Are You Making A Statement With Your Accessories?

A few seasons ago a new fashion term popped up – Statement Necklaces.

We all bought in, the bigger the better, the heavier the cooler, the shiniest wins. Not so much.

Think about it, if not for the term statement necklace, what would we be calling them? Garish, overdone necklaces, over-sized necklaces? I guess the term ‘statement’ does the trick – it gives you the vision without the judgement. Let’s get to the judging.

Adding accessories to your outfit is usually the last step in getting dressed, kind of like adding frosting to the cake.

The only problem with that theory is that sometimes it looks like just that – an afterthought as opposed to what we see on Katy Perry, who appears to have dressed around her necklace thereby creating the perfect outfit!

Have you ever dressed in reverse? What??? I have a fond memory of my children coming home from a day with Gram and Papa a dozen years ago exclaiming it was the best day ever – they had dessert before dinner!

Let’s accessorize before we get dressed!

Don’t worry, I am not pining for a vision of you in your birthday suit sporting dangle earrings, a belly button hoop, a waist chain, a 10-pound necklace and of course an ankle bracelet to pull it all together. But did you get a visual just then? Over accessorized a bit? You catch my drift.

You need to build the outfit around your key pieces but also include the accessories in the pre-planning stages. That’s before you even buy them!

Make sure you factor in the following considerations.

Use the word ‘avoid’ when shopping, so you don’t end up with a ‘wear’ drawer and a ‘don’t wear’ drawer as your accessories need to be comfortable!

Avoid ‘rough ‘necklaces! Be sure to do more than lay it on the counter to pay for it – actually try it on! Consider that it may not always lay on fabric, it may lay on your skin so make sure it doesn’t feel like a Brillo pad!

Avoid earrings that are too heavy (they will turn into spacers), necklaces that are too short (think choking) or too long (think boob riders), shoes that are uncomfortable (even for five seconds), bracelets so heavy they would lengthen your arm, belts so long there are inches of overhang flapping in the breeze or scarves so large they can cover Lady Liberty.

Avoid matchy-matchy. Long gone are the days when the shoes match the bag, match the gloves, match the necklace, match the lipstick. Mix it up a bit – choose complimentary or contrasting colors to pull together an interesting and creative total look.

Avoid the afterthought look! How? Touch it once…

Try playing dress up or stylist and pull out your accessories and review and revise. Are they items you would buy right now? Are they one-shot-wonders? Something you purchased for one outfit, but never wore for some reason? Are some too young looking, too cheap looking, the wrong metal color for your skin tone?

Take a white sheet, lay it on a flat surface and then fetch ALL your jewelry and you guessed it (frequent readers) put it together by category, arrange and shoot (a photo that is). In addition to creating a documented inventory of your jewelry for insurance purposes, you will now know what you have, what you like, what you don’t like (those go in the donation pile) and what might be missing! Yes, if shopping is a motivator for you then you definitely want to engage in this weekend exercise.

Once you have it all out, you may want to consider a trip to the Container Store, Bed Bath & Beyond, or the like, because it would be a shame if you just stuck everything back into that shoe box where it gets tangled and you only wear what floats to the top.

These are a few of my favorite ‘containers’ by category (of course). Shop by size (know your numbers by category), by price, and consider where these containers are going to live in your bedroom. Living on your bureau? Make sure they are pretty and coordinate with whatever else is already living there. Living in your closet on a shelf? Measure the width of the shelf before buying the boxes. Consider how they open, do you want a hinge so the top stays open while you ponder, or do you want to have a removable cover?

It should be a workable container for you, but if you are graduating from the shoe box, you should be easy to please!

Here are a few of my favorite containers.

Supersize Stackers – These modular units feature a grooved base so multiples stack securely. Add on easily as your collection grows – we know that’s going to happen!

Need more help sorting through the crown jewels? Check this past post – Does Your Jewelry Need A Makeover?

Need some style attitude of your own? Grab Confidence Is Always In Style on Amazon and learn how to rock your own style, jewelry or no jewelry!

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