It's not the newest trend on the block, but we're seeing more and more of it: women wearing about 20 pounds of necklace. To wit:
We're not crazy about it. Whatever happened to the old adage of taking one thing off before you walk out the door? Don't get us wrong, we love big chunky jewelry as much as the next queen, but Sarah and Nina are looking a little weighed down here, wouldn't you say? We hope they're taking their calcium supplements or they're both gonna wind up hunch-backed after a couple of nights out looking like this.
At least Nina's look is a little unified. Sarah looks like her house was on fire and she grabbed every necklace she owns before running out the door.
What do you say, ladies? Too much, just enough, or more, more, more?
[Photos: WireImage]
105 comments:
I happen to like Sarah's. It's eclectic, but it's also very bohemian, and that's an aesthetic that works well. And just because Nina's is "matchy-matchy" doesn't make it right; in fact, that off-white is kind of gross and grandmotherly.
Oh, wow, they look like I do after going to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I didn't know it was the newest fashion statement, though. I confess I love big clunky costume jewelry, but I think a little moderation might be in order here.
I think it's distracting, in a bad way. It reminds me of a little girl who snuck into her mom's jewelry. Uck.
Uhhh...SJP's necklaces go from liquid silver at the distal to "jumbled memories of Tuscon" at the proxmial. WTF?
That's a lot of look.
Sarah's is too much for me and I would rather have one look or the other. I would have picked the top and maybe lower it down a couple inches. Looks like they may strangle her in a little bit.
I don't like Nina's style. I never got those long flapper-style necklaces that go down to one's crotch. Not appealing in my point of view, but I'm very minimalist when it comes to jewelry.
I think it's way, way too much but then again, I rarely wear any jewelry.
TLO SAY:
"We're not crazy about it. Whatever happened to the old adage of taking one thing off before you walk out the door?"
The real horror here is ... maybe that's exactly what they did.
Sarah needs to lose that lucky charm assembly nearest her throat. It looks like something a middle-aged woman would may in her jewelry-making annex class. It drags the whole look into the realm of the tacky.
And Nina's just a little too close to Christina-Crawford-pearls-on-black-turtleneck for comfort.
If 'less' is 'more,' think how much more 'more' would be!
Hideous. A clear case of the trend wearing the woman.
Too much!
Any one of the three necklaces that SJP was wearing would have been enough, and Nina's top is enough decoration without needing more, the necklace does make her look grandmotherly.
Just because a particular look is a trend does not mean it's a good look.
Nina's appears to be one necklace, while Carrie's (oops I mean Sarah Jessica Paaaarker) is wearing 42!
Less will always be more ...
PS - PittyPat mentioned Mardi Gras ... yeah, that's about the only time the "Mr T look" is appropriate, unless of course you're Mr T ...
Losing an item before you go out ?
Never heard it. Love it. Will use it.
Speaking of Mr T, I think we need an A Team of gays who get called in to avert the latest bad fashion trend.
I actually think Nina's is worse, but I'm not crazy about either. I think it can work with the right necklaces on the right person with the right outfit, but I think that, in reality, it's most often disastrous.
However, I refuse to let my baby's daddy Mr. T be blamed for this fiasco.
Sarah Jessica Parker is starting to look like Maddona, or is it the other way around?
I like lots of necklaces. It works particularly well with semi precious stones. I remember a picture of Drew Barrymore wearing tons of rough cut peridot with a black dress and Sharon Stone wearing all these different turquoise necklaces with a pink gown, both of those really stand out in my memory.
But,I hate it when something *I* like to do occasionally becomes a "trend".
Too much and very distracting.
I’m loving the layered necklace trend, but I hate when the strands get all tangled-up. I think you have to be young to pull it off.
It's so old-timey looking and not in a good way.
I know that I'm in the minority here, but...I like the look. A lot.
SJP's look is more appealing because it makes for a much more cohesive, unified and interesting statement than NG's because her jewels seem to be working against each other and appear to weigh her down (the pearls also brought back memories of "pop-it" beads my mom wore ions ago which were great to play with as a toddler and budding fashionista, but not so chic on grown women).
Is there something so wrong or distasteful with having fun with fashion and trying something a little different or out of the proverbial box (of jewels, that is...lol)? Does everything have to be so paired-down, scaled-back, minimalist and conservative all of the time?
For me, I love the eclecticism of this trend and and have worn similar looks in the past and will most definitely try it again.
- edina -
P.S. Fire away!
Chunky layered necklaces? Too much!
(in Pirate voice:) That is entirely too much booty.
Next thing you know, we'll all be wearing those old automobile hood ornaments again!!
I think it's ok if you choose simple chains all of the same material.
I totlly agree with pittypat. My first thought was Mardi Gras time! How much boobage did they have to flash for those beads?
Tacky, tacky, tacky.
Sewing Siren said...
"Sarah Jessica Parker is starting to look like Maddona, or is it the other way around?"
Same doctor perhaps?
Remember those hair salons where every blue-hair came out with exactly the same do . . . facial expression is starting to follow that trend.
Isn't that funny, my first thought was that Nina's necklaces clash violently with her dress. Too much! My retinas are burning!
SJP is also too too, but it didn't hit me in the face the way Nina's did.
i'm generally not a fan, however I like my jewelry pretty simple. The only time I care for the multi-necklace look is when the necklaces are in a smaller scale.
I kind of like Sarah's, I don't know, I go back and forth on that.
Boys, put down whatever you've been smoking. Nina's all wrong. In addition to all the busy crap on her garment, she has to add THAT MUCH MORE? No. Listen, if anyone looks like she grabbed all her stuff on the way out of a burning house, it's ninagarciaformerlyofellemagazine. Your eyes don't know where to look! I got a damn migraine after just a few seconds of the image. I'd hate to have to sit across from her at dinner or, god forbid, endure cocktail hour with that staring back at me.
Horrid, both of them. Absolutely no taste whatsoever.
For everyone loving the chunky stuff, come on down to our store in NJ. We've got some great bracelets and necklaces made from old game pieces, bakelite, dice and typewriter keys.
(sorry - shameless plug, but we gotta make a living.)
SJP and Nina go way over the top with the look but, hey, it got them some blog coverage. Sometimes the not-quite-right looks get more press than the perfect ones.
I love me some big costume jewelry and I like that top piece of SJP's, but the rest? ick.
The Renaissance Spanish pricess thing works for La Nina and if her dress didn't have studs on it I wouldn't have blinked an eye.
Sewing Siren said, Sarah Jessica Parker is starting to look like Madonna, or is it the other way around?
Funny you should say that (assuming you were referring to lots-n-lots of necklaces), as I was about to ask, Anyone remember the '80s? I'm ambivalent about the look; maybe I'd like it better if I liked any single one of those necklaces, but I don't. And Nina's immediately put me in mind of that '80s fad (for which Madonna was quite literally the poster girl) of wearing strands & strands of big fake pearls, along with oversized crosses, and rubber ring bracelets and big hair clippies and scrunchies. Makes me shudder just to remember it.
A float in a parade!
Nice store, Bill! So, is that you & Ed in your profile picture?
hey bomber - I worked with a lifer diner waitress (straight out of central casting) back in the 80's. We had a young woman working in the restaurant who idolized Madonna and did the whole nine yards as far as the beads, necklaces, crucifixes, hair clips, etc. My buddy, Che Che, took one look at her and said, "I guess she didn't know what to wear so she wore everything."
Thanks, Brooklyn Bomber! It's really a special place that Ed has created.
And yes, that's me on the left and Ed in the red cap.
ewwww.
HORRIBLE!!! They look like whorehouse madams.
Nina's isn't that bad, but combined with all those studs/buttons or whatever those are, it's just way too busy and distracting. At least Sarah added some color to hers, and I'm a sucker for beautiful stones.
I sort of like SJP's necklace "combo", but Nina's is kind of a disaster, but to me the main problem is not the necklace but her dress, with all the trim that LOOKS like pearls. maybe if the dress would have been plain, then the necklace would have been better.
Great links Bill!
I like the "Ghost" necklace with a Laura Bennett LBD for cocktails, the "Round up" braclet with a sleeveless gingham frock for board game night, and the "Candy Wrap" braclet with a green glitter cocktail dress for Atlantic City.
As far as clunky jewelery goes, I think one necklace is enough. It can be really cute with the right outfit...but once you get to two it starts to be a little unecessary.
I don't know how those women's necks hold up to that. I had a necklace with one pendant that started to hurt my neck...how do they put up with those?!
Too much ticky tacky.
Too much "busy".
Kzspot
SJP is a tiny woman - height and width. This is too much look for someone her size.
Stick Nina's necklaces with Sarah's dress, and you have something.
I think these are fine tributes to the unique accessory stylings of the beloved Johnny Depp. Perhaps he came by and helped them choose approriate jewelry for a big night out on the town. Who better to emulate? He certainly garners his share of attention.
But, then again, maybe it was the rum before they got dressed.
Cindi
I love them both!
Bill, love you guys' store, too. Have looked around at it before.
I agree with you guys. Too much. To quote Tim Gunn, "that's a lotta look!"
I love big jewelry. Especially big vintage jewelry. But "breastplate" is never a good look, unless you have superpowers and/or a blood relationship to Zeus.
Both of those looks are just too much. Neither one is, in the words of Nina herself, "aesthetically pleasing". :-\
I really like the one chunky, eclectic piece that SJP is wearing, its all the rest of those necklaces that spoil it. Nina's is a mess, and the black and white really doesn't suit her. I think mixing is great, but it needs to be done artfully, and both of these ladies have missed it with these looks.
Another Laura gets it; the last time anybody wore that much jewelry and looked good in it, Elizabeth the first was sending her navy to go off and get her some more bling. And even she used a ruff to separate her face from the gewgaws.
Honestly, all those necklaces are neither nice, interesting, matching, nor creative. With their money, why can't they go to Aaron Faber for something modern and completely original?
Nina's necklace reminds me of those plastic pop-into-a-chain 'pearl' necklaces we had as kids.
Of course it does take attention away from the face that is starting to look a little rugged...
SJP's is definitely too much, but Nina's photo actually made me do a double-take and then scrutinize it to see if it had been Photoshopped. That's just how absurdly the image of all that hardware around her neck struck me. This trend seems like so many others where change -- ANY change -- is deemed better than sticking with a classic look. It's one of the aspects of fashion that makes me want to cancel my Vogue subscription at least twice a year.
myraflection said:
Losing an item before you go out ?
Never heard it. Love it. Will use it.
I've always heard that attributed to Coco Chanel. You get ready to go, then subtract one accessory. Generally good rule, imo. As others observed, hope they didn't already do that!
bill said:
"Sometimes the not-quite-right looks get more press than the perfect ones."
It's that whole "negative attention is better than no attention" thing, which is why fashion goes over the top so often. It's not about what looks good, it's about what gets noticed.
Speaking of Mr T, I think we need an A Team of gays who get called in to avert the latest bad fashion trend.
Oh, soooo true. This is one trend that must die quickly
that saying about taking one thing off came from coco chanel - who started the trend of layers of necklaces (especially pearls) and chunky costume jewelry. just sayin'.
No, no no! Few of the stars in the 70s (when the fasion was big as well) could even pull the multi-layered off.
Your best bet is a lovely, expensive piece of jewelry on a long chain, and maybe a nice, plain chain that's shorter. But that's IT! If you're going to wear clunky stuff (which you shouldn't if you have large breasts), then one piece or a long piece that's tiered, is sufficient.
Of course I wear a ring on most of my fingers, but I never layer my necklaces.
Forget the necklaces - Did YaYa bedazzle that fugly dress for Nina?
Busy dress + lots of jewelry = tea party dress up. Not a good trend unless you're one of the pre-school set...
The only one who could pull that look off was Louise Nevelson! http://tinyurl.com/3jggqw
I've seen several pics of Nina in that "clubchair with nail trim" outfit before and she wasn't wearing any Carnival souvenirs. Does this mean she actually wears outfits more than once??? Gasp. I thought that kind of thing just wasn't done at that level of fashion.
Nina, to me, always looks like someone who knows what the trends are and wears the trends (yellow/purple), but they don't suit her. She doesn't "own" them. They just lay there on her, like those heavy necklaces and her usually lank hair. SJP embraces it, and it shows.
Eww, it looks like Nina's wearing a chair cover.
Fugly trend if you ask me. I don't understand these celebrities wearing anything their stylists tell them to.
Do you think either one of these gals started doing the JoAnne Worley thing while wearing all that junk around their necks?
I think they're just trying to cover up soup stains.
I don't even like 1 necklace drooping onto the fabric of a dress/blouse -- this required smelling salts.
And, yes, I was one of those kids who didn't like their food touching on the plate either.
Babies...
You are totally right about the calcium supplements.. Women that thin are at a significantly increased risk for bone loss, fractures and osteoporosis...
No,thin does not equal "healthy".
Particularly since these two are 4or 5 boxes of femenine hygiene products away from "the change".
I don't like the Mr. T look. It's really too much and too overwhelming. Specially on small-framed, petite women like those two.
On Heidi or Latifah or another statuesque lady, maybe with about 4degrees of editing.
I have a couple of really cool statement necklaces by "Les Nereides" which is a fabulous costume jewelry designer label from France.
But then, I am tallish and a lot of girl so I can pull it off because I look like a woman with a big necklace not a big necklace on a display bust.
Love,
Milla
I think SJP is trying to feminize her scary muscular arms by draping herself with a bunch of jewelry. Which ironically makes her look even more drag-a-licious.
I take that back....drag queens have better taste.
Like MS SANGRAIL said....the La Nina necklace harkens back to the "Pop-It" bead era. That's the first thing that "popped" into my head when I saw the pic! (Please excuse the bad pun!).
I actually like the one chunky necklace that SJP is wearing, but she needs to leave the rest at home!!!
----StkrShock
As Tim Gunn would say "Hmmm. I'm ambivalent about this."
I like Nina's look better for the reasons you stated. And it looks like it's basically the same piece of jewelry. But SJP is a bit all over the shop with her look and I'm not crazy either about the whole trend. It's too mixed-bag crazy-lady-esque for me.
BTW - I've been offline for a bit so I've just seen the new blog look. LOVE IT - well done!
This look can be done well, but it isn't in these pictures. SJP should slap her stylist, and then herself. Nina's dress is already very busy, she should have gone a different route. But these were their choices, and they will have to deal with the fashion karma they're making!
UGH!! i really don't like the really chunky jewelry (and i'm in the jewelry biz - so i have to deal with the trends)...they've really been pushing the look for several seasons now, and at least where i live (suburban so cal) it just doesn't sell.
sjp has too much differing stuff --lightweight chains along with super-chunk -- it just looks like a mish-mash. i could get on board with nina's if she wasn't wearing the dress with its own be-dazzled embellishments. and she's the (former) fashion director at elle magazine???? "it's a matter of the taste level...." - HEY, NINA!! take a little of your own advice!!!
I've been layering necklaces for years, mostly ethnic - middle eastern or native American. It's a cool look with the right clothes but the weight of too many can be a pain in the neck!
Bill - I love the store! I want everything in the place and I am totally coveting the pitchfork stools! It may be time for a road trip!
Am I crazy or did I just see Jack Mackenroth playing a dead guy on Law & Order: SVU?
hate hate HATE! i love all of the necklaces that sjp is wearing, but not together and not with that dress! seriously! maybe the mid-length beads if she was a "real woman" who doesn't have a lot in the way of jewelry, but a celeb? no!
i not only despise the mess that's around la garcia's neck, but am made a little dizzy by the combo of the necklace(s) (is that one multi-strand necklace with a lot of gee gaws on it?) and the trim on her dress. with that trim and that neckline, why on earth did she feel the need for a necklace at all?
it makes both look like they have stumpy little necks.
Hmmm, that's not a trend I'll be rockin' anytime soon.
mid day, i glanced at the blog and there was a LONG piece about how our boys LOVE Tim Gunn. I didn't have time to read it then, so put it on my "can't wait to dig in!" list for this evening.
and now "POOF" it is gone? Where did it go? What the heck happened??
I'm sorry. Did you mention something about a necklace? I wasn't paying attention.I was all mesmerized by the veins in SJP's arms. She is giving Angelina Jolie some competition in that department I see.
What bothers me most is the necklaces aren't even pretty. Uf they were wearing too much jewewlry and the jewelry was fantastic, at least you could respect that. But nooooo. They look the way I look in photo albums from 1987, when I would wear every single necklace I own. I really don't understand these attempts to make cheap looking costume jewelry look high fashion, or at least funky. Nina looks like she stole the pearls from my grandmothers christmas tree, and Sarah Jessica is about one step above wearing the dried macaroni strung on yarn that her spawn made in sunday school.
It's true--
both of them would have looked a little better if they had taken one thing off before they walked out.
But what if they already did???!!!!
(sorry bob scrivens-- I read yours after typing.)
Ah the 80's-- such a fabulous time for fashion--
says I who tried to rock the Flock of Seagulls hair and had Duran Duran posters above my bed. sigh.
LOVE myra flections idea--
and you boys are just the ones to do it.
It would make a great weekly video podcast!!
Just 5 minutes of stopping someone, offering to rework them and the final result.
Think of the celebrity guests you could have-- and you could be in the press line at events and work your magic on celebs as they stroll down the carpet too. Oh the possibilities!!!
I would watch that in a heartbeat-- and I would probably pay too!
bill-
love the stuff at the store!!
OMG Nina looks like she is being strangled by jelly fish. Thats one fugly overpriced fake pearl necklace.
I'm with Coco. Sometimes a lot is too much.
Sorry, but for all the gushy-gushy about how SJP is such a fashion "icon," I never find her dressed appropriately for her face/body type EVER....this photo is no different. I am not going to get into that tired argument about whether she's just a "butterface" or is "quirkily beautiful," but the fact is, you'd think she would want to balance some of the more "exaggerated" aspects of her features. For example, her long, narrow face...what does she do? Wear a severe, pulled back hairdo that makes her face look even more elongated and narrow, along with ropes and ropes of long necklaces around her neck, just in case her long narrow face wasn't emphasized enough!
Sorry, she always looks to me like the little girl playing dress up in Mommy's closet to me, without much sense of what would look really good on her.
Let's not even get into the fact that Pat Fields tended to make her look like a streetwalker on SATC with clothing choices that would be over the top for a twenty year old, much less a woman in her thirties or forties. And no, I'm not saying she should have been dressed like a dowdy grandmother, either.
As for Nina, meh, not the greatest, but not as unflattering as SJP's getup is to her own figure and face.
Boo Augustus said...
I think they're just trying to cover up soup stains.
Almost got a tea stain on my shirt laughing over that comment.
milla said...Particularly since these two are 4or 5 boxes of femenine hygiene products away from "the change".
HA! Killin' me here.
kathy & kjt - Thanks for the comments on the store. I passed them on to Ed. If you ever do stop by, be sure to let Ed know who you are.
And since Coco Chanel's name has come up a few times, I wanted to share a bit of fabulousness (well, it's fab to me).
It's a 15 minute video clip of Katharine Hepburn & cast from the 1969 Broadway musical "Coco" performing the "Always Mademoiselle" sequence on the 1970 Tony Awards. Dramatic choreography by Michael (A Chorus Line) Bennett, hell of a set and fabulous costumes by Cecil Beaton and Hepburn "singing." What's not to love?
Baubles, bangles,
Hear how they jing, jing-a-ling-a,
Baubles, bangles,
Bright, shiny beads.
Sparkles, spangles,
My heart will sing, sing-a-ling-a,
Wearing baubles, bangles and beads.
I'll glitter and gleam so,
Make somebody dream so,
That someday he may buy me,
A ring, ring-aling-a,
I've heard that's where it leads,
Wearing baubles and bangles and beads.
Go, Doretta Morrow, go!
Definitely too much. I was big into too much clunky jewelry myself...when I was in junior high. Luckily I outgrew the need to wear my entire jewelry box every time I left the house.
would it kill Nina to run a brush through her hair? seriously!!
I PITY THE FOOL!
HaHa!
It looks like little girls playing dress up w/ ALL Mommy's jewelry.
Edit, much?
C'mon.
Emma P.
Too much! Looks very tacky. I think its funny how these sheep follow one another. I am glad I am a man. Women are stupid for following these trends. It's just another way to gouge money out of them. A fool and their money are soon parted (I'm looking at you Nina and Sarah).
Coco Chanel did this look only with long sleevs. I think there is a good reason for that.
Horrible trend...it has to go...NOW!!!
"Anonymous said...
Too much! Looks very tacky. I think its funny how these sheep follow one another. I am glad I am a man. Women are stupid for following these trends. It's just another way to gouge money out of them. A fool and their money are soon parted (I'm looking at you Nina and Sarah)."
It has nothing to do with being a woman, but being obsessed with trends and fashion. Gay men, straight men can be as addicted to fashion and trends as women.
i always thought that if you were a smaller person (ie, sarah jessica) you were supposed to wear smaller jewelry.
this is way too much.
and you know? SJP needs to put on a little bit of bodyfat. she DOES look like Madonna, and not in a good way. Both ladies are getting a little too skeletal, especially in the arms. It's okay to weigh more than 100lbs, Sarah Jessica!
on a totally unrelated note, I really, really, really cannot wait for the "trend" of hideous yellow to go away.
The style isn't working... ever.
'I live life one stitch at a time.'
www.thedesignstudent.com
Meh. It reminds me of my grandmother and her jewelry box on the dresser.
Sarah, put the necklaces down and get a sandwich. And cookies.
Shely: I think it's distracting, in a bad way. It reminds me of a little girl who snuck into her mom's jewelry. Uck.
You nailed it.
i love sarah's, beautiful
I like it. I'd probably not wear it myself but it looks playful and fun.
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