A guide to wearing less, better

Three pieces worn every day will always look more considered than ten worn occasionally. A short guide to building that rotation.

Start with the hand you use least. A ring there interferes with nothing, so it survives the first week — and the first week is what decides whether a piece enters your rotation or your drawer.

Then decide on a single finish. Mixing gold-tone and silver-tone works when there is a deliberate jump between them; when the two sit close together, the eye reads an accident. One finish across ring, chain and cuff reads as a decision.

Leave one thing off. A bare finger, a bare wrist or an open collar gives the eye somewhere to rest and makes the pieces you did wear look chosen rather than accumulated.

Finally, size for the end of the day. Fingers swell; a band that fits at nine in the morning will feel tight at seven in the evening. Between two sizes, take the larger one for a wide band and the smaller for a narrow one.