The art of layering and stacking jewellery

I love jewellery. I love wearing it, looking at it, playing with it and collecting it. But I find that as time goes on and more adventures are had, the more jewellery, and stories associated with those pieces, accumulates.

While the old adage of ‘less is more’ often rings true… there are many times in life when my new mantra of more, more, MORE is just way more fun! Jewellery is the same. Sometimes a minimalist look is best, and wearing your one special necklace or statement ring is more appropriate, fits in with your mood for the day or that one piece is statement enough. But there are other times in life, where ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ and layering or stacking your jewels is one such example of this.

Layering or stacking your jewellery can be a great way to not over power your look, or life; and a wonderful way to express who you are, what you love, and to tell your stories.
Most jewellery can be stacked or layered one way or another and below are a few tips on creating the perfect look and vibe for you…

Necklaces

Brilliant to layer and can be very effective with any number of necklaces, especially when you have varying lengths. If your necklaces are similar lengths, they can still create a great effect if you use different textures and sizes. For instance, I love to wear my Kerala necklace, which sits just on the collar bone and pair with a pendant, like the Panama pendant necklace. While they are similar lengths, the chains compliment each other and they each offer a different texture. Mixing materials up is a fun way to bring different colour combos to your look too. I mainly wear sterling silver, but love adding gold pieces and semi precious stones to a layer to add colour and accent. Coloured glass beads and different styles are other ways to change it up.

The other thing to keep in mind is the neckline of your shirt. What works for one won’t necessarily work for another.

Bracelets/ Bangles/ Cuffs

There’s no hard and fast rule about stacking bracelets – go wild! Stack them up to your elbow if you wish, have varying metals, colours, styles, sizes, and thickness – whatever suits the mood.

I like wearing a stack of 5 sterling silver bangles and cuffs on my wrist all made in sterling silver, but each from a different place I have visited or as a gift from a loved one (like the sterling silver bangle my father gave me, which I rarely take off – you can read the story behind this bangle on one of my posts on Insta using #jewellerytells1000words).

Rings

You have lots of rings and not sure which one to wear each day let alone fit them all on your fingers. We hear you! Which is why we encourage you to have lots of fun and stack your rings, especially the ones you’ve had for ages and have grown bored of or which just don’t seem to go with anything. Add them all together and create a stack!

Experiment, mix and match colours, textures and styles, you really can’t go wrong.

I like to have a couple of plain ones in the stack to break it up and highlight the texture or stone of another.

Just make sure that it doesn’t get in the way of your day-to-day work. Sure, it’s great to beautify your fingers but if the bulkiness of the rings causes pain to the recipient of your well meaning fist bump or you are unable to interlock your fingers together in your serious and professional hand grasp, then know when to stop.

Trust your imagination and express your creativity and style but most of all – have fun!

Do you have a favorite piece of jewellery? Does it remind you of a friend or a fabulous adventure to some far off land every time you look at or wear it?Tell us more and WIN!

Head over to Insta, share your story and enter our #Jewellerytells1000words giveaway for you chance to WIN a Zambezi cuff from the Basic Elements collection, valued at $85.

Go now and simply follow the instructions in the post on our insta account… www.instagram.com/clarequinlanjewellery