Necklace lengths have names. As necklaces were created to decorate famous women throughout history, terms have developed to describe each length.
Choker: A choker is a short necklace that can range from 14 to 16 inches and is designed to sit up high and close to your neck. Chokers in velvet, gold, and ribbon were all the rage in the Victorian Era, and their timeless designs remain popular today.
Style tip: Chokers look great with V-necks, scoop necks, or opened button shirts. They can be paired with a longer necklace to add even more interest to your look!
Princess: These necklaces are a mid-length and range from 16 to 18 inches, allowing them to hang between your lower neck and bust line. An 18-inch princess length is considered by many people to be the most flattering necklace length. Adding a pendant to a princess necklace will place it just below your collarbone for a great highlight.
Style tip: These necklaces can be worn with your dressiest outfits but are also perfect to dress up your V-necks and blazers for work.
Matinee: At 20 to 24 inches long, matinee necklaces sit right at the bust line. They are perfect for jewelry layering because they are longer and more dramatic than princess length necklaces.
Style tip: Wear your matinee necklaces with higher necklines or even turtlenecks. Using a shorter necklace in addition to a matinee length will help raise the focus of the necklaces from your bustline.
Opera and Rope: While an opera length can run to almost 32-inches long, on average it will sit right around your breastbone. Longer than this? Rope necklaces are the longest style and are longer than 32 inches.
We suggest that you check out your wardrobe – you may want to try on outfits that could use a boost with a beautiful necklace. See what lengths work best with the necklines and colors you have on hand – you’ll soon be able to identify what works for you!
Choose a length according to your body type, your style, and your wardrobe. Sometimes we wish we could change the length of our necklaces, depending upon what we are wearing; this is precisely why we came up with our InterchainablesTM jewelry line.
With InterchainablesTM we have created a simple way to have one necklace that is versatile enough to be worn at many different lengths.