I wore statement jewelery for a week. Here’s what happened…
No one cared. And that’s the point.
First off, I want to start by thanking every and each one of you for the love you’ve shown my last post!!! I was truly overwhelmed by the response and it has made me even more excited to keep sharing my thoughts here.
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Now, without furder ado, let’s get into it.
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I've been finding it really interesting to see the sillhouete of jewelerry changing lately. We've been going through the transition between a minimal, predominantly gold, “clean-girl” set of delicate chains, small hoops and thin bands to a more maximalist, sometimes even over-the-top set of chunky bracelets, long necklaces and pendant earrings. There has been a recent ressurgence of tassels, shells, stones, sterling silver and an all-around emphasis on adornement that I'm all here for.
While I do wear some eye-catching pieces of jewelry when going out, I rarely do so in my daily life. In turn, I usually opt for minimal options, as I believe a lot of us do. This is both because I’m usually in too much of a hurry in the morning to think too hard about jewelry styling and also because I feel kind of uneasy at the thought of wearing something that may draw too much attention to myself at work. I worry someone might look at my bangles or my pendant necklace and think something along the lines of “Where does she think she is?” which is, objectively, absurd.
That's why I wanted to push this imaginary boundary that I’ve set for myself, especially since I’m always looking to actively bring together my “work” and “out of work” selves. This is why I decided to challenge myself to wear statement jewelry to work for a week, and I specifically wanted to wear some necklaces I thrfited recently.
Sunday
My week usually starts on sunday, and then I have fridays off - saturdays vary (just the fun, laid-back life of a junior doctor). Anyways, here what I wore to kick off the weeek:
I chose an organic pendant necklace with a leather cord on top of a long knit vest (a blank canvasm if you will). Looking back, I would've liked to let the necklace fall a bit further, since it's adjustable, and elongate the sillhouete even more. I think the red flats add a fun pop of color to keep this from an all black-and-white look.
You'll see that everyday I aimed for a more minimal look in order to really make the necklace a statement, relying on it to make my outfit more interesting (a trick that works specially well for warm weather, which I talked about here).
Monday

Monday was a day for the tassels.
As an individual piece, this is very boho-adjacent. I think a boho style is absolutely beautfil, but it just isn't for me. So, whenever I style this necklace, I ask myself “what can I wear that will take me the farthest away from hippie territory?” and I try to go the other way and lean harder into modern, sharp and minimal than I normally would. There's also something about the juxtaposition of such a “soft” piece against a “hard” outfit base that is very interesting to me.
Tuesday
I repeated the organic pendant necklace, this time with a very straight-forward b&w look that required 0% of my brain cells to put together. Allas, the beauty of statement pieces, they really put all the work in for you.
This time I shortened the cord to make the necklace fall just bellow my collarbone, which felt right for this specific look.
Wednesday
I added a bit of color with this cream blazer and navy pants - they have this fold over detail that make them look like the love child between trousers and a sarong - and paired them with the tassel necklace. This is the closest I've come to art teacher territory and I counted on the little slingback heels and the sharpness of the blazer to counter the vibe.
Thursday
For the last day, I wore this silver beaded necklace (also thrifted). I wanted to play with the silver of it all, so I paired it with my also silver Torys and an all black look with just a peek of a white tank underneath.
After all that, here's what happened: No one cared. Honestly, I don’t think people even noticed it.
This was nothing groundbreaking or life-changing, but that's the point. I'd placed an unnecessary load over these pieces that had me thinking “I wish I could wear these in my daily life” — but the thing is no one besides the voices in my head told me I couldn't.
This week pushed me out of my comfort zone and proved to me that it was trully all in my head. I felt just as professional as I do any given day, and also felt like myself, I even had an extra little kick in the step from trying something new.
I feel excited to keep exploring this and might to another post in the future over styling these bigger pieces!
Anyway, the gist is: if you feel the same way about something you “wish you could wear to xyz” or “wish you could pull of”, take it from me: girl, you can. It's not that deep.
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See you at the end of your next shift,
Beijinhoss xx
I’m a huge jewelry person and loved seeing all of these necklaces, especially your long tasseled piece - so many great finds at resale.