches.
No matter what the theme or location or the event you're attending, you're likely to find some kind of clue about what you should wear to it.
Wear Unexpected Materials
Wearing jewelry should be fun! And there's nothing more fun than the unexpected.
Not every piece of jewelry in your box needs to be gold, silver, diamonds, and pearls. While these are high-quality materials that will last your lifetime (and in some cases longer!), you can make room in your life for some unconventional materials that will make you stand out as unique and eclectic.
There's beautiful and unique clay jewelry as well as resin jewelry. These are great options if you love a bold, colorful style. There are also lots of natural materials such as mother of pearl, wood, and coral.
Don't Underestimate Sentimentality
A surefire way to love the jewelry you're wearing is to wear something with meaning to you. How can you dislike the way a necklace looks with your outfit when it's a necklace given to you by someone you love or a vintage piece left to you by someone who has passed away? And even if it doesn't match the outfit perfectly, the affection that you feel for the item will radiate through you and make its importance known.
Ignore the Trends: Learn What You Like
This leads us to the final tip for wearing jewelry. Ignore the trends. Take all advice with a grain of salt. Wear what you love to wear. Confidence is key. So if you like it, and you think it goes well with your outfit, you should wear it.
Fashion rules and trends change year after year, and your personal spirit is more valuable than all that. Wear what you love. And use these pieces of advice as guidelines to start learning what that is.
Looking Your Best and Accessorizing Smartly
By learning the etiquette rules of necklines, color theory, and focal points you can learn how to wear jewelry to complement your look. Then, you can start to personalize things by learning what you like and what your influences are. Before you know it, you'll be the best dressed for every occasion and your jewelry will only add to your splendor.
Need some new jewelry to kickstart your outfits? Check out our collection of rings today!