Jewelry can highlight a person’s best features and polish a look. Chosen badly, it can distract from a pretty face. Earrings, since they are worn near the face, must be chosen with the wearer in mind.

I enjoy having the opportunity to compare photographs of an individual that show her wearing different jewelry. This week the opportunity presents itself in the form of a pair of photos that appear of singer Katy Perry in the June 2010 issue of Lucky magazine.

In the first photo, Perry looks vibrant and lovely in a very appealing taffeta top and fuchsia shorts worn with a ladybug ring from Noir Jewelry and gold vermeil crystal drop earrings from AlexisBittar.com. I would have preferred the earrings in silver, as I’ll explain momentarily, but the earrings’ design is pretty and I think the earrings suit her, with movement and enough color in the central stone to play off the lines and colors of her ensemble.

On the next page, however, Perry is shown in a close-up wearing huge, elaborate goldtone hoop earrings from liasophia.com, along with three pendant necklaces with very fine chains only partially seen, one in 14K pink gold and black diamonds from phoenixroze.com; the other two gold-plated longer pieces from Rachel Leigh. As attractive as one might think the earrings are, they are not a good choice for Perry for several reasons:

• First, the huge, heavy earrings drag her face down, drawing attention away from her stunning pale green eyes. I think they emphasize the nasolabial folds running from the sides of her nose to the sides of her mouth. In short, the earrings age her. Something lighter would be so much prettier.
• Second, the oversized design does not relate to Perry’s relatively delicate bone structure, nor does it relate in any manner to the fine chains she wears around her neck. Matchy-matchy may still be out of style in the eyes of many stylists (see my post on this issue earlier this week), but a haphazard mismatch is far worse. All the elements of an ensemble need to work together in harmony.
• Third, the yellow gold color of the earrings does not flatter Perry, who has cool-toned skin, hair and eyes. Platinum, white gold or silver would be much more attractive on her. Pink gold likely works well for her also, although the necklace is too fine to get a good look at the color of the metal worn against her skin.

To get an idea of what a better choice might look like, take the second photo of Perry and put your finger over one earring, imagining the effect of a shorter, lighter earring there. Stud earrings, buttons or delicate drops would be far more flattering and would bring the eye up. Remember that the point of jewelry is not to showcase the jewelry; it’s to adorn the woman wearing it.  

And at the same time, it is important not to disparage any particular design. There are beautiful women for whom a particular piece of jewelry is likely to be the perfect adornment. The elaborate, wide hoop earrings seen on Perry would be gorgeous on the right person. Part of the fun of choosing jewelry is finding the perfect match.

JCK