I was a tomboy growing up, much to the chagrin of my grandmother who always wanted to put me in fancy clothes and accessories. My best friends were boys, I liked being outside all of the time, and most of all, I hated, hated dresses and jewelry. I actually refused to take “pretty” as a compliment, and instead required my parents to call me “cool.” Special occasions requiring formal dress were a constant battle.

Despite this, much like other children, sparkly, jingling objects caught my attention. My grandma constantly had a plethora of golden bangles, bracelets, and rings. I was peculiarly interested in these accessories. Often, I would sneakily slip each item of jewelry off of my grandma and onto my own finger or wrist. Each time, she would insist that I keep it, but knowing my fascination was temporary, I apologetically declined.

Looking back, I’m glad I never insisted on keeping the jewelry for myself. Although experience has taught me that jewelry doesn’t have to be fancy and feminine, I still stray away from the type of accessories my grandma adored: gold. 

I’m not anti-gold jewelry by any means, but for my personal aesthetic and outfits, I’ve never found it fitting. When I was younger, I would strut around with mini gold hoop earrings, but nowadays, I rarely wear anything other than silver.

Gold accessories do fit certain looks; warm, elegant looks are perfect for golden highlights. I specifically find these to fit well on those with warm undertones and either honey blonde, red-brown, or black hair. It is more traditional and radiates wealth whether or not the gold is authentic.

As counterproductive as it sounds, I am someone who does indeed believe that fashion has an age. However, I don’t follow this train of thought in an exclusionary manner, but rather in the way that I see certain ages connecting with certain elements more than others. 

Regarding gold jewelry, I typically find that this metallic tone best brings out the innocence in children and the royal grace in the elderly. Perhaps, this is because I grew up wearing mostly gold until I transitioned to silver and always saw my relatives wearing it, but there is something about the eyes of children and the wisdom of the older generations that pairs perfectly with golden jewelry.

On the contrary, silver is currently the only type of jewelry that is acceptable to adorn me with. I find my personality and outfits meshing with it much better than it does gold; due to my neutral and earth-toned closet and my not-so-warm demeanor, silver is a cool sparkle to my outfits.

I feel similarly towards the majority of teenagers and young adults, even up to the middle-aged members of society. Silver is icier, less traditional, and overall, more correlated with ages in the middle of the spectrum. 

Silver is oftentimes less outfit-specific and is a more general metallic color. This is excellent for those who have variegated wardrobes and need something simple yet eye-catching that can go with any look that they have planned for the day.

This color also fits certain personal appearances as well. Cool undertones with platinum blonde or medium to dark brown hair most often pair flawlessly with silver, providing more of a clean and minimalistic look rather than a rich and processed one.

While I certainly have my preferences regarding which color of jewelry I like to pair with my outfits, it would be unfair and unreasonable to imply that one is better than the other. Truly, it is only appropriate to accept that each type of jewelry’s prime appearance depends on both the content of the outfit and the aesthetic of the wearer. So, Grandma, I promise it’s not your jewelry that’s the issue; I just rock silver a bit better.