Silver & gold jewellery; what are the rules for mismatching colours?

I have heard the same sort of sentence a few times recently; “I love that, but I only wear silver” or “I was given a silver necklace which I love but I can’t wear it because it won’t go with all my gold jewellery”. It got me thinking, firstly, who says you can’t mix and match metals, and secondly, why restrict yourself to what you can and can’t like? The only one who is making these rules is you and as more and more people start to look at what suits their skin tone, rather than what we are ‘supposed’ to be wearing, the options suddenly open up and you are no longer restricted by what the fashion industry says is in vogue!

A few years ago I couldn’t have given away a yellow or rose gold wedding ring, but now I can honestly say that the split is about 50/50 between white metals and coloured metals. Sometimes we are even asked to make a coloured gold wedding ring to go with a white gold engagement ring, which is a sure sign that the rule book has well and truly been thrown out of the window!

Just for a minute have a think about how many times you have changed your hair or clothes style over the years. It would be completely ridiculous to wear exactly the same style all the way through your life, but for some reason people think they have to do this with their jewellery, regardless of whether they still like it or not. It has always puzzled me, and as someone who mixes my metals (I generally wear a silver ring on one hand, a yellow gold ring on the other, and a white and rose gold bangle every day) I would hate the thought of feeling restricted by what jewellery I can wear.

The beauty of so much jewellery nowadays is that you don’t have to choose, the designer makes the decision for you by using different colours in a single piece…

But what if (as I was told on Sunday) you were given a gold pendant and chain and you only wear silver coloured jewellery? The first option could be to plate it with rhodium. Rhodium is part of the platinum family and would make the piece look like white gold like the rest of your jewellery. But, the second option could be as simple as changing the chain for a white gold or silver one and keeping the pendant yellow gold. Suddenly you are incorporating your silver jewellery but adding a splash of colour with the gold. As you begin to wear more and more ‘mismatched’ jewellery, suddenly it just becomes ‘your jewellery’ and not the forgotten pieces at the bottom of your jewellery box which are loved but don’t quite go with anything else…

Do you have pieces of jewellery that are the wrong colour? Can a chain be changed or a setting be plated to start your mismatched jewellery collection? If you have pieces that you love but don’t quite ‘fit’, then why not bring them in to us to see how we can make them become your next favourite piece of jewellery!

As always, if you have any jewellery questions then please do get in touch, we are only too happy to try and help.

I hope to see you in West Malling soon.

Clare X