20 Jewelry Tips to Style & Match (And Be On Trend!)
There are many unwritten rules that come with wearing jewelry, and a lot of those rules tend to shift and change with the emergence of new styles and popular trends. All of this can make it difficult for people to stay on top of everything they’re “expected” to do regarding their jewelry and clothing. Below, our expert jewelry artisans at LaCkore Couture will explore some of the essential tips that hold firm no matter how much trends and styles change over time! Please continue to learn more and consider reading through our wide selection of other great jewelry resources.
Related: How to Style Your Necklace Like a Pro
1. Pick a Focus For Your Overall Outfit
Before doing anything else with your jewelry and clothes, you’ll want to decide on a specific focus for your outfit. Even the most boring outfit you can think of can look spectacular when planned correctly and leveraged with the right accessories. Your focus will depend on many factors, such as whether or not you’re dressing up for a special occasion or if you’ll be engaging in a specific activity. Pick the clothes that work best, and then carefully plan out your accessories to help work towards the outfit’s primary focus, whether that involves a simple chain necklace or a full-on statement piece.
2. Pick a Focal Point For Your Jewelry
Along with picking a focus for your outfit, you’ll also want to plan ahead with your jewelry and choose a focal point to work from. In short, where do you want to draw people’s gaze? If you’re wearing an extravagant necklace, ring, or pair of earrings made to attract the eye, you’ll want to make that the focal point of your outfit and work from there. The key is to select a single piece and ensure that whatever else you’re wearing doesn’t distract from it.
3. Match Your Jewelry to The Occasion
Different occasions require different types of jewelry, so you must know how to pick your accessories for every event or activity. For example, dangling wrist jewelry isn’t a good choice if you’re typing or writing a lot at work, and you usually don’t want to look too flashy when going to church. Always be sure to consider where you’re going and what you’ll be doing. Then, consider how different pieces of jewelry will impact your experience or come off to onlookers.
4. Try Jewelry That Compliments Your Skin Tone
Did you know that you shouldn’t try to match your jewelry with your outfit alone? You also want to consider your skin tone! People who know the key components of accessorizing like professionals understand the importance of highlighting their skin tones with jewelry. It can make a significant difference when bringing out your inner sense of style! Silver can illuminate more natural tones, while gold goes exceptionally well with matte skin and darker hair. Blue, red, and purple gemstones work well with cooler skin tones and white gold, while warmer skin tones go perfectly with yellow metals, along with yellow, orange, and green gems.
5. Use Accessories to Complement Your Clothing (And Vise Versa!)
While your skin tone should be a consideration for your jewelry, you’ll generally want to focus on using your accessories to complement specific clothing and vice versa. Whether you start with your jewelry or clothes largely depends on the desired focal point for your outfit. Once you know the focal point, you can build up an ensemble that complements it well without any distractions.
6. Combine Busy Patterns and Simple Jewelry
When picking the best jewelry for your outfit or outfit for your jewelry, consider contrasting busy and simple patterns. Clothing with bold, eye-catching designs can pair exceptionally well with simple, dainty jewelry, while large statement jewelry can help highlight the look of more simplistic clothes.
7. Mix and Match Your Metals
People once thought of mixing metals as a cardinal sin of fashion, but those days are long gone now! Many people love leveraging multiple metals at once to create a new look that complements their outfits in unique ways. Don’t bother sticking to all silver or gold jewelry; feel free to mix and match your metals to see what works well with different outfits!
Related: How to Choose The Best Way to Style Your Necklace
8. Expand Your Wardrobe and Experiment
One of the best parts of styling your jewelry is finding new pieces to pair with different outfits! Don’t be afraid to expand your wardrobe every once and a while with new necklaces, rings, earrings, and bracelets. You'll probably be surprised by how much one new piece of jewelry can impact the look of several of your favorite outfits! Also, don’t be afraid to take some time to try on old outfits and pair them with jewelry you may not have tried in the past. You’ll likely find some new combinations that look wonderful on you that you might not otherwise have tried.
9. Don’t Let Trends Dictate Your Every Fashion Choice
While following some trends is all well and good, you don’t want to become a total blind follower of ever-changing fashion trends, especially if it’s at the expense of your unique tastes and personality. It’s essential to develop a style that you enjoy and that makes you feel confident. Adding in some stuff from popular trends is fine, but please don’t go overboard with it and lose sight of your fashion preferences.
10. Know When to Stop
Sometimes you need to realize when too much is too much, especially when it comes to your jewelry. Wearing too many bold, statement pieces at once can be distracting and take away from the look you’re likely aiming for, especially if you’re also decked out in bold, colorful clothing with many intricate patterns or designs. Try not to pair multiple statement pieces at once unless you’re sure they work together without being too distracting.
Do you want to get your hands on a wide selection of top-quality new jewelry to try out these tips for yourself? Try exploring our shop full of gorgeous, hand-crafted pieces at LaCkore Couture today to take advantage of all our fantastic deals!
11. Leverage Sentimental Jewelry
Just because you have a beloved piece of sentimental jewelry doesn’t mean you need to wear it every day, and it certainly doesn’t mean that it goes well with every possible outfit. You’ll want to carefully consider how your sentimental pieces pair with what you’re wearing on any given day, and don’t be afraid to swap them out for something else that works better. If you insist on always wearing a particular sentimental piece, consider how you can layer it with other accessories to add extra variety or interest to your style. For things like necklaces, you can also look into adjustable or interchangeable chains to ensure they fit well with whatever outfit you’re wearing.
12. Keep Your Jewelry Clean
Aside from styling your jewelry well and pairing it with the right outfit, one of the essential jewelry rules is to keep it clean and in good condition! Check out some of the other articles on our website covering the best way to clean your earrings and how to clean gold jewelry.
13. Layer Up With Bangles, Rings, and Necklaces
Layering your jewelry can be a great way to showcase your unique style and highlight different parts of your outfit. For necklaces, try layering different chain lengths, shapes, and colors.
Try playing with different pieces that will flash and jingle as you move for bracelets and bangles. And for rings, consider experimenting with various placements and stacking for different effects.
Related: The Ultimate Guide to Layering Jewelry
14. Try Mixing Warm and Cold Gem Colors
Different gems can make statements by themselves and go well with many different outfits, but have you considered pairing gems with their opposites for an even more mesmerizing effect? For example, warm gemstones can look gorgeous next to blue or purple gems, so setting a ruby on top of some royal blue sapphires can make a bold display that will easily catch the eye.
15. Consider Your Earrings Carefully
While earrings may not be the first thing everyone considers when styling the perfect outfit, they are still an essential element for people to consider. When selecting the right earrings, you’ll always want a pair that complements your eyes, hair, and skin tone and ensure they frame your face shape nicely. From there, you can select a pair that best matches your chosen outfit. If you have your ears pierced in multiple places, consider how to effectively pair your different earrings together to make the most stylish effect possible. Combining dangle or drop earrings and some studs can make for a great statement that adds something unique to any outfit.
16. Leverage Statement Earrings to Highlight Your Face
We’ve talked a lot about statement pieces in this article, but we’d like to quickly note that statement earrings are an especially great way to highlight your face, especially if you want to show off some gorgeous new makeup! Consider investing in some bold, beautiful hoops or drop earrings to pair with some of your favorite outfits!
17. Try Wearing Rings With a Little Extra Style
Unless they’re wedding or engagement rings, not too many people leverage a lot of stylish rings as part of their outfits. Still, we honestly believe that that’s a waste of a fantastic fashion opportunity. Stacking small rings can be a great way to add some versatility to your outfit while mixing rings with different colors, gemstones, and textures can make an exciting statement that helps bring out your unique sense of style.
18. Match Your Necklace and Neckline
The kind of necklace you should wear with any outfit depends on many factors, but arguably the most important to consider is your outfit’s neckline. Different neckline styles leave room for different necklaces and sometimes even remove the need for a necklace altogether! For example, dresses and tops with lower necklines or off-the-shoulder designs are often great when paired with a necklace. However, outfits with a high neckline often remove the need for a necklace altogether and can make wearing a necklace look odd.
19. You Don’t Always Need a Necklace
If you’re wearing a dazzling top or another type of bold jewelry, you don’t need to pile on with an equally bold necklace that can distract from other parts of your outfit or make it look overly busy. In fact, there are times when you can forgo wearing a necklace altogether, and it will improve your outfit- especially if you’re wearing something with a long neckline, as mentioned in tip #18 above.
20. Don’t Be Afraid to Break The Rules!
The best tip on this list is a bit counterintuitive; don’t be afraid to ignore the other tips! While there are a lot of rules for styling and matching your jewelry, you don’t have to listen to them all the time. If there’s something you love to wear that doesn’t follow the above guidelines, go for it anyway! Fashion is all about feeling confident in what you’re wearing and loving your style without regard for what other people may think or expect. Do what makes you feel good, and don’t be afraid to highlight your unique style in whatever way makes you happy.
Bonus Tips
Don't be afraid to create your own style. One of the best parts of mixing and matching jewelry is that you are in control. By experimenting with layers, lengths, metals, and colors, you can create a unique look for yourself. Many people want to stick with a traditional look, which is okay, but getting out of your comfort zone can help you pull together a look that will turn heads. Here are a few bonus tips for styling and matching your jewelry pieces.
Not Everything Has To Match
Some individuals may be hesitant to wear jewelry that doesn't have the same or similar design elements. In the past, not wearing matching pieces was seen as a fashion faux pas, but that is not the case anymore. You should embrace pieces that work for you. If you have a dressier pair of earrings, wear them with more casual outfits. Similarly, a simple necklace or ring could look fantastic with your little black dress. There are plenty of ways to choose pieces that complement each other but do not look similar. The key to creating a look that matches your style. If we all wore the same jewelry and clothes, the world would be boring.
Go Beyond the Traditional
While you may want to select polished metals and stones for your jewelry, don't forget those organic and natural materials, such as glass, shells, wood, and sand. Many earrings, necklaces, and bracelets are made with these materials. Some designers are even incorporating more natural elements into their pieces. Yes, jewelry can go beyond those traditional elements. With that, you can mix and match jewelry with these components with your traditional jewelry for a stylish look.
Use Jewelry To Upgrade Wardrobe on a Budget
If you do not have a closet of clothes, you can easily upgrade your wardrobe with jewelry pieces. These items can add some style to your simplest outfits. By styling and matching several pieces, you can get a high-class look for only a couple of dollars. Stylish jewelry does not have to break your bank. Many people will have one expensive item and mix and match it with less costly options. With that, you can vary your look and create more ways to get a boost out of your existing outfits.
Stick To a Theme
For those still stuck, consider creating a theme for your look. Do you want to rock the Bohemian look or need something chic? The texture, color, material, and overall design of a jewelry piece dictate its tone and vibe. For example, a minimalist pendant necklace is a perfect option for a casual outfit, while a silver necklace with a dolphin charm is more suitable for a relaxed day. Most fashionistas will choose items that have that same vibe and feel. If you are starting to mix and match, you may want to go down that route. But others might want to push the boundaries with their jewelry. Think about mixing contrasting themes of your jewelry for a dazzling look.
Final Thoughts For Styling and Matching Your Jewelry
Many factors go into how people match, style, and show off their jewelry, along with a range of unwritten rules that people are often expected to follow. Our jewelry experts at LaCkore Couture hope that the above tips and tricks can help make the process easier for you going forward and give you some new ideas for pairing your favorite jewelry with some spectacular outfits. Please consider checking out the fine selection of hand-crafted jewelry proudly created by our trained jewelry artisans today to locate some gorgeous new pieces you can use to try out the tips for yourself!
Do you want to get your hands on a new selection of unique, expertly made accessories to help expand your wardrobe? Please consider exploring our wide selection of hand-crafted artisan jewelry at LaCkore Couture today to discover your next favorite piece!