Are you intimidated by pearls? I know I am. A string of pearls is classic, timeless and so elegant. But they walk a fine line between timeless and terribly dated, or elegance and pretentious. While I do have a string, they rarely leave my jewellery box. Frankly, I’m intimidated by pearls.
Timeless or terribly dated?
I enjoy scrolling through images of vintage fashion and pearls make a consistent appearance. On paper, they look understatedly elegant. They seem to go with everything. Here’s a lady wearing them with her ‘casual’ knit top. There, they shine with a little cocktail number. Queen Elizabeth wears them all the time. And yet…
Dear Queen Liz is 96-years-old. Hardly anyone wears tweed traveling suits or knit sets anymore. Whenever I pop on my pearls, I feel as if I’m skidding into grandmother territory, and not in a cool-coastal-grandmother way either. This is especially true if I’m paring them with some of my more vintage items, like a box-pleat skirt. One can have too much of a good thing.
Elegant or pretentious?
The gentle, milky lustre of pearls is undeniably elegant. Pearl touches on wedding attire, for earrings and, yes, necklaces can look stunning. They’re classy, but without the possible flashiness of other stones or heavy gold jewellery. But …
Pearls make me feel pretentious. Perhaps it’s the connotation with royalty, or very wealthy older ladies that does it. There’s something about them that feels almost too good to be true. Do people see me wearing pearls and associate it with the snobbery of ‘old money’? Definitely not the look I’m going for.
Experimenting to find my way with pearls
For all this, I still feel the allure of pearls. I love them as earrings. I’m eyeing off this lovely drop option and might slide them onto the old wish list. But I also want to get more mileage out of the pearl necklace that sits so often unused.
Perhaps wearing them with more modern, casual outfits will help break the rich-grandma vibe. I might try them with skinny jeans and a tee shirt. What about with a blazer for a feminine-meets-masculine fit? They might work with skirt and top combo, if the skirt is a little more casual or perhaps shorter, to break the formal look. There’s plenty of inspiration out there, so I’ll have to keep experimenting and see if I can start owning the pearl aesthetic.
