How to wear jewelry? Etiquette and advice

Jewels have a very long history and it’s known that they were worn by women already in antiquity to embellish their clothes. Over the centuries rules and traditions have been established concerning their use but which have been, and are still being revised and corrected by fashion houses and seasonal trends.

In this space I would like to help you choose the perfect jewel for your occasions, starting from the fact that the basic rule in jewelry etiquette is this: exhibit them with sobriety and good taste.

So, first of all, we specify that it’s always good not to overdo the quantity of pieces you intend to wear, precisely because the English way of saying (which we have now made our own) “less is more” is a good guarantee of elegance.

For example, rings shouldn’t be worn on several fingers of one hand, but only one, even large, particular or eccentric, but make sure that it’s the only protagonist on your right hand, and in the same way, the wedding or engagement ring in the foreground on the left hand.

In addition, if you want to give importance to a pair of large earrings it’s in good taste, even for a matter of balance, don’t wear necklaces or combine them with a very sober and thin necklace.

If you want to embellish a dress with simple lines or solid colors, you can indulge yourself with a large necklace, or with a showy pendant or perhaps studded with pearls and colored stones. Here, in this case you should coordinate it with a pair of small earrings that act as a point of light and that cover the holes in the lobes. Also pay attention to the shape of the neckline of the dress or shirt, trying not to overlap the length of the necklace with the profile of the garment, but following it.

The famous jewelry sets are composed of various pieces coordinated in shape, style and colors, that is, necklace, earrings, bracelet and ring that can all be worn at the same time. I don’t recommend you to do that because the final result could be rather heavy on the eye and, in the end, an etiquette rule in use now only to queens and princesses. But what we mere mortals can do is stop at three. In fact, it seems that it’s the perfect number to not appear too eccentric: then choose whether to combine the earrings with a bracelet and ring, or the necklace with the earrings and bracelet and so on, based on your outfit.

Still on the subject of sobriety, morality suggests that we wear semi precious stones, such as agate, aquamarine or corals, during the day and reserve diamonds, rubies, sapphires and other precious stones for evening occasions . Except for the diamond, however, whose daytime use has recently been cleared through customs thanks to the consolidated tradition of giving your loved one a solitaire or a Riviera ring, which mount small caliber stones.

Lastly, avoid wearing jewels and bijoux at the sea and in the swimming pool because the salt, sand, sweat or chlorine would certainly ruin them. And speaking of care and custody of jewels I will talk about it soon in another article.