This is the second post in a series on How to Choose the Right Jewelry Gift.
The first part of the series was about Narrowing down your choices.

The most popular jewelry gifts from Blend Creations are usually in the form of a necklace or pendant.  And even if the gift giver has been given specific instructions on the exact necklace to purchase, they’re often stuck when choosing the length.  (So take that as a tip if you’re dropping hints about a gift: include the length of necklace you’d like!)

There are a few considerations when choosing the right necklace length (especially if it’s a gift for someone else).

• The person’s build and height – Generally a more petite/thin person will need a shorter necklace than someone who is a larger build or taller.  This isn’t a hard and fast rule though, since you’re aiming to fit a necklace around a person’s neck and see where it sits on them. And — they may want the necklace to sit higher or lower depending on what they’re wearing (see next point). In the photos above, the female model wearing the necklace is of petite build, about 5’0″ tall  and is wearing a 16″ length leather cord.  The male model is of medium build, about 6’0″ tall and is wearing an 18″ length necklace. Both have the same pendant, but the larger person will need a longer necklace.

• What kind of necklines and collar styles do they usually wear? - Wearing a V-neck top or more open neckline will suit a longer necklace than a small, round collar.  If they tend to wear higher collars and prefer to wear necklaces on top of their shirts, then it may be preferable to go longer.
• The shape and size of the necklace or pendant – Naturally, a larger or longer pendant or necklace accent will hang down lower on the neckline than a smaller one. As such, you’ll need to factor this in when choosing the appropriate length and see whether this interferes with the type of neckline. (Compare the two sets of photos above where both models are each wearing the same necklace length, but with pendants of different sizes).

• The tensility of the necklace, chain or cord – Our steel wires and our Connection necklaces keep their round shape when worn and will sit higher than our silver chains, rubber/leather cords tend to hang with the weight of the pendant.  The torus necklaces and round necklaces will keep a V-shape. In both images below and in all images, the necklace length is 16″ — but the effect is different depending on the type of necklace/chain/cord.

• Compare with other necklaces they own – Again, a little bit of spying and comparison can help you decide the ideal length of their necklace gift.  If you’re absolutely stuck or unsure, ask the person who’ll be wearing it! Or if it’s you, take a length of string and see where the length you’re considering sits on your neckline.  Keep in mind the size of the pendant too — we put approximate sizes for all the pendants on each item page.

Our recommendation: Opt for an 18″ length as the ‘safe’ length if you’re really unsure, but choose 16″ if the intended wearer is female and of petite or thin in build. If the gift-recipient is male and/or larger, than opt for the 20″ length instead. No worries though because if the length is too short or too long, you can always exchange it for the right one too!

Stay tuned for the third part of our Choosing the Right Jewelry Gift series — Choosing a meaningful anniversary gift.

Tags: contemporary jewelry, gift giving, Gift ideas, how to choose, jewelry gift, necklace length, necklaces, pendants

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 8th, 2010 at 12:32 pm and is filed under Choosing the right jewelry gift, Gift ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.