Wearing it all at once
Heavy necklaces and statement earrings together — the combination that used to be a mistake.
The old instruction was to pick one — big earrings or a big necklace, never both. Fall 2026 shows both at once, repeatedly, at houses that know exactly what the rule was. That is a deliberate rejection rather than an oversight, and it is the clearest single illustration of the maximalist turn.
Doing it without looking cluttered comes down to spacing rather than quantity. The eye needs somewhere to rest between the two, which means the necklace has to sit low — sternum or below — if the earrings are long. Big earrings with a choker puts everything in one crowded band around the throat and is the version that goes wrong. Long earrings, low necklace, nothing in between.
A second technique is to let one of the two be quiet in colour while the other is loud. Gold chandelier earrings with a heavy but plain gold collar works because the necklace supplies mass and the earrings supply movement. Two brightly coloured pieces fight.
There is a limit and it is worth naming: hands. Layering the neck and the ears is the trend. Adding stacked bracelets, several rings and a cuff to that puts metal in every direction, and the effect stops reading as considered. Pick the upper half or the lower half.
The clothes underneath matter more than usual here. Layered jewellery needs a plain surface to sit against — a fine knit, a plain tee, an open shirt. Against a pattern, or against anything with detail at the neckline, the pieces stop reading as jewellery and start reading as clutter, which is the difference between the runway version and the version that goes wrong in a photograph.
Practically, the thing that ruins a layered look is tangling, and the fix is weight rather than length. Chains of similar mass swing at the same rate and wrap around each other within the hour; a fine chain, a medium chain and a weighted pendant do not. A layering clasp — one magnetic bar holding several chains at the back — costs a few dollars and removes the problem entirely.
How to wear it
- Long earrings with a low necklace. Never long earrings with a choker.
- One of the two supplies mass, the other supplies movement — not both.
- Neck and ears, or wrists and hands. Both at once is where it tips over.
Sources
This page reports what the fashion press published. We have not handled any of the products below. How we work.
- W Magazine — The 14 Biggest Accessory Trends From the Fall 2026 Runways (read Aug 14, 2026)
