sallyinstpaul
- May 21, 2021
- 3 min read

OOTD: Stripes With Neck Mess

To give myself a break from the intensity of the capsule wardrobe posts, I'm going to start intermingling outfit of the day posts.

My current work-from-home era has been a good time for me to experiment with necklace layering, or as Liz at Closet Play calls it, the #neckmess. (And yes, mine is more often a true mess than a carefree yet perfectly proportioned set of necklaces, so that name resonates!) Here is one I wore last Friday. The pieces are: brown/teal streaked beads interspersed with warm brown wood spacer beads (made by a friend); white faux pearl strand; faux gold bar and chain necklace set. I started with the brown bead necklace, which looks off scale for my size when worn alone, and added a few more pieces to give it some heft. I actually bought the faux pearls and gold strands specifically for layering with other pieces, so that is good to try out. As usual, I pre-planned this outfit, and I didn't test this stack of necklaces in advance.

In Liz's post, she gives some tips for creating a neck mess with harmony, acknowledging that some people will have a style that involves something more jarring. Let's see how well my attempt aligns with that advice (which I was NOT thinking about when I put this one together)!

1--Use an odd number of pieces because "the human eye lingers on (is more interested in) odd numbers." I used four pieces...but in some ways the two faux gold necklaces have the impact of one (do you see what I mean?).

2--Use brushed and matte finished pieces (rather than shiny) because they are more laid-back. The faux gold pieces are somewhat shiny and the others are not.

3--Combine metals in a ratio of 2/3 of one and 1/3 the other. My neckmess is 100% faux gold.

4--Use common shapes and textures to tie the look together. Three pieces are rounded but the bar necklace is straight.

How well does my attempt lined up with these tips? Not so well! If I were going to apply these tips to improve my stack, what might I do? Adding another thin metal chain at the top or a strand of small beads (perhaps in the 3-5 mm range) at the bottom of the given stack would bring me to the odd number of 5 strands. If this new bead strand were a medium-dark color, I think that would also help balance the dark strand on top and reduce the high value contrast of the stack by adding an intermediate value. I didn't find the semi-shiny metal or the use of 100% the same metal problematic here, so I wouldn't change that. I actually like the rounded theme of the beads and chain with that one straight bar thrown in! Maybe the straight bar relates to the straight stripes of the top, so it works OK? Or maybe that's my one "jarring" element.

The overall outfit was pretty simple otherwise: a striped blouse, rust ankle pants, and brown flats. I had also planned to wear a stretch knit denim jacket if I needed it, which I did not. (Sorry, I know a headless photo looks weird, but if my hair is wet and air-drying in one of the several strange braids/twists/etc. configurations that I use, the photo with the head is even weirder-looking!)