Jewellery is the ultimate accessory to consolidate your style, adding aesthetic interest and a layer of personality that brings out the best in your outfit.

Wearing matching jewellery – that is, items of jewellery that complement one another and the outfit as a whole, more than just matching jewellery sets – can enhance your outfit, adding the cherry on top of your fashion choices to help you best express your personal style.

Having said this, it can be difficult to tell if your jewellery really ‘goes together’ – and this seems to get more difficult the more you look at it.

With this in mind, here are our top 4 tips to help you coordinate your ethical & sustainable jewellery choices.

First, choose a focal point.

It’s a lot easier to mix and match your jewellery if you have a statement piece, or even a more subtle item that you’re intent on wearing with a particular outfit, on which to base the remainder of your jewellery choices. This could be a necklace with a huge eye-catching pendant or your most beloved ring.

Once you’re wearing your non-negotiable jewellery item, it’s a lot easier to figure out the other jewellery that should be drafted into your outfit.

Don’t be scared to contrast colours.

While mixing and matching jewellery of similar hues can help to tie together the elements of your look, it’s a myth that in order to ‘match’ the jewellery has to be the same colour.

Contrasting colours can also work, drawing the eye and helping the wearer make a statement with their outfit. For example, turquoise and yellow make a great pairing, echoing the colours of the seaside, which can enhance the appearance of any summery outfit – and there are countless more examples of ‘clashing’ colours that work well together.

However, bear in mind that wearing two pieces of jewellery with ‘clashing’ colours is a bold statement, so you shouldn’t overdo the effect by choosing to wear exclusively clashing jewellery, as the effect could be visually distracting and dissonant.

Instead, just use one or two statement pieces and pair them with more subtle jewellery items, such as gold bands or dainty silver chains.

Consider layering your jewellery – the right way.

Layering is a really cool way to accessorise with your jewellery, allowing you to show off a number of your favourite items at once and using complementary pieces to enhance the beauty of each piece and improve the aesthetic of your outfit as a whole.

However, layering jewellery is easy to get wrong, and your style could end up looking busy and a bit all-over-the-place.

As a general rule, to prevent yourself going over the top and attracting every metal detector within a 10 mile radius, it’s a good idea to stick to layering jewellery in one area: for example, stacking rings on your hands, layering necklaces on your neck or wearing a selection of bracelets and bangles on your wrist.

When layering necklaces, it’s a good rule of thumb to choose a statement piece – which should also be the longest necklace you wear – and to choose progressively more subtle jewellery items to sit higher up your neck.

Likewise, the thickness of the chain should generally decrease as you pick the pieces to sit higher up your neck; delicate chains with small pendants are great for creating a layered effect for this reason.

All in all, two to five necklaces is the ideal number to achieve the greatest aesthetic from your necklace layering.

When stacking rings on your hand – or bracelets on your wrist – there are fewer faux pas you can make to ruin the effect of your look.

For example, you can stack rings – or bracelets – on both hands, as well as mix and match different thicknesses, colours and metals; simply use your common sense to judge when enough is enough.

Mix and match different sets of jewellery.

To make your aesthetic more cohesive, you can integrate actual matching jewellery sets into your final look – it’s a complete myth that, when wearing a set of matching jewellery, you can only wear that set.

While this might be a better course of action if you’re going to a dressy event – where less is usually more – when it comes to choosing jewellery to go with your day-to-day outfits, wearing multiple jewellery sets, such as sets of rings and necklaces, can be used to add more to your look while ensuring a cohesive theme throughout your style.

Journal image features our Silken Stud Earrings and Emily Necklace in Blue.