So, did you start doing some Christmas shopping after seeing my gift guide? If not and you still want some more inspiration, I’ll be at ‘A Christmas Gift Fair’ at Hidden Garden, Black River, Mauritius between 10-3 on 23 November. Here’s the Facebook event link so you can see what we have on offer for you, It’s going to be great! But, if you can’t come, or aren’t in Mauritius, this week’s blog can also give you some handy hints on what you could buy this festive season.
Today I want to talk about what jewellery you should choose for the Christmas period so you always look effortlessly polished. When I design my jewellery, I want you to feel elegant. Many people think elegance is difficult to achieve, but did you know elegance comes down to one key factor – balance. Elegance isn’t a particular style of jewellery, rather it’s how you wear a piece of jewellery, no matter the style. But what is ‘balance’ and how do you achieve it to create that elegant look? It comes down to three things:
- The style of the clothes you’re wearing with your jewellery. You must coordinate your clothes with your jewellery to look balanced and elegant. I have to post this graphic again as it’s central to getting your jewellery right.
2. The occasion – Formal? Fun? Casual?
3. The spacing of the jewellery on your body – this is a crucial aspect of achieving the balanced, elegant look. I’ll explain as we go on.
Get all three of these right and you’ll look effortlessly elegant during the festive season. As I said, being elegant is not about a particular style of jewellery, rather it’s how you wear the style of jewellery you like. So let’s see how we can achieve elegance in different ways and by wearing different types of jewellery.
Dainty jewellery
I don’t know about you but I’m a huge fan of dainty jewellery. Many people think daintiness and elegance are the same, but it’s not always the case. The elegance of dainty jewellery depends on what clothes you’re wearing with it.
It’s Christmas and you’ve got a lot of social engagements lined up, so how do you wear dainty jewellery to achieve an elegant look? Well there are two scenarios – when you’ve chosen a statement outfit or even, when you’ve chosen an understated outfit. Let’s see how this works.
The statement outfit
Let’s face it, we all love to refresh our party outfits for the festive season and there’s usually a lot of glitter and sparkle involved. If this is your outfit for a night out, don’t wear jewellery that’s going to compete for attention. The bigger the outfit, the less the jewellery. Remember it’s all about balance and coordination, you don’t want everything to be big and bold or ‘in your face’ otherwise the overall look could look overdone. Pair your statement outfit with dainty jewellery, again, looking at the graphic above, coordinating it with your neckline. The same goes for your earrings, keep them simple. By this, I don’t mean studs, you can wear long earrings too, just make sure the design is on the dainty side.
The understated outfit
This kind of outfit really does offer you much more flexibility with your jewellery, but what you choose depends on a key factor – where are you going? And this is where you can start experimenting with your jewellery style, branching away from daintier pieces, to achieve the elegant look.
The formal event
Christmas is a time for formal work events, maybe a corporate lunch to say thank you to clients. How do you achieve elegance in this setting? You have two quite different options but both need equal levels of care to get the desired effect. To ensure your dainty jewellery is noticeable, wear two or three pieces – a necklace and bracelet, or a necklace bracelet and earrings. This will portray classical elegance. But if you’re looking to wear statement designs for an elegant look, be a bit more careful and wear only one or two pieces – a pair of statement earrings and statement bracelet, or just a statement necklace. This gives a stronger elegant ‘accent’ to your look. Both looks are possible due to the understated nature of the outfit. One is about coordination, the other is about exclamation. Your choice depends on your personality and the style statement you wish to make. These multi-gem and silver bracelets are perfect worn on their own.
The party – make your statement
If you’ve chosen an understated outfit for a party (one colour, simple lines), like the formal event, and depending on your personality, you can ramp up the jewellery glamour as much as you want. Your outfit is a blank canvas and the jewellery is the paint. But you will still look elegant.
Layering statement bracelets can be very effective here, along with a truly striking pair of earrings. Why not choose a large cocktail ring? If you read my blog on choosing the perfect wedding jewellery, you will remember the rule – balance. If you’re wearing statement pieces, you can go large, but keep them separate – earrings and a bracelet. Necklace and a ring, and don’t wear a big necklace and big earrings – way too close together on the body. Two or three of these gemstone and silver charm bracelets are perfect together. 
Statement jewellery
When we think of statement jewellery, we often think of big and chunky, maybe for an edgier, look. But this can most definitely mean elegant too. Again, it comes down to how you wear it.
To achieve elegance with statement jewellery, it’s definitely a case of less is more. What is more elegant than just wearing a statement pair of earrings with an understated outfit? Or a statement bracelet, whilst everything else is paired down? For me, elegance is just perfect styling and so long as you follow the rules of balance and not allowing your clothes, hair, or even make up to compete with your jewellery, elegance can come in many different forms. These fine silver and peacock pearl earrings are the perfect statement and elegant earrings.
Colourful jewellery
Like statement jewellery, colourful jewellery is often associated with a more casual, playful look, but, again, it comes down to the key rule – balance. In this case, wear your colourful jewellery with the most paired down of outfits. Keep your clothes, hair and makeup understated and just let the jewellery do the talking. This is true if your colourful jewellery is dainty or chunky, you really need to give it space to command all the attention. At the end of the day you want to avoid looking like a throwback to the early 80s disco era where everything was big and colourful – hair, clothes, makeup and jewellery. These dainty gemstone bracelets are perfect stacked together for adding a pop of colour to your look.
Keep your balance
As you can see, elegance isn’t about a particular style of jewellery, rather it’s about how you coordinate your whole look, no matter your preferred jewellery style. And remember the key word – ‘balance’, between clothes and jewellery, hair and makeup and jewellery, and spacing of key pieces over your body. Follow this rule and elegance will come naturally to you.
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