How to Wear Necklaces to Compliment Your Look

Have you noticed the layered necklace trend? It’s a great look you can master! Let’s talk about how to wear necklaces to compliment your outfit. 

While jewelry styling is a personal and subjective topic, there are a few rules of thumb to keep in mind when styling your necklaces. Before we get into it, I’d like to offer you a 10% off coupon toward your first purchase of our Ounce of Salt Jewelry. I am so excited for the launch of our online shop as I am passionate about all things jewelry. My friends’ husbands have my number to help with special gifts for their wives! I love it.

How to style necklaces with your outfit

As a general rule, use the neckline of your top as a guide to what kind of necklace you wear.

If you are wearing a V-neck or button down, wear a necklace(s) that takes on the same shape of the V on your chest.

how to style jewelry layered necklaces white gold by ounce of salt jewelry
For scoop necks or crew necks, wear a necklace just above the neckline that takes on the rounded shape of the shirt.
how to wear jewelry 5 sliced diamonds on rose gold
Sliced diamonds on 14k rose gold

The exception of wearing necklaces along the neckline applies to turtlenecks and strapless tops/dresses. For a turtleneck, your necklace does not want to compete with the neck but compliment it. Therefore, a longer necklace toward your chest would be your best bet. The color of the necklace should contrast the color of the top.

van cleef tiger eye two 16 inch strands linked together

For a strapless dress, the attention is drawn to the chest. A choker or 16 inch uniform necklace will highlight the chest and collarbone. Alternatively, don’t wear any necklace at all and go for a bold pair of earrings.

Lariat style necklaces are sexy and on trend

I am loving the look of lariat necklaces! This gorgeous diamond necklace has a diamond at the drop-tip which goes perfectly with a low cut shirt.

14k rose gold jewelry lariat necklace with 5 diamonds

How to layer your necklaces

  • When layering your necklaces, juxtapose the shapes of the pendants.
  • While easiest to keep it to one metal, mixing metal colors and textures looks great too.
  • Each necklace should complement the other and not be competing. If you have a bold necklace, create balance by mixing it with a few subtle-look necklaces.
  • Similarly, think about how your jewelry will enhance your outfit rather than compete with it.
  • This is more my opinion than a rule of thumb, but I prefer to keep the color of my top simple when I’m layering my necklaces. This allows my neckline to be the star of my outfit.
  • For outfits that are patterned, I like to keep my fine jewelry simple with one necklace.

ounce of salt jewelry moonstone lariat with diamonds

There are many traditional outfit looks we love that could be spiced up with layered necklaces. My favorite look is a crisp white button shirt with a jean or leather jacket paired with 3-4 necklaces at different lengths.

four layered gold necklaces with white shirt and jean jacket

Don’t overdo your jewelry

When I was in my 20s, I wore every piece of jewelry I owned – pearls, gold, diamonds, all of it, every day! My mentality was that I didn’t want them to sit in the drawer, I wanted to show them off!

But wearing too much jewelry will ruin your look. When we wear everything we own, no one piece is noticed and it takes away from the unique design of each piece.

When you layer your necklaces, you’ll want to balance this look on your neck /chest with how much jewelry you wear on your wrists and hands. For example, when I wear a set of layered necklaces, I won’t then also wear my stack of bracelets.

Among the jewelry pieces you wear, you want one area to be the “star.” If you’re featuring your five bangle bracelets to complete your look, don’t overdo your rings and necklaces with that outfit. You want to balance the pieces so they are not competing with each other.

Keep in mind, you can’t go wrong with a simple 16-18 inch necklace that you wear with every outfit. My girlfriend has 3 dainty and classic 14k gold and diamond necklaces she never takes off. I tend to wear a combination of 14k gold and diamond jewelry but am not good with mixing in costume jewelry which is a great idea! The timelessness of nice gold, platinum and diamond pieces gives me peace of mind when I invest in them.

For my jewelry shop collection, I hand-select beautiful pieces I myself would want to own from the Los Angeles jewelry district. I receive the same wholesale rates the vendors give to the jewelry retailers.

Without the overhead related to having retail stores, I’m able to pass the savings on to my customers. So imagine, with all the choices of style and quality in the jewelry market, having someone you trust to filter out the noise to narrow down your choices to the best selection of jewelry at the most competitive prices. That’s me!

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like 3 Best Ways to Clean Your Jewelry.  and What’s the difference between types of gold 

Happy jewelry styling and I hope you enjoyed this post!

“Flavor your life with an Ounce of Salt.” A lifestyle blog by Jen Oliak.