Silver or gold charm bracelet?

May 18, 2015 6:30 PM

I have a necklace with three pendants and I'd like to move two onto a charm bracelet and add more charms rather than overload the necklace. The necklace and pendants are yellow gold but I mostly wear silver, brass, gold or costume. I can't have anything that scratches easily and I want something that will last a decade. Can I mix metals, should I get silver, 14K gold, gold-plated, that Pandora thing advertised everywhere? I hear my granny shrieking "Don't mix metals!"
posted by dorothyisunderwood to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (9 answers total)

Mix metals. It's fashionable now.
posted by erst at 6:41 PM on May 18, 2015 [3 favorites]

Mixing metals is great. It's in now and I do it alllll the time. It creates a kind of neutral.
posted by easter queen at 6:53 PM on May 18, 2015

Aesthetically, go for it. Technically, make sure that the ring, bail, or charm/pendant itself isn't getting worn through by hanging off and rubbing against a tougher metal. I wore through a softer metal charm by wearing it on a fake gold chain. I don't know the hardness scale for the metals you'll be mixing, but keep an eye out for whether they're getting worn down too fast over time.
posted by girlhacker at 9:29 PM on May 18, 2015

Mixing metals is cool. Go for it. You could also move pendants onto separate chains or switch out which pendant you wear on the chain you have. Smaller pendants tend to show up better on a necklace than on your wrist, where they always seem to hang off the bottom of the wrist.
posted by bearwife at 10:25 PM on May 18, 2015

How about a white gold bracelet? I wouldn't recommend silver for something that should last a decade, though YMMV.
posted by redlines at 11:37 PM on May 18, 2015

I would go gold or white gold - this way you can wear it all the time, even showering and swimming, and it'll last.
posted by shazzam! at 3:26 AM on May 19, 2015

Mixing metals is fine now (I don't know when it changed?), and if you change your mind, it's a charm and you can move it to a new bracelet. You could get a jeweler's opinion on what metal to use for longevity's sake.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:36 AM on May 19, 2015

I am a grandmother, but I am not your grandmother. You have my permission to mix metals. I like many of the the Pandora beads but don't find most of the charms attractive. You can often get very cool old charm bracelets on ebay. If you use tiny split rings to attach them, you can rearrange them as needed, and break all your fingernails in the process.
posted by theora55 at 10:03 AM on May 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Mix metals like a boss - and know that it might bother you a teeny bit until you have a nice balance of pieces. You'll hit a critical mass, though, where it will look awesome.
posted by ersatzkat at 10:12 AM on May 19, 2015