By: Smriti Mamgain

Photography By: Priyank Kaushik

The holiday season is just around the corner, and images of Santa, lights and presents have already begun to flash in our heads, but the one thing that immediately comes to mind as soon as the air starts smelling festive is the image of a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. The holly leaves, the bells and the stars, and of course, the candy cane sticks make the tree look immensely beautiful and bring instant smiles to our faces. Just thinking about it makes us happy. It’s not that the tree isn’t beautiful already; it’s just that the trinkets enhance its beauty to create magic.

Thus, when we possess the power to create magic with trinkets, why should we use it just on the tree? If the Christmas tree deserves these jewels, so do we.

This Christmas let us jewel ourselves up, with trinkets creating magic on us just like they do the Christmas tree. Let us make this Christmas more about the jewels, instead of the garment by keeping the outfit very basic and simple, but making the jewelery create a festive look for us.

To give you a bit of an idea about this, I curated three looks which hopefully will aid you while you are dressing up for the occasion.

So let’s get jeweled:

The Power of Black

“When in doubt, wear black” is a rule that a lot of us live by and for good reason. Black is the absence of all colors and it possesses the power to make everything that it is paired with look good, especially gold.

This look is a sure-shot winner because it has both drama and simplicity. Its simplicity lies in the pairing of a basic black top with a puffy tissue skirt, while the thick gold necklaces add drama. You can neither be underdressed nor overdressed in this combination.

The Evergreen Pearls

I believe that pearls are the denim of the jewelery world because they never ever go out of style and they never will. They are both vintage and modern; they have the ability to look classy and sexy at the same time. Pearls can make a regular outfit look special.

We usually wear one string, but since it is Christmas, I took the liberty of wearing three different strings of various sizes. I tool a string of fat pearls, medium pearls and tiny pearls with an uncut crystal pendant hanging from it. The crystal breaks the monotony of the pearls, and the whole look instantly makes a basic maroon midi body-con dress stand out. The maroon dress has been used for two reasons – to represent the spirit of Christmas and because all berry shades are ideal colors for winter.

The Monochrome

Black and white has always been one of the fashion favorites. It is also that one combination that is easily embraced by all ages, but a little bit of color has never hurt anyone.

Even though the monochrome is chic in itself and does not need anything else, using some color makes the outfit fun and Christmassy. I took a string of light pink pearls, black crystal beads, a black and copper tribal necklace and a long string of sober yellow pearls (wound twice) to add a festive feel to the monochrome look.

The best thing about building your outfit around your jewelery is that you might not even need to buy anything. If you don’t have one elaborate piece, just combine a few pieces and pair them with a basic garment. It will definitely work so long as you don’t forget to add that beautiful smile of yours. Happy holidays, everyone!