If you had to choose only one piece of jewellery to wear for the rest of your life, a pearl necklace would be a smart choice. A single strand of lustrous pearls can take you through your work day or your wedding day, adding a touch of effortless feminine grace to everything you wear. Fortunately, you aren't constrained to only one item in your jewellery box, so you can freely embrace all the pearl jewellery possibilities. An intricate necklace with pearl beads, a striking contemporary pearl necklace pendant or a graceful
Pearl Necklaces in a variety of lengths and styles
The single-strand pearl necklace comes in a number of traditional lengths. The shortest is the pearl collar, a length of pearls that rests just above your collarbone. More ornate collars rise up the column of your neck to emphasise a graceful off-the-shoulder neckline.
The pearl choker falls below the hollow of your collarbone and looks smart for day or evening. A princess-length strand of pearls is about 40 centimetres long - long enough to drape gracefully, yet short enough to be a practical daytime accessory. The princess strand is the most popular length, followed by the elegant opera length that falls to the centre of your chest.
A pearl rope, the longest and most dramatic length, descends to your midriff. While the traditional way to wear pearls is in a single strand, modern fashions freely mingle these lengths, so unleash your inner Coco Chanel and combine plenty of pearls as you see fit.
Another element that sets modern pearl jewellery designs apart from vintage styles is the materials used to make them. While traditional pearl necklaces required the efforts of hundreds of oysters and commanded a premium price, new techniques in cultured pearls make a genuine freshwater pearl necklace affordable.
Freshwater to Faux Pearl Necklaces
The pearls in a freshwater pearl necklace are as genuine and beautiful as wild pearls, but take only months instead of years to produce. Another alternative is a necklace of glass pearls. The glassmaker's art, not unpredictable oysters, creates these lustrous gems. Choose glass pearls for a wider range of colour options at an excellent price.
Pure pearls have an elegant traditional appeal, but pearls also make a gorgeous accent for other materials. A necklace with pearl beads interspersed with faceted crystal or coloured glass creates a bewitching contrast, while alternating colours of pearls turns a traditional design into a contemporary classic.
Another striking design is a pearl necklace pendant attached to a beaded or silvery chain. A large teardrop-shaped pearl looks stunning against a soft grey cashmere turtleneck or a high-necked black cocktail dress. Torsade necklaces twist threads of tiny pearls together to form thick ropes that make an emphatic fashion statement.
However you wear your pearls, you'll welcome them as one of the staples of your jewellery wardrobe.
