The Sunday Mail
Many brides have a difficult time picking the right jewellery for their wedding dresses and ensuring the combination comes off well.
The bride has to choose a hairstyle that goes well with her accessories.
The Sunday Mail Leisure spent time with bridal accessories consultants and fashion designers to demystify complicated concepts behind accessorising wedding dresses.
Fashion designer Nomusa Nyathi of Nomlee Designs said bridal jewellery is determined by the wedding dress.
“If the bride is wearing a detailed dress, she should tone down on her jewellery. This means she has to wear simple accessories,” says Nyathi.
“For example, if a dress is adorned with diamonds, the bride should choose simple earrings and a necklace according to the diamond cut detailing the dress.”
She advises that gold, silver necklaces and pearls be only worn when the dress has a low cut or V-neck. If the dress has a high neck, the bride may simply need dropping earrings.
Nyathi says jewellery should complement the dress colour because there are different shades of white.
“Gold embellishments are discouraged to be worn on white gowns because they may clash with the bright white hue. It is ideal for a white gown to be worn with pearls and platinum. The off-white wedding dresses go well with gold and silver; rose gold and pearl too.”
Nyathi points out that some wedding dresses came in a candlelight shade tone that is soft, light white, which is termed ivory gown.
“Most brides find ivory gown complicated . . . but such a dress should be adorned with gold jewellery to highlight the creamy tint of the fabric,” she adds.
Accessory consultant at Eastgate Jewellery Shop Rumbidzai Mako says bridal accessories know no skin complexion as long as they are placed right.
“Light-skinned brides can wear either gold or silver. But as we all know; off-yellow on gold is much preferable. I have noticed that gold jewellery is usually the last colour code for weddings. Silver jewellery is more visible and appealing to a light-skinned complexion while subtle gold is more attractive on dark-skinned complexion.”
She says wedding dresses that show cleavages go well with thick necklaces or big pearls, while a V-neck requires a thin chain with a simple pendant to be elegant.
Mako goes on: “We might suggest ways of accessorising wedding dresses, but the best is for the bride to wear what she feels comfortable in. I always tell my clients to stick to the basics if they are in doubt of what to wear or on picking jewellery because such decisions are more difficult than finding the gown.
“The basic is to wear timeless jewellery for example a pair diamond of drop-earrings with a sophisticated necklace such as a strand of pearls or diamond pendant choker.”
