Chloe Chase Tebbutt
Edited by Lucy Kaskie
Over the years, countless jewellery trends come and go. New piercings are created as rebellious teenagers poke holes through their belly buttons or noses.From 90s chokers to cheap ear cuffs to mixing metals, the list goes on. While current trends consist of tennis bracelets, bold earrings, vintage watches, and stacked rings– the question arises what qualifies as timeless jewellery? What trends stay through the ages? – And what are students at McGill wearing today?
I asked a few people around campus about their jewellery, discovering how they choose to decorate their ears,necks, and hands in a way that feels personal to them. I got some varied answers, but most students usually kept to either gold or silver. Jewellery often has sentimental value. Whether they made their bracelet with a friend back home, or wearing a family heirloom, some of the most important pieces in their collection have nostalgic memories tucked away with them.
Sam
The first person I asked was Samantha. Sam is a self-proclaimed ‘silver girl’. Her fingers are stacked with ring after ring, some chunky, some thin. One of the thick rings she dons is a cubic, simple silver band– her mom’s from Tiffany & Co. One of her other rings is a wrap-around fish she bought on a trip to Martha’s Vineyard. Her other rings are an accumulation of forgotten shops and gifts from Pandora over the years.
Interestingly, Sam doesn’t wear earrings. She has double piercings on both sides but hasn’t worn earrings for a while. Around her neck, however, is the quintessential ‘beachy’ jewellery stack– a shell choker, a circular jade pendant, and a chain with a Pisces charm her mom bought her. Between her necklaces and rings, Sam’s rings are more important to her.
“My rings hold memories,” Sam tells me. “They hold a lot of sentimental value.”
Jane
“Mostly, I gravitate toward gold jewellery and necklaces with pendants,” Jane explains. Her go-to necklaces are a gold chain with a cowboy boot charm from Evry Jewels layered with a gold link chain from Blue Ruby. Gold suits Jane immensely, so her earrings are normally gold as well. She often switches her earrings to different golden hoop sizes, and switches her other stud piercings with a variety of colours..
One of her favourite set of gold hoops is one that matches with her friend, Quinn. They have small pearls embedded in them and are from a stand on Duluth Street. Jane’s bracelet was made by her best friend that matches the one Jane made for her. Her favourite watch is this gold Casio.
Jane doesn’t wear as many rings as she once used to but still wears one for fidgeting sometimes. The rings she does wear are from a shop in Tofino called Merge.
“I enjoy wearing the same jewellery everyday to just make myself look and feel more put together,” Jane states. “For special occasions or dressing up, I like changing my earrings and putting on more bracelets and rings sometimes. But even then I’ll have one colourful piece.”
Cicely
Cicely’s jewellery is more subtle, but still a noticeable aspect of her style. Her go-to pair of dangling pearl earrings are from Mejuri. Cicely mostly wears thin necklaces.
“My necklaces are Kate Spade and vintage,” Cicely says. “I like gold, dainty jewellery with pearls and unique pendants. I also like hearts and pink cherubs.”
I asked Cicely how she would describe her jewellery style in a few keywords that appealed to her. Her answer was simple: dainty, gold, coquette, and cute. I have to agree– Cecily’s overall style fits this description. The jewellery she wears is a direct representation of who she is and how she dresses.
Georgia
Georgia, like me, is a fan of mixing metals. She often stacks rings, since she doesn’t like the look of them sparsed, yet still wants to maximise how many she can wear at a time. Her Tiffany & Co. bracelet is a staple that she wears all the time, since her parents gifted it to her.
Georgia always has simple studs in her stomach and nose. Her bracelet combinations vary.
“I like switching up bracelet combos pretty often, because I get bored, but I’ll usually stick with the same combination for a while,” she says.
Depending on how ‘basic’ her outfit is, she likes to layer more necklaces to make it more elevated. “I like them all to be different lengths, with one piece that draws a bit more attention,” Georgia says.
Statement pieces are a favourite of Georgia’s. If she has a unique necklace, she will refrain from layering it so the focus can be just on that piece. She always wears a small gold cross.
“Big hoops are really in for me right now, just because I think they’re sexy,and add something extra as an accessory. I also only have single piercings so I like to make up for that with big hoops.”
Me
I have never been able to decide between gold and silver jewellery. I love them both too much. I like to mix metals with chunky, eclectic jewellery. This makes the mixed metals look maximalist in a really intriguing way. Here’s my go-to silver and gold jewellery.
These two pairs of silver hoops came in a set of three from a little store I don’t remember, but the thick band style makes them one of my go-to’s. For my necklaces, my gold link necklace is from Monoprix in Paris and the silver locket was a gift from my grandparents. Currently, it’s on a gold chain to mix the gold and silver together better.
I love Kate Spade– I have about 20 items from there on my wishlist and I’m currently wearing one of their hinge bracelets with the spade emblem. My silver band bracelet was my grandmother’s with her initials engraved in the centre.
Rings are perhaps the most inconsistent for me.I find them a bit too easy to lose, but I love them so much, I don’t mind anymore. My thumb ring is a silver irregular band from Michael Hill my friend bought me for graduation. The four-piece silver ring is a gift from my father when he visited a handmade jewellery store in Bermuda–it is one of my favourite pieces of all time because I have not seen anything else like it before. The gold band with dolphins is my mother’s from Tiffany’s, and the gold signet ring is one I bought for around ten dollars at Nordstrom in freshman year of highschool (another favourite).
I think jewellery is an interesting form of self-expression. It’s like clothing, but more intimate, as many of the pieces people acquire are ones that they wear every day, rather than passively or seasonally. Cecily’s jewellery suits her personality and fashion sense entirely, while Sam’s necklaces and rings clash together in an interesting, maximalist way. The same goes with Jane–gold suits her so well, but even then she needs the playfulness of colour to feel like herself. Switching jewellery can be unsettling, yet exciting depending on different wearers. Gold can look ugly and silver can look tacky, depending on which suits you more. It’s an intriguing, personal facet of fashion.
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