The One Loud Accessory Rule

There is a point at which accessorising stops being decoration and starts being noise. The remedy that fashion editors have quietly agreed on: choose one piece loud enough to be remembered, then stop.

A single sculptural cuff. A pair of earrings that graze the jaw. A scarf knotted at the throat in a colour nothing else in the outfit repeats. The eye needs somewhere to land, and it can only land once.

The discipline is in the subtraction. Lay out every piece you intended to wear, then remove the two that merely match. What remains should feel slightly excessive on its own — that is the correct amount.

Metal mixing is permitted, and always has been. What is not permitted is three competing focal points fighting for the same three inches of collarbone.