Lots of people ask me questions about jewelry - what to buy, where to find it, what to look for, and how to wear it. The what is very personal, and depends on your personal style, your budget, your lifestyle, and then all of the other various sentimental aspects to buying jewelry. I have some recommendations as to the where, but again, budget, lifestyle, etc etc. I tend to kind of punt a lot of these questions back to the asker, because I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all answer for most of them. I mean, that goes for most of this newsletter - everyone wants and needs different things. Right? Right.
The one area of the jewelry world I do feel pretty confident about laying out as a formula is the how. Aside from just put it on, I think there are a few methods and strategies that work well for building a layered look, or just knowing what kinds of shapes and proportions to wear with what. Even more niche than that - knowing what jewelry to wear with what neckline. This is something I’ve wanted to tackle in a more comprehensive way for a while, so I proposed the idea to Mejuri, and happily for me, they agreed to partner on this letter. I got to pick from their new Organic Dôme collection, as well as broader choices from the site - and the site has broad choices. There’s something for everyone, every budget, every style, every lifestyle there, and I really tried to choose a range of pieces that would reflect the sorts of things a lot of us either might already have, or might feel inspired to bring in to our own jewelry collections. What I really wanted to show here is that artful layering works as a balance with the neckline of your clothing, and then as a whole, should feel balanced between what’s on your ears, neck, wrists, and fingers, but then also layering jewelry doesn’t have to look like wearing everything you own at once. Sometimes it’s great to pile it on, and other times, less is more.
WHAT TO WEAR WITH A POLO NECK
This type of neckline is honestly pretty limiting. The way the placket falls really prevents you from wearing much that lays on top of it (it will flatten the placket), and also anything long will kind of spill awkwardly just through that one front opening (and you do NOT want to wear a necklace on the outside of the sweater under the collar!). Your best bet here is a thicker, more substantial necklace in a 15” or 16” length, that hits just at the nape of your neck, and shows in a nice way through the open part of the collar. It’s not going to compete with your shirt, and it will always lay correctly. On the left, I layered this necklace with these little huggies, and then this ring stacked with this one (one in white gold, one in yellow) - it all feels personal and like an interesting mix of shapes and white with yellow gold, but isn’t too intense or blingy.
Another thing that works really well with this type of silhouette is a statement earring. I love these because they’re organic shapes, and asymmetrical, so they look super interesting. They’d also be great with a tiny huggie layered into a second hole (mine are closed). But when you add a blazer, it further smushes the neck of the polo knit, making it even harder to make sense of whatever would be layered underneath. So to make the most out of my jewelry in this situation, I pivoted to statement earrings and a sculptural pinky ring.
WHAT TO WEAR WITH A BUTTON DOWN
Ok, button downs were kind of made for jewelry. The open neckline leaves a lot of room for adornment, and this is really an area to mess around and see what you like - especially if you leave a lot of buttons open, like I tend to.
On the left, I LOVE something graphic but simple with a button down. I layered on two of these necklaces - one in silver, one in gold, to create a lot of focus at the base of my neck - it makes your neck look longer, and the relative simplicity of it is super pretty. Just one layered necklace would have also been beautiful, but you have an opportunity here to really make a jumble of them because the shirt is so open, so why not do it. If you tried this under the polo neck it would still be fine, but you wouldn’t get quite the same effect, since that one is much more closed off. To balance the necklaces, I added these kind of pseudo studs - they wrap beautifully around your ear, and have a tiny garnet nestled in them, but they aren’t super attention grabbing.
As a contrast, on the right, I really piled it on. I kept the silver chain necklace from the previous look, but added this longer, delicate chain with two gold pebble pendants on it. This layering works well because the chains are both different lengths, and vastly different lengths - it creates texture, and both pieces have room to shine without just getting into a tangled mess. I put back on the simple huggies, then layered two cuffs - a large, sculptural one in silver, and a thinner one in gold. Then believe it or not, with so much happening at my neck and on my wrist, something felt bare - I realized I needed one more ring to balance it all out, so you have two tiny hits of metal (earrings and ring) sandwiching a lot of statement jewelry in between.
WHAT TO WEAR WITH A V-NECK SWEATER
A V-Neck sweater falls somewhere between a button down and a polo neck - it’s fairly open, but not AS open as a button down, and looks great with a similar setup. On the left, I shortened the length of the thinner chain (it’s adjustable)so that the pendants on it sit closer to the choker, and land just at the top of the V of the sweater. Because the sweater doesn’t have a collar, I felt there was also room for a bigger earring with this outfit - the look is pretty open around my neck and face, so I tossed on the Organic Dôme Mixed Pebble Earrings in silver. Three stacked mixed metal rings (this one, this one, and this one) round out the look.
When I added a T-Shirt into the mix, it all went mega casual, and I think that opens the door to a bit more layering. I put on two of these chunkier chains again in silver and gold, and then added a really delicate paperclip chain in gold (and added this little L pendant and this tiny pearl too) - the mix in weights and lengths keeps the layering interesting and feeling balanced, especially with two thicker chokers on. To stay in the chunky, bold universe, I put on this sculptural silver cuff, and a substantial silver ring, layered with a slim pinky ring inlaid with a marquise diamond.
WHAT TO WEAR WITH A SWEATSHIRT
With a sweatshirt, you ideally want your necklace to hit either just above the collar, or a bit below. If below, your necklace should rest on the outside of the sweatshirt. And because a sweatshirt is so substantial and so casual, this is a really great moment to have a bit of fun and really let the jewelry shine. On the left, I mixed this same open link choker I’ve been wearing more or less throughout, with a longer silver chain with an elongated link. I love the contrast here between how organic one looks, vs how precise the other is, and the different lengths and weights also balance each other. I added a tiny huggie for another bit of balance, and then two super delicate pinky rings (this one with a marquise diamond, and this one with pave) to round it out.
On the right, I wanted to show something kind of dressy and fancy - dressy and fancy is my favorite way to style a sweatshirt, to be honest, it’s the perfect backdrop for something a little formal. I kept all of the jewelry here bold and sculptural, with these asymmetrical earrings, this substantial gold chain, and this thinner gold cuff - all in gold. The rings are also both yellow gold, a thicker dome stacked with another Organic Dôme ring with a stone in it.
WHAT TO WEAR WITH A TANK TOP
And finally! It’s really easy to pile it on and go nuts when you’re showing so much skin. There’s not much fabric interfering with the way things fall, and there’s also lots of flexibility to add interest and texture via jewelry. This is my big pile it on look, and I layered on four necklaces (this chunky one, this one that’s a lab grown sapphire tennis necklace, this silver chain, and this thinner chain with pebble pendants), but then kept my ears bare so that I didn’t just completely overwhelm myself with jewelry. But then because I had so much going on at the neckline, I thought it also made sense to add some statement pieces at my wrist and hand. The look needed something to balance out that activity up top. I put on this big silver cuff, and this heavy silver and gemstone pinky ring.
However, if you’re tossing on a blazer with your tank, this is a nice opportunity to do a minimal layering look that mixes textures in a different way than two different chains. The tennis necklace here is obviously very sparkly, but also feels solid because there’s no open space between links, and the chain link is very open and feels light. The two pair beautifully together, and because there’s so much open space across my chest, they stand out without overwhelming the outfit. As one little point of balance, I added these sculptural earrings that hug my earlobe, without dangling down. All three pieces feel distinct from each other, but also like part of a cohesive whole - it also helps that these are all in silver, but the variety in texture and finish keeps it interesting and personal.
AND THERE WE ARE! Laying jewelry with your neckline!
I love jewelry, I love you, thank you for reading!
Your friend, forever,
Laurel
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