Collar Stack: influencies & legends

In pursuit of that signature jewellery look.

I’m still under impression of that celebrity esthetician lady’s collar stack from the previous dispatch. Her name is Joanna Czech, her client list of models, actors and designers tops with Anna Wintour (more on her later), and her golden chains and coin charms paired with her massive black frames are something else.

I still want to recreate this effect my way, with my own jewellery. And that’s what’s tricky. Because to work properly it has to be you. You have to own the look, and it must go nicely together and support all of your uniforms and life occasions. Because let’s face it: every famous jewellery look is a uniform itself. At this point of my style path I tend to change adornments quite a lot and I wouldn’t be able to claim one or another necklace – or a set – to be a part of my signature look. But I’d like to develop this thought. So in the meantime I decided to turn to other people who nailed it, and who influenced me at some point of my fashun-conscious life.

Anna

I think Anna Wintour was the first woman who showed me that it can be cool to wear the same necklace over and over again, and – wow! – you can even put three of them together at once (ok, we know she’s got more than three, and they are not quite the same, but you get the point).

A still from “In Vogue: The 90s” documentary series I’m watching at the moment. Realising it’s an ode of the producers (Anna Wintour, Tonne Goodman, Hamish Bowles, Edward Enninful etc.) to themselves and to how intuitive, innovative and powerful they were - and are - in shaping fashion and what people would admire next. It is in a way very supportive of the “Anna: The Biography” book by Amy Odell. (Now, kudos to my husband who watches it with me, and by the …teen’s year of living together has learned not to react when I sigh, oh Camilla, oh Tim, oh poor Hamish, ohh McQueen, and name every character before the subs have their names on. Yes, I really love fashion and see all these people as a family somehow because I spent so much time with them virtually.) And also I have to admit that Tom Ford is the world’s greatest performer. With much more hair on his head that he had in the 90s as well. Anyway the show is really great.

I even remember investigating the jewels in question and finding out they were from 18th and early 19th centuries – real Georgian antique Rivière style necklaces with diamonds, garnets, citrines, amethysts and other precious stones in a golden collet setting which hugs the stone and allows it to shine in its full beauty and lustre. (You actually can go to 1stdibs and spoil yourself with one of such kind for a few - or a few tens rather - thousands in your favourite currency.) It’s a lovely bow to her English heritage as well as a strong emphasis of her authority and weight in the world of fashion, isn’t it?

Olga

Olga Sviblova, the head of the Multimedia Art Museum (former House of Photography) in Moscow for almost 30 years, is one more outstanding example of a one-necklace woman. Perhaps it’s even more iconic for me than Anna’s due to its avant-garde nature.

Here’s what Olga tells about her instantly recognizable style:

Clothes, Sviblova explains, should be your second skin: “The clothes are your best friends. You can’t choose your friends for five minutes. […] I need to make some point of order, and clothes help me to be in order. […] I have to be prepared for each situation. I have to change many roles.” Her necklace is her signature ornament—a mesh tube, reminiscent of a snake’s tail, wrapped around her neck, with a handful of thumbnail-size pearls, some chipped, bouncing around it. According to Sviblova, the art community in Italy calls it the "necklace that Russian Olga wears.”

Liana Satenstein for Vogue, November 2017

Rumor has it they now sell the likes of her necklace at the museum shop.

Alexa

Alexa Chung is my teenage style sweetheart. Oh yes, I craved that Mulberry bag named after her as well as her leopard flats (and legs if I’m being completely honest with you). Her layered thin chain necklaces with pendants produced such a romantic indie rock je ne sais quoi air around her. I always looked out for them at Topshop or Primark. Sculls, vignette hearts, stars and roses were my favourites.

She probably would not stand by a stack like this at the moment, though Boucheron gladly uses a reference in their campaigns with Chung from time to time. She now prefers something more voluminous and closer to the face. There’s a fun moment in one of her Vogue videos when she shows some crystal earrings and recollects an older lady telling her about the need to return light to ones face with age. That’s pretty genius.

Here’s Alexa Chung on the power of accessories:

New accessories can revolutionize a tired wardrobe. Bored of your coat? Tie a belt or a scarf around it. Sick of your shoes? Consider a weird color sock—red, white, or ribbed grey are my favorites. Boring shirt? What does it look like with a turtleneck under it or teamed with a nice bra and barely done up? Dull sweater? Add a brooch or anything else a magpie might enjoy, such as thrifted, ridiculous clip-on earrings. In the same way you can strong-arm pasta into tasting delicious by slathering it in cheese, never overlook the power of a well-applied accessory.

From “Newly 40, Alexa Chung Shares 40 Pearls of Wisdom With Vogue.”

Rosh

Above left Alexa Chung is wearing The Traveller In Pursuit Necklace by Alighieri, whose founder and designer Rosh Mahtani is another great necklace stacker. In her work she shows how beautiful imperfections can be and draws attention to human vulnerability and complexity. Hence the signature look of her hand sculpted pieces: raw, fluctuating and almost cankered. Rosh fiercely wears and mixes her own designs which adds a generous pinch of salt and pepper to her monochromatic looks.

Aurélie

French designer Aurélie Bidermann is my hero of a costume jewellery maker. I was not into anything golden – or fancy – before I saw her pieces. And the way she created them with so much playfulness, humor, sentiment and freedom made space for non-boho girls like me to enjoy it too. This is what I would call lush everyday chic.

She started making bracelets for friends and very slowly grew her label until one day the Colette store laid an eye on it. Then it went boom. Aurélie is the best model for her jewellery. She just wears it, a lot of it, anywhere and everywhere she wants, and her stacks are screaming: live it fully now, have fun, don’t waste a minute!

I remember coming to her boutique on Place Vendôme and discussing with a very nice assistant – who remembered her abandoned Russian from her childhood days for me – the way the founder of the eponymous brand (which was by then sold and only had her name but not herself anymore) likes to wear all of her lucky charms on one chain. That bold and dramatic stack of everything that has significance inspired me so much. …The only thing you have to do is find a chain strong enough to hold all of your milestones and victories.

BTW I wrote a whole guide to the French Gal’s jewellery uniform – be sure to check it out, it is a banger. Would also appreciate you commenting with your favourite look as always.

Leandra

Leandra Medine Cohen’s collar stack never disappoints. She is reinventing it every single day. You just sit back, watch and wonder. There are just so many ideas in her head, and jewels in her drawer that she can create an infinite number of options for our amusement. (I wonder though how she keeps all her treasures in order, because you can only pick right when you see your variants clearly. It has to be some method to her madness there.)

And it comes as no surprise that her Aurélie stack is my favourite one on her. Some years back it was, but still represents her for me perfectly.

Johnny

I bet you didn’t expect that one coming, did ya?

Seriously, who would argue Johnny Depp is an icon when it comes to men’s joowlry!? His signature chunky silver rings (yes to sculls!), gothic pendants, safety pin earrings, stone beads, silver and leather bracelets, chains and beads across his ripped jeans (under which as we all know he likes to have nothing) – his style for decades was a bible for many a men’s jewellery brand.

What’s most important is that this is not just a curated fashion curtain to highlight the wearer’s character and give public something to agitate upon. It is a very personal collection of his memories and beliefs. There are pieces speaking of his friendships with Hunter S. Thompson, Jim Jarmusch, Iggy Pop, bracelets made by his daughter Lily-Rose, spiritual and Native American references, but mostly music which he claims to be the most important thing in his life. Well, I bet this swag makes some music along the way!

Playing this dispatch out with Alexa Chung singing 'Blue Denim’ directed by Gia Coppola – pure dream party! Enjoy:

Take care,

N