A wedding is the one place people most often get it wrong, usually by wearing too much. You are a guest, so the job of your jewellery is to finish the outfit and then get out of the way. One good pair of earrings and a ring is plenty. If the dress has a high neck, skip the necklace entirely and let the earrings do the work. If it is strapless, a short chain sitting on the collarbone is the safest choice you can make, and it photographs far better than a long pendant.
Wedding Guest
Stellenbosch
Office Wear
Cape Town
Most of us own jewellery for two or three occasions and then wear the same thing to all of them. That is fine, but it is also why a drawer fills up with pieces that never come out. It helps to think about the occasion first and the piece second. What you need at a Sunday lunch is not what you need at a year end function, and the difference is usually about how much movement and noise the piece makes rather than how much it cost.
Four Occasions, Four Pieces
Here are four situations that most South Africans deal with in a year, and the one piece we would actually put on for each of them.
- A wedding or a christening. Go with a pair of drop earrings that move when you turn your head, and nothing at the neck. Movement reads as effort in photographs, which is where this outfit is going to live afterwards, and it saves you fiddling with a necklace all afternoon in the heat.
- The office, or a client meeting. A pair of small hoops and one ring with some weight. Nothing that swings, nothing that makes a noise on a desk, nothing that catches on a laptop bag. The point of good work jewellery is that it looks considered and then you forget about it entirely for the next nine hours.
- A braai or a family lunch. This is the place for the chunky ring and the chain you actually like. Nothing delicate, because someone will hug you and a child will grab at it. Pieces with a solid clasp and no dangling stones survive the afternoon much better than fine ones.
- A year end function. One statement piece and nothing else. A wide cuff, a bold ring or a proper pair of hoops. Pick the one that suits whatever is bare, then leave the rest of your jewellery at home and enjoy the evening.
The thread running through all four is restraint, which is a dull word for a useful idea. Jewellery works best when there is a clear reason for each piece you have on. Two pieces chosen for a reason beat five put on because they were in the dish by the door, and the difference is obvious to everyone in the room even if they could not tell you why.
It also helps to keep the pieces where you will actually see them. A small dish or a hanging stand near where you get dressed, rather than a closed box on a shelf, means you choose from what you own instead of reaching for the same thing every day. We sell a lot of pieces to people who tell us they already have something similar at home but cannot find it. Sorting the drawer is free, and it is usually the fastest way to get more out of what is already yours before you buy anything new from us or anyone else.
Thanks for reading this far. We will have more guides for you soon, so check back.
