Use a cluster of bracelets to adorn a bevy of outfits

 

When you hear the words “add polish to your outfit” do you get a little queasy? Uneasy? Like you wonder what that even means? Or why it’s important?

Well, I think I’ll go all fashion-psychology on you. I think it’s essential to add interest or polish to those two-to-four pieces of clothing you’re wearing because it’s what slows down the eye so your audience can engage with you. Your accessories are what makes it “better to see you with, my dear.”

Who’s your audience? It can be your husband, kids, the neighbors, co-workers, friends, or strangers on the street. Our jewelry pieces are wonderful little neon signs that say, “Hey, I’m interesting. You might want to get to know me. You might want to listen to what I have to say.” Jewelry has the power to do the flirting for you through movement, sparkle, interesting materials, eye-catching design. And when I mean flirting, I mean flirting with life; letting life know you’re here, right here in your spot on the planet where you are being you, radiant you.

Adding polish to an outfit is good for your well-being. The message “polish” sends is more useful and meaningful than you can realize. I won’t be discussing all those useful and meaningful ways right now because I bet you’d like to know how to add polish in an easy way. Well, done and done, I’m on it!

 

These individual items are flirty pieces I use to add polish to my outfits

 

 

I’m going to focus on items I wear on my wrist. I’ll be using my Calleen Cordero leather cuff, a gunmetal bangle with cutouts and tiny diamonds, a fringed metal and silk banded bracelet, a cluster of gunmetal bracelets that don’t come undone, and my stainless watch with a black face. By wearing one, two, or three of them at once, I add more and more impact to an outfit. In this case, because they’re all in a similar tone, I can add multiples without it seeming like too much.

As I’ve gotten older, I love to adorn the real estate right around my wrist area. It’s a perfect place to add attention because who doesn’t talk with their hands. Your wrist adornment gets noticed and does much of that flirting I was talking about. (This is especially good if you’re a shy person.) You don’t need to have bracelets running all the way up your elbow but if you do, awesome! I tend to focus on two to four inches of space width-wise.

 

 

When I get dressed in the morning, I tend to use what I feel like wearing. There isn’t any one right decision. They could all work.

On this day I wore the leather metallic cuff, the fringed banded bracelet and the bangles that link together. I liked how it filled in that space once I rolled my sleeve up.

 

 

Another day I was wearing my Rag & Bone full cut pants and my high-l0w Chico’s blouse. Wearing my wrist jewels in these neutral charcoal and black colors makes such great magic with black and white. Notice that these bracelets have a relationship to my hair color.

I’m willing to invest in jewelry that repeats my hair color or hair highlights because I know I’ll wear them all the time. When in doubt, wear jewelry that repeats part of your coloring. It’s like adding texture to your outfit. Texture is good because texture is interesting.

 

 

On this day, I was wearing my double polka dots: my Chico’s polka dot jacket and my Kate Spade polka dot handbag iPad bag that I got for half price at Toss in San Anselmo. (One of my shoe peeps at Nordstrom thought it was a Kate Spade bag. I didn’t come up with that on my own!)

I wanted my jewelry to take some of the fun out of the polka dots. Polka dots can get a little carried away, like six-year-olds at a birthday party who eat way too many cupcakes. “Woo hoo!” say the dots.

So I wore my watch, my bangle with cutouts and diamonds and my cluster of gray bangles that stick together. It seemed like the right amount of wrist adornment to bring a bit of sophistication to the dots.

 

 

Don’t get me wrong! You know how much fun I like to have with clothes. But wouldn’t you agree that the wrist adornment does a good job of curbing the enthusiasm of the dots so you see the whole outfit and not just dots?

 

 

Are you ready to create a cluster of items that you can mix and match as you adorn your wrists? I’d love to hear your experience with adornment. I know we all would! Bring it on.

(A special note: No chickens were harmed in the taking of these photos.)