How long should a necklace be?

16 inches sits tight at the throat, 18 lands on the collarbone, 20 just below it, 24 reaches the sternum, 30 sits at or below the bust and 36 reaches the waist. 18 inches is the default on most listings.

Necklace length is quoted as the full loop of the chain, not the drop, so a 20-inch necklace hangs about 10 inches down. That is the first thing people get wrong when they picture it.

Measure it on yourself rather than guessing. Take a piece of string, hold it where you want the pendant to sit, and run it up and around your neck to meet itself. Measure that length flat. It is a two-minute job and far more reliable than a product photograph, because where a given length lands depends entirely on your height, your neck and your frame — the same 20-inch chain sits in genuinely different places on two different people.

The neckline matters more than the length. A 16 or 18-inch necklace collides with a crew neck, because they both occupy the same inch of space. Anything from 24 inches up clears a high neckline completely and is the easier choice with knitwear. A deep V suits something that follows it, so 20 to 24 inches.

If you are buying one length to wear with everything, 18 inches is the default for a reason, but 24 is the more useful second chain — it clears collars, layers under an 18, and works over a jumper where a shorter one disappears.

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