How to wear a gold chain

How to wear a gold chain - The Guardian

Posted: 31 Jan 2020 05:00 AM PST

Sorry, Meghan Markle, it was a close call. Apologies, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, but you can't win everything. Of all the best-dressed women of the past year, there is one style icon who leaves them standing. And that is quite obviously Shiv Roy from the HBO show Succession.

Not since Cher Horowitz in Clueless has an on-screen wardrobe skewered the alpha-female zeitgeist so perfectly. Where Cher rocked mini-kilts, spaghetti-strap layering and Alaïa-devotion, Shiv wears silk blouses in muted tones of toffee and oyster that whisper of an elevated taste level, and gossamer-fine knitwear that oozes stealth wealth. Also, she wears high-waisted tailored trousers better than almost anyone since Katharine Hepburn.

And she always wears a gold necklace. Hers is not the could-be-accidental, glimpsed-at-the-neck mode of necklace-wearing. Her bling takes pride of place. Over a sleek roll neck, with no other jewellery except a discreetly expensive pair of stud earrings, Shiv wears her necklace like a gold medal around her neck, like the winner she is.

The gold chain is back in fashion. Chunky chains not seen since the days of Eric B & Rakim and LL Cool J have made a catwalk comeback, at JW Anderson in London and at Milan fashion week, thanks to new British designer Daniel Lee at Bottega Veneta. Jewellery lingo that has lain dormant in fashion since the 1980s is being heard again. If you are a little rusty on the difference between a belcher and a curb chain, now is probably a good moment to look it up.

A chunky gold necklace does the job that statement earrings have long done, which is to add a layer of interest (intrigue, even) to a sleek, simple outfit. A conversation piece, a clue to your personality. Sort of like perfume, except that jewellery stays on all day. A gold necklace has a subtly different impact on your look from earrings. Because it is a piece that men wear as well as women – and because it has overtones of medals and ceremonial jewellery – it decorates without softening. It is a tougher kind of glamour.

We have reached the point in the winter when all you want to wear is jeans and trousers, while also being bored senseless by wearing jeans and trousers. A gold chain might bring just enough newness to see you through the still-dark days to spring, then summer – and after that, most excitingly of all, series three of Succession.

• Jess wears chain, £6.99, and trousers, £24.99, both hm.com. Jumper, Jess's own. Hair and makeup: Samantha Cooper at Carol Hayes Management using Living Proof and MAC Cosmetics.

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