Gold Necklaces: Handpicked Looks Chosen by Real Women

The one I actually reach for is the plain fine chain, the one that's been on since I got dressed and is still on when I take my make up off at night, because it's the first thing you put on and the last thing you think about taking off. Layered under a jumper, sitting on top of a plain tee, catching the light at a neckline that would otherwise look a bit bare, it's the thing that makes you look like you made an effort when you absolutely did not.

It has its limits though, and gold jewellery on the high street has a habit of making you find them the hard way. Anything too fine tends to tangle the second it meets a scarf or a coat zip, and you end up picking at a knot at your collarbone in a changing room mirror, swearing under your breath. It's also the wrong call for anything sporty or properly outdoorsy, it'll flip about and catch on things, and if you've got a top with a high neck or a lot of detail already going on, a necklace just gets lost or fights for attention it doesn't need to have. Thin layered pieces especially can look a bit costumey with anything that already has embellishment, beading, sequins, a statement collar, pick one focal point and let the other rest.

How it wears depends entirely on what it's plated with, and that's the bit nobody tells you in the shop. Proper gold plate over a decent base will hold its colour for a good while if you keep it away from perfume and the shower, both of which strip the finish faster than anything else. Cheaper plate goes thin and a bit brassy looking at the clasp and wherever it sits against skin, usually within a few months of regular wear, and once it starts going there's no bringing it back. Taking it off before you sleep, wipe it over now and then with a soft cloth, and store it flat rather than in a tangled heap, all of that buys you real time. A necklace that's gone patchy at six months was never going to make it to a year, no amount of care fixes base metal showing through.

It suits far more of the year than people give it credit for, honestly, it doesn't care about season, it cares about neckline. V necks, boat necks, anything with a bit of collarbone on show, that's where it earns its spot, winter layered under knitwear, summer sitting on bare skin where it actually gets seen properly for once. Keep it away from busy prints and heavy collars and it'll quietly make that plain top in your drawer look like you planned the outfit rather than grabbed it off the chair.