Jodie Marie Smith

Fashion Month Jewellery

The Maximalists

Louis Vuitton punctuated complex, chaotic textiles with a few, rarely employed, equally erratic sets of long earrings, bangles and tightly layered matching necklaces, all composed of chunky, discordant gems chained closely together. In keeping with the spirit of the season overall, the real statement accessories were the hardware itself, with giant buckles, buttons and zips dominating the looks.

It’s negligible whether we can count Chanel as still being influential in a seasonal sense - though their codes and motifs are iconic, they have long been siloed within their own history, floating alone on an island of tweeds, pastels, pearls, quilted bags and black toe nude pumps season after season. For Spring / Summer 2023, Chanel’s runway jewellery leaned in hard to crystal belt buckles and multitudes of long layered necklaces, with double cuffs, decorated buttons, and swinging chain drop earrings foregrounding the Maison’s signature pearls. The girly maximalism seemed to directly contradict so many other runways which foresaw more restrained and concise visions of next season’s jewellery.

Saint Laurent stuck to their faithful 80s silhouettes, which still pair best with large, geometric, gold tone metal, heavy glam earrings and cuffs, though an abundance of giant, unapologetically solid jewellery shapes always feel worthy of excitement. 

Gucci’s show stuck to Alessandro Michele’s consistent ‘more is more’ ethos with a predictably wild range of references: chunky silver peanut necklaces and crucifix earrings with neon enamel accents were present within the first couple of looks. Maximum impact was achieved through many, many long fringed nose bridge masks, swathes of transparent baubles swinging from hidden headbands - appearing as though they were giant earrings - and chunky beaded fringing on bags and headpieces all kept things visually (and presumably sonically) LOUD. Though Michele is far more of a jewellery fanatic than any of his peers, his cacophonous jewellery fantasies rarely translate to real world trends in the same way others do, perhaps because the choices vary in such an extreme and incoherent way, any jewellery struggles to be heard over all of Gucci’s competing components. 

The Minimalists

Hermes felt perfectly pitched: pairing a sprinkling of silver tubular torcs and simple hoops - occasionally wrapped with leather accents - with luxurious athleisure underneath oversized, softly structured leather outerwear, a youthful springtime city dweller’s uniform for April showers. Here accessories (apart from handbags) were sparse, in keeping with the Grecian goddess X mid-00s X urgent urbanite vibe. At Fendi, you could squint hard to see a few thin slivers of silver with electric green accents on hoop earrings, rings and a couple of small chain choker necklaces. Jil Sander provides the very commercial antidote to this aesthetic, with refined but substantial ovoid links in simple hoops, slim organic bracelets, a few bubble textured collar necklaces, and tightly wrapped links in brooches, as well as accessorizing bag handles. Sander has become somewhat of a fashion jewellery star, with recent season’s pieces becoming quiet favourites amongst a cohort of New York and London-based minimalist fashion Internet personalities, epitomizing the ‘one big abstract metal pendant on a leather rope’ look that TikTok is currently misidentifying as a ‘statement necklace’ trend.

The Young Ones

Blumarine has returned to cult status for Gen Z, and had crucifixes in model’s hair, as well as on their necklaces and earrings. Ludovic de Saint Sernin is an emerging favourite of many it girls and gays, and showed only a few collar length, pastel toned crystal necklaces. Ottolinger is similarly a name of the moment, and didn’t show a speck of jewellery. Though increasingly a go-to name for young celebrities on red carpets, and having created some of 2022’s most famous fashion moments (THE skirt which launched a thousand DIY tutorials,) Miu Miu’s 2023 vision of a stressed out ballerina temping at an office job is an aesthetic that apparently left no room for the joy of jewels. 

The No Jewellery At Alls

The runways of Prada, Valentino, Off-White, Rick Owens, Victoria Beckham and too many more to mention had no jewels in sight, and a single, slim, plaited cuff in gold or silver tone made the cut on the occasional wrist at Loewe. The other dedicated futurists of the fashion pack left jewellery behind too: JW Anderson let novelty shaped fashion and accessories speak for themselves, and Christopher Kane continued to fold silver studded elements into his pieces so as to negate the need for any further ornamentation. 

Finally…

The biggest takeaway from the jewellery shown throughout fashion month was continuing to see jewellery elements become interwoven within fashion itself, rather than being considered a separate entity. At Stella McCartney, it was fine glittering chains acting as barely-there tops, heavily inspired by the designer’s own archives and the early 2000s pop princesses who adored this look. At Marni, beaded nets were the statement feature of the tops they were attached to. For Balenciaga, it was tiny necklaces wrapped around the neck of a distressed mutant teddy bear novelty bag which paired with spiked nose studs and multiple face piercings.

One clear microtrend trend emerged for Spring / Summer 2023 jewellery: transparent spheres (which a few young, independent jewellery designers have been championing for a while.) An offshoot of this is likely to be large, spherical beads in hardstones or plastics, and even more extreme mixtures of pearlescent colours, shapes and sizes - think less the cutesy beads of 2019, more Wilma Flintstone / Marge Simpson-esque mini planets orbiting our necks. Bottega Veneta showed a handful of short necklaces and stud earrings dappled with transparent, translucent and speckled stone baubles.

Mini bags have been supplanting necklaces at Fendi, novelty bags have elbowed out reality at Balenciaga, and Coperni continues to show bags that almost qualify as jewellery in their own right (one was solid gold and made in Italy.) Expect to see more fusion of fashion jewellery, accessories and novelty in seasons to come. The 80s jewellery revival (Schiaparelli, Saint Laurent) is going nowhere just yet, so big, singular stud earrings should be reaching their saturation point, as their giant desirable scale has almost outgrown what’s physically wearable. 

For the minimalists - as if the mid-00s resurgence wasn’t yet obvious enough - it’s time for silver tones and thinner forms in necklaces and bracelets. Spring / Summer always favours sporty, ethereal layers in light colours, so it’s no surprise that many runways left big pieces and gold tones behind this season. If there are pops of colour on your silver toned pieces, they should be sickly, neon, slime green (Fendi and Gucci.) On the runways, rings seemed non-existent, even at maximalist design houses. For diehard mid-00s trend followers, crucifixes are definitely back again, but think more the Gucci and Blumarine versions than Dolce and Gabbana’s.