Whether it’s a necklace, charm, or watch, it’s often the smallest details that pull a look together. Some are heirlooms handed down through generations, some are gifts from friends, and others have simply become staples in a student’s everyday rotation. Though easy to overlook, each accessory carries a spark of personality, a small reminder of the people, places, and memories students choose to keep close.
Addie Marsh ’29
“I wear a good amount of jewelry, so that includes bracelets, rings, necklaces, and earrings. I have one necklace I wear almost every day. It’s an ‘A,’ and it’s a bubble letter, because A is for my name, Addie. My mom bought it for me, so it’s pretty special to me. I’m very grateful for it. I’ve been wearing it every day for almost two years now. I also have a bracelet that I wear every day that my grandmother gave to me for my bat mitzvah. I try to match [my accessories] to whatever my outfit is, so that could include colors, or if I’m wearing an outfit that I think is pretty minimal, maybe I’ll do a lot of jewelry to kind of even it out. But I would say, I almost think of it as the finishing touch.”
Adelyne Liu ’28
“On my left hand, I have this ring from my friend, and it’s a Mobius strip. The one on my right hand is a flower with pink gemstones because I really like flowers, and I like pink, too. As for my bracelets, two of them are representative of Chinese culture. I have one that’s a charm of a snake because I was born in the year of the ox, and the snake’s a protective charm. On my right arm, I have a red bracelet, and it says ‘I wish you fortune’ in Chinese. Two of my other bracelets are made by my friends, and I have one Italian charm bracelet too. My necklace is a cow on a moon, and I wear it because when people ask me about my necklace, I can say it’s a ‘Moo-n.’ [When] I want to wear something simpler, or if I’m indecisive and I don’t know which ones to wear, there are four that I usually wear. One of them is a friendship bracelet from my friend, Eliza Francis [’26]. [The other three include] the lucky charm bracelet that I was talking about earlier and the two rings.”
Jason Cai ’28
“I have this necklace that has a little cat figure on it with three spikes that hang off of the top of the pendant, so that’s one that I wear pretty often. And then I have a medium steel chain from GU. Those are the two primary ones. I have some others, but I haven’t worn them just yet. [My accessories] are often silver, shiny, metallic, or a shiny metallic green, and I feel like it’s because it kind of complements the colors of what I wear. I tend to stick to having darker colors with complements. There’s often black somewhere in every outfit that I wear, and black works pretty well with silver. [My accessories depend] on what I happen to choose to wear that day, or sometimes I go the other way around and pick an accessory and build an outfit around it.”
Serafina Luk ’30
“I like to have a lot of keychains on my bag, like my Smiski blind ball, a hand-made gift from my friend, a freebie keychain I got from buying a Laneige lip balm, and a fluffy leopard print heart keychain with big studded gems. I think that these keychains are a more subtle way of expressing my personality. For example, from the type, design, and size of a keychain, you can tell what [someone’s] interests, passions, and aesthetic tastes are. It’s a really personal style and just like wearing a cute fit, it makes you feel better.”
