Necklaces

What Necklace Length Suits Your Neckline?

Length decides where a necklace lands, and where it lands decides what it does for your neckline. Around 16 inches a chain sits in the hollow of the neck, at 18 it lies along the collarbone, and from 20 to 24 it falls below the collarbone toward the breastbone, low enough to clear a crew neck sweater. To find your number, lay a piece of string around your neck where you want the pendant to sit, mark it and measure it flat. A pendant chain with an extender can sit high with an open collar and a little lower with a scoop, and a lariat that lets its bar fall down the front draws exactly the line a V neck asks for. A string costs nothing and saves you from guessing between neighboring lengths that look identical on a screen.

Dainty Gold Plated and Gold Tone Necklaces

The necklace that gets worn most is whichever you forget you have on, and that comes down to weight and the metal against your skin. A fine plated pendant barely registers on the skin, light enough to stay put under a collar from breakfast to dinner. For a chain that stays on from morning to night, choose gold tone stainless steel, which resists tarnish and is kind to sensitive skin. Gold plated pendants keep their glow longest when they come off before the gym, the pool and bed. For a gift, a birthstone pendant is the easy answer, since every month has its stone, from garnet in January to blue topaz in December.

How to Layer Necklaces So They Don't Tangle

Layering looks deliberate when every strand has its own lane. Space the layers at least 2 inches apart, so a 16 inch tennis line, an 18 inch pendant and a 20 inch sterling piece each hold a separate place. Mix weights as well as lengths: a sparkling tennis line reads best beside a fine chain with a single drop, never beside another heavy piece. Double strand necklaces do the spacing for you, with chains fixed a couple of inches apart, which makes them a good first layer to build on. Fasten the longest piece first and the shortest last, and the clasps are less likely to drift around and twist into each other during the day. Gold tone and silver can share one neckline when one of them clearly leads: keep the gold plated pendant close to the collarbone and let a sterling piece fall lower beneath it.

Gold plated rings to sit beside a pendant are in Rings, and pearl hoops and small CZ studs that echo a pendant's glow sit in Earrings.