Mix and Match Your Jewellery

Which would you rather have – 100 cheap fashion jewellery items or one or two expensive items of fine jewellery?  The answer to this question varies depending on your own personal preferences of course but I’ll give my own opinions as a lover of all things jewellery related.

If you’re actually choosing your jewellery based solely on current trends and fashion then the answer is of course (unless you are very rich) to have many cheaper pieces because fashion changes so quickly and you’ll be replacing your jewellery often.  You’ll always be able to keep up to date with trends as the high street will normally stock fashionable items, and magazines and the internet will help you stay right on the cutting edge of what’s in.

However if you choose your jewellery as more of a personal statement than a fashion statement you probably don’t have quite such a “throwaway” attitude to your jewellery items.  In fact, going to the
other extreme you might only own a handful of pieces but those pieces will be classic fine jewellery items that you wear very often, almost as a personal “signature” look.  I think this is something I might consider when I’m about 50 or older as I think fine jewellery can look very elegant particularly on older women.

Most people, in my experience are somewhere in the middle and this writer is definitely one of those.  For example, you will probably remember there was recently a trend for stars: star patterned fabric on clothes and particularly star themed jewellery were being worn by many celebrities.  All the top designers were coming out with star jewellery to keep up with the current fashion and the high streets were following this theme with cheaper plastic or glass fashion jewellery items.  Now, I have always loved stars, and already had a lot of star pendants and jewellery before this trend, but when they became really popular for a short time I was able to buy many more items of jewellery to add into my star theme and for a little while my jewellery was the height of fashion.  Because I genuinely love stars, however, I’ll be wearing star jewellery for years, just because it’s a statement about me and I don’t care whether it’s fashionable or not. However I’ll mix them with more trendy items and also with some of my more expensive fine jewellery depending on the occasion because I like to create unique looks, while also being influenced by what’s fashionable at the time.

I think most people sit somewhere around this view but it’s important to choose jewellery you like the look of and not just items because they are fashionable, and above all there are no hard and fast rules that say you can choose EITHER fine jewellery or cheap fashion jewellery – in fact you can have a lot of fun mixing and matching the two!

Is designer jewellery worth the money?

Designer jewellery (and clothes, whilst we’re at it) might look fashionable; but what are we paying for, really? The fancy box the bracelet comes in? The bag it is packaged in? Designer brands were invented specifically for the rich to have a way to flaunt their money in a fashionable way, and for jewellery gangs to have something glamorous to steal. OK, I’ll admit it – even I have had a weak moment where I’ve trawled down New Bond Street at peeked in the window at Tiffany & Co longingly, but then something brings me back down to earth.

I could probably go into Primark and find a replica of the exact bracelet for thousands of pounds cheaper; no, that’s not me being a ‘cheapskate,’ it’s me being rational. The truth is the only designer brands I own say “Anna,” written in red marker pen on the label. And I’d like to keep it that way. (Of course, if I win the lottery tonight, my view might change completely.)