The Runways Are Making the Case for Messy Jewelry

2 min read

Gabrielle Chanel’s immortal advice to remove one last thing before leaving the house has shaped generations of dressers. Matthieu Blazy’s spring/summer 2026 Chanel couture collection, unveiled earlier this week, proposed an enticing alternative: leave it all on—and then add another layer for good measure.

Between the skirt suits adorned with vine appliqués and the parade of “Scarecrow” looks, it was easy to miss the jewelry standout: a stream of beaded floral charm necklaces, stacked and twisted onto each other. Most were wrapped onto sturdy gold colliers, with winding fringe composed of lemon-yellow bugle beads, some shaped like camellias. Almost as if the Chanel woman had misplaced her pearls and resorted to those strung-together bijoux collecting dust at the bottom of her jewelry box.

Chanel couture fall/winter 2026.

On other looks, the styling trick was built into the couture. The necklines of tweed jackets were etched with mismatched gold chains on some, lime-green baubles on others. Just a day prior, Jonathan Anderson brought the same whimsy to Dior couture with stacked floral charms, tassels, and beaded options—proving that couture, and especially accessorizing, shouldn’t take itself too seriously.

During an off-schedule spring/summer 2027 show at the New York Public Library, Marc Jacobs took a millennial approach to the trend. Over taut rib-knit bodystockings, the designer haphazardly pieced together bold, beaded necklaces in candy-hued colors, glossy black pearl strands, and chokers lined with translucent gems. The bric-a-brac jumble of statement necklaces echoed the collection’s late-aughts, early-2010s mood—when more was always more.

Marc Jacobs spring/summer 2027.

At Gucci cruise 2027 in Times Square, Demna rivaled the flash of the surrounding billboards with a dazzling necklace stack worn by Alex Consani. Like Chanel, the jewelry was integrated into the construction of the look, with a jeweled collar forming the neckline of the dress in a cascading mound of crystal chains.

Layered on top were seven high jewelry necklaces from Gucci, set with an array of precious stones—from vivid green tsavorites to pristine rubies—because why stop at just diamonds?

From the fairy-tale sheers and surreal textures at Chanel to Dior’s pleated pannier dresses, designers appear to have reached peak quiet luxury fatigue. The mood has carried over to jewelry, where piled-on necklaces have replaced minimal colliers and barely-there chains.

Stuck on which necklace to wear? The answer, according to the runways, is all of them.