The first jewellery ever worn was a shell picked up off the sand, hand-drilled because the material was soft, threaded on a sinew and worn around the neck. In Roman and Egyptian times earrings became popular with both men and women; in the Middle Ages, clothing that covered the neck and ears pushed earrings out of style and brought brooches to the fore. Jewellery types keep evolving — some stick, some fade — and for a designer that history is a menu of possibilities, not a rulebook.
Before the tour, one drawing habit from the design studio: nearly every piece is studied in top view — looking down on the object from directly above. It is the most common and practical direction for any piece of jewellery, and almost any piece looks good from it.
Men's jewellery
The best-selling men's items are rings, cufflinks, tie tacks and lapel pins, with bracelets and earrings strong in some markets. Men's ring styles are usually described as strong and bold, or tailored and businesslike. Cufflinks fasten a shirt cuff — two button-like parts joined by a chain or shank passing through slits in the cuff. Tie tacks and bars pin a necktie to itself or to the shirt; lapel pins sit on a jacket lapel, ornamental or signalling affiliation. Stud and hoop earrings for men have grown greatly in popularity over the last decade, and bracelets run from metal to leather with limitless designs.
Rings beyond the engagement band
- Cocktail or dinner ring — an ornate ring suitable for dressy evening events; almost any dramatic design qualifies.
- Ballerina ring — a large centre gem surrounded by tapered baguettes set in a radial pattern that resembles a dancer's flaring skirt.
- Crossover or bypass ring — the band wraps the finger with ends that pass each other on top, sometimes meeting a larger gem between them.
- Right-hand ring — deliberately non-bridal; the style with the most variations, bought for many occasions and set with any preferred gemstone.
Earrings
Studs carry a single gem or small cluster in a simple setting. Buttons are disk-shaped or slightly domed, often with cluster or pavé settings. Hoops are rigid metal loops — channel- and tension-set diamonds look especially striking in them. Dangles, drops and chandeliers add suspended decoration, from dainty to elaborate. Cuffs hug the upper ear in a curved shape fitted to its folds and appear across many cultures. More specialised still: the industrial (or scaffold) piercing spans the ear rim from one side to the other with a single long bar, and plugs or gauges — a form the Egyptians wore around 3000 BCE — have returned with younger generations.
Bracelets — and the panja
A link bracelet is flexible, made of chain-like links or hinged panels; the straight-line bracelet of diamond-studded links circling the wrist is the tennis bracelet. A bangle is a solid band that slips over the hand, including hinged and open-ended variants. A cuff is a wide oval that may hinge and clasp, or encircle about three-quarters of the wrist with open ends.
The panja (sometimes called a harem bracelet) deserves its own mention: a ring connected to a bracelet by a chain, forming a complete handpiece. It is popular in the Indian community as wedding jewellery — and, in the West, within Victorian Gothic subculture. Anklets and toe rings extend the same family to the foot, usually made flexible so as not to impede movement, with toe rings often less ornate and open-ended underneath.
Necklaces by name and by length
Styles first. A pendant hangs from a chain through a bail and can carry any design, symbolic or plain. A slide is a large pendant with slotted sides that rides on a stiff neck-wire or heavy chain. A drop or lavaliere (la-va-LEER) suspends the pendant from a short chain or decorative element — suspend it from a longer chain and the style is usually called a Y-necklace. A lariat is open-ended, held together at the front by an ornamental clasp. A collar fits snugly across the neck, usually three or more strands; a neck-wire is a rigid necklace of heavy-gauge wire that takes removable pendants.
Lengths have agreed names, and they matter to how a piece is worn:
- Choker — 14 to 16 inches, at the base of the neck; the most classic and versatile single-strand length.
- Princess — 17 to 19 inches; a well-liked length for adding a pendant or pearl enhancer.
- Matinee — between princess and opera; a good choice for casual or business dressing.
- Opera — 28 to 34 inches; works with high or crew necklines and can be doubled into a two-strand choker.
- Rope — over 45 inches; the pearl rope was a favourite of Coco Chanel, redolent of the 1920s and 30s, cycling in and out of fashion ever since.
Brooches, pins and tiaras
A brooch fastens to a garment with a hinged pin and catch — worn on a dress, lapel, blouse neckline, scarf, hat or waist. Its classic forms: the circle pin (popular since the Middle Ages), the elongated bar pin, the radial spray or sun-burst pin, the plain stickpin, and the design or 'element' pin built around a specific shape, often set with gems or pavé. Tiaras, once the exclusive domain of royalty, now appear at weddings and parties — many modern designs convert into necklaces. And at the frontier, conceptual jewellery treats the field as an art medium, exploring what jewellery can be and mean.
Why designers learn the vocabulary
Names carry construction logic: a lariat needs no clasp; a tennis bracelet needs flexible links and security; a neck-wire needs rigidity; a panja needs a ring, a bracelet and a chain to agree. Learning the types of jewellery is learning how each one is actually made — and that is where design freedom starts.
Grounded in the JDMIS fine jewellery design course materials. Go deeper with Elements of Jewellery Design and Principles of Jewellery Design, explore the full jewellery diploma pathways, or see the tradition side in Indian Jewellery and Kundan Setting.