The Year of the Swan

Simplicity telegraphs confidence, which is why no portrait of a lady today is complete without a demure classic like the button earring.

- LYNN YAEGER

Look down your jewelry is all wrong! That neck-mess flopping on your chest, clanking with horseshoes and horoscope charms? Too noisy. The armload of bracelets you're brandishing, Nancy Cunardstyle? Keep the loveliest one and lock up her sisters. Those towers of rings crushing your fingers? Trade them for a lone blockbuster.

The pendulum or should we say triple strand of pearls-has swung in the other direction. Legacy pieces from historic brands (talk to me, Harry Winston) are what we want now. One of those Tiffany & Co. crosses, perhaps, or a Verdura black-and-white cuff. The desire, in other words, is for ladylike jewelry that is clean and sleek and has enduring value, the kind that's as good as (sometimes better than!) money in the bank.