A few years in the past I purchased a classic gold chain, prompted initially by type concerns.
One was the very fact I put on so many fewer equipment – ties, handkerchiefs – regardless of nonetheless loving them as works of magnificence, and of craft. Sadly they don’t say what I wish to with clothes anymore – which is a product of each the way in which society has modified and I’ve modified myself. We’ve written about this rigidity earlier than right here, and about sporting handkerchiefs much less right here.
A series as a chunk of jewelry doesn’t supply the identical choices for design and expression, nevertheless it does seem sometimes, pleasingly, inside the road of an open-necked shirt, or on the again of the neck when sporting a crewneck or T-shirt. It’s one thing ornamental in the identical space of the physique.
That look of a sequence behind the neck was one other issue for me, this time by way of what flatters me.
I really like sporting T-shirts and crewneck sweaters on their very own, however I’m at all times conscious that they’re not probably the most complimentary factor. I’ve a comparatively lengthy, slim neck and I do know collared shirts will at all times flatter me extra. They body the face and lead the attention in direction of it.
This impact has turn into much less pronounced lately as I’ve bulked out (I’m just about one chest dimension up from 10 years in the past) however on the flip facet, turns into extra pronounced as you age and the whole lot turns into rather less agency.
The good factor a few chain is that it offers some extent of give attention to the again of the neck, virtually like one other T-shirt collar. I’ve used neckerchiefs to realize the identical factor up to now, however that’s a barely extra dandyish type and never one I at all times need.
Different components in my resolution have been the truth that I like jewelry, however discover it onerous to put on it in ways in which aren’t too daring for me. (I put on an occasional cuff or bracelet, however one thing just like the turquoise rings just a few buddies put on really feel an excessive amount of.)
And I used to put on a sequence once I was an adolescent, which got here again to me as quickly as I began attempting new ones. This did really feel like me – on some half-buried psychological stage.
However what chain to get? Diving headfirst into this rabbit gap, one of many issues I realised was that the primary components have been width and size.
Chains for males don’t range in type as a lot as for ladies, however in frequent with different jewelry (or glasses) a millimetre right here or there could make a distinction. Chains vary in width from 1mm or 2mm as much as very chunky 6mm or 8mm – although by that time it’s a really completely different look.
Analysis on-line additionally proved fairly limiting, and it was seeing choices in person who introduced the whole lot into focus. I’d extremely advocate doing so for those who can; most excessive streets nonetheless have a jewellers of some kind, even when a lot of the choice is ladies’s.
The most effective vary I discovered was at Michael Rose within the Burlington Arcade, and I ended up having good conversations with Michael there and different workers. They have been very educated and pleasant, and I believe I’ll do a second piece subsequent week on Michael’s opinions about classic jewelry and my chain specifically. After 30-plus years of doing it he has just a few.
In individual it turned clear that 2.5mm to 3mm was a very good width for my chain – not too delicate, positively there, however not too daring or chunky both.
Subsequent the size. That is pushed largely by sensible concerns. I didn’t need my chain to return swinging out of my shirt, however I do wish to at all times undo two buttons – it simply looks as if a extra flattering ‘V’ form, not tight and buttoned up.
For that to work, however the chain not be super-long, one thing round 25-26 inches appeared good on me. Once more, attempting chains in individual made this extra concrete.
One other frequent size for a sequence is one thing that hangs visibly within the open neck of a shirt, and is typically worn on prime of knits and T-shirts. Lucas wears a sequence on this mode and it’s 24 inches – however keep in mind that he has a 17-inch neck and mine is 15.5, in order that makes a giant distinction. Certainly top does too – it is a query of ratios identical to trouser rise or cuff width.
Lastly, the design of the hyperlinks. While you look on-line you shortly perceive the primary sorts – belcher chain, field chain, curb, cuban, wheat, rope, figaro. There’s no level describing all of them right here, and the choice is basically a private one, however my normal recommendation could be to err in direction of the refined and extra masculine.
Curb chains have specific associations, however solely after they’re huge and chunky. Rope can look a bit female and figaro a bit fussy, however most others are good. As soon as extra, strive them in individual.
Mine is a variation on a field chain known as a ‘thriller chain’ which implies that it has metal hyperlinks contained in the gold ones, making it stronger. It’s an attention-grabbing element that Michael mentioned lots of people don’t realise is there except the jeweller factors it out. Even many jewellers don’t recognise it.
Other than the metal aspect, mine was 18ct stable rose gold – however a really refined rose, much less copper than a lot of the rose golds at the moment. Being 18ct it price simply over £1000, which was about what I used to be trying to spend – this was an funding and one thing I used to be going to put on virtually day-after-day.
Now, the issue with this logical rundown of an article is that it suggests there’s limitless selection with chains – that’s it only a case of figuring out what you need. In actuality, classic chains will not be that frequent and getting rarer. They are typically higher made, extra uncommon and higher worth, however the provide is finite.
One factor jewellers usually do due to this fact – and did in my case – is lower down previous chains that have been initially supposed for one thing else. While you have a look at classic items sitting on a bust in a jeweller’s window, a few of them might be longer than they seem, as a result of they have been initially supposed for issues like hanging a lady’s cuff round her neck, or one other piece of clothes.
Luckily with me the one I appreciated was considered one of these longer items, and might be lower all the way down to the size I needed. Once more, happily what was left was sufficient to promote individually – in any other case I’d have needed to pay for your entire size (and probably make it into one thing else, if I needed).
As for the pendant, this was a gift from my spouse, an previous pocket-watch winder in rose gold with tourmaline and bloodstone on both facet.
Why that? Occupied with it, I believe it’s finest to go away that out – one thing like that is private, between the 2 folks concerned, and shouldn’t be overrationalised. The one vital factor is it means one thing to you, and in my case it’s one thing folks hardly ever see as effectively, that I hold near my coronary heart. Or somewhat near my chest.
