I Don’t Care About Mixing Metals
An ancient pillar supporting the temple is fashion advice: do not mix your metals!
A friend of mine tells me over martinis, that she only bothers with gold jewelry, while I listen to another girl declare that her cool undertones make it impossible to wear anything but silver. My own hand wavers when I reach for a platinum bracelet at the flea market since mostly everything in my jewelry box is gold. Can I break this omnipresent rule?
This mashing of metals, in my jewelry box and on my person, is the most basic fashion faux-pas, but it is also a complete portrait of a full person. From my favorite pair of blue and silver earrings, left to me by my late grandmother, or at prom, how she gave me a thin, gold necklace to wear – the first gift my grandfather had ever given her - to an old boyfriend who bought me a silver ring just because he thought of me when he saw it. I have the jewelry I hunted for myself, the jewelry I have inherited from the women who came before me, and the jewelry I have been gifted by the men who loved me.
Self-identifying through aesthetics requires a liquid adaptability. TikTok and the rapid-fire trend cycle have bred new aesthetics every week. Let us all remember the coastal grandmothers who wore cardigans over crisp, white button-ups, the tomato girls who liked the color red, and the soft girls who painted their nails “blueberry-milk” blue. Recently, a filter was made available that could determine which color palette best suited your face, based on your hair, eye, and skin tone. Scrolling through one’s feed, you could find video after video of gasping faces, holding their hands aloft in front of the camera to tug off their rings and bemoan that they could hardly believe they had spent all their lives collecting gold jewelry when now it was so clear – they were silver girlies.
What does it mean to be the kind of girl who only wears silver jewelry? Is she so different from the girl who only wears gold? I suspect both girls, regardless of what their respective metal says about them, believe themselves to be on an elevated level above the girl who wears both at once. They know the rules of fashion, the base tenements. They are comforted by their being “in the know.” And yet. So many outfit opportunities pass them by. That top would have looked divine with a gold necklace resting just above the neckline. That silver ring would have sat perfectly on her finger, even if every other finger was adorned in gold. Wear your gold earrings with a silver necklace, be free.