Declutter Your Jewelry! Help Your Clients Build A Capsule Wardrobe

Merrick, NY—These days, just about everyone is trying to declutter. Multiple books, TV shows, and social media groups are dedicated to it, such as Marie Kondo’s renowned Japanese Kon-Mari method, where you only keep the things that spark joy in your life. The Facebook group called 40 Bags in 40 Days grew out of an annual Lenten challenge to clear out a bag of clutter a day for the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter every year.

Coupled with a steadily growing consumer concern for sustainability, it’s not surprising that people are focusing on paring down their possessions and their wardrobes to a “capsule,” or a limited collection of items that offer versatility and timeless style and can be worn over and over but still look exactly right. Besides sustainability, it also just makes getting dressed a lot easier.

There are multiple iterations of a capsule clothing wardrobe (although it’s just about guaranteed all of them will contain some kind of white shirt, dark blazer, and blue jeans), but there are, I think, fewer examples of a capsule jewelry wardrobe. Over more than three decades of tracking jewelry style trends, I can vouch that the list of jewelry wardrobe essentials hasn't changed all that much over the years. A tweak here and there--and the basic strand of white pearls is no longer on it--but the basics have stayed pretty consistent.

Popular fashion website Who What Wear just released its 2022 Jewelry Capsule Wardrobe of eight jewelry pieces women will wear every day (See image at right). Being, as I said, a 36-year veteran of the jewelry trade press and a former fashion editor, my kudos to author Allyson Payer. She nailed it.

How did she nail it? With classic pieces that flatter everyone and that almost every woman will like. She found the core pieces but makes them look entirely fresh. Instead of pearl strands, there are diamond necklaces and pearl earrings. There's the justright hoop and a classic bracelet watch. Only one of her picks is a trendy whimsical piece, but that’s ok. In fact, it’s more than ok, it’s important.