Jewelry in Season

On the kitchen counter there is a paper bag of strawberries from the Saturday market, three bunches of asparagus, a head of bright early lettuce, a bunch of mint that I have not yet figured out what to do with, and a single small lemon I bought because the woman selling them had ordered too many. It is the last week of May, which is the week the Greenmarket gives away its hand. Until last Saturday the produce was still half spring and half winter, with last year's apples sitting alongside the first asparagus. By next Saturday the apples will be gone and the first cherries will be in. I am learning the rhythm of this city's food again, after three years somewhere else, and the rhythm is approximately the same as the rhythm of any wardrobe, which is that what is in season this week is not what was in season three weeks ago, and not what will be in season three weeks from now.

Jewelry has seasons too. This is a thing most people know without quite naming it, the same way most people know the strawberry in June is not the strawberry in February even when both call themselves strawberry. The piece that sits on the collarbone in May is not the piece that sits there in November. The chain that catches afternoon light at four o'clock in late spring is not the chain that catches the same afternoon light in February when the four o'clock light is gone by three. A jewelry practice that pays attention to this is the same kind of practice that knows when to buy peaches and when to stop trying. The piece that is in season is the piece that wants to be worn now.

What does it mean for jewelry to be in season?

Jewelry is in season when the light, weather, and skin of a given month make a particular piece feel like it belongs on the body rather than asks to be excused. This is partly about material, partly about weight, partly about how the piece relates to bare collarbones versus collarbones under a sweater. The piece that is in season is the piece that wants to be worn now without the wearer having to think about it.

This is not the same thing as a trend. Trends move on a different clock than seasons do. A trend tells the wearer what other wearers are doing, which is information that may or may not be useful. A season tells the wearer what her own body and the weather around her are agreeing on, which is information that is always useful. The wearer who pays attention to seasons in her jewelry the same way she pays attention to seasons in her food is the wearer who looks like she has chosen well, which is the practice this brand has been writing about for years under the heading of how to make jewelry look expensive.

What's in season for jewelry right now

At the end of May, the pieces in season are the lighter ones. Lighter in weight on the body, lighter in their relationship to the light around them, lighter in the kind of attention they ask the wearer to pay them. A thin chain at the throat, a small pearl strand sitting where the collarbone meets the shoulder, a pair of rings in different materials on adjacent fingers, a small charm at the base of a chain that you would not see across a room but you would feel against your skin all day. These are the pieces that the light at this time of year wants to fall on, and these are the pieces that the body at this time of year wants to wear.

Sterling silver is in its strong season from late May through August. The chain that has been quiet through the winter, sitting under turtlenecks and inside coats, suddenly has the right kind of light to show what it has been doing. The pieces in the 925 Sterling Silver Collection were designed for a wearer who lives in this kind of light most of the year and has accepted that the silver will tarnish slightly through the months but will polish back up to almost the same finish each time. The pieces are not seasonal in the sense that they go away in the colder months. They are seasonal in the sense that they are most themselves now.

Pearls have come into their own season. The pearl strand that sat in the drawer through the winter, replaced by darker stones and heavier chains, has moved to the dish on the dresser. The pearl strand belongs to warm weather in the same way the strawberry belongs to warm weather, which is to say it was grown in warm water by a living creature and the body knows the season it was made for. The pearl beaded necklaces in the Glass Balloon collection are sized and proportioned for daily wear during exactly these months, when the weather will accept pearls against bare skin without complaint.

Charm necklaces are entering a strong season too. The small charm at the base of a chain is the jewelry equivalent of mint, which is a thing the cook adds to the salad at the last moment because the salad is better with it but does not depend on it. The charm does not change the chain; it changes the wearer's relationship to the chain, which is a different thing. The charm necklaces that are in season right now are the small ones, the bright ones, the ones that catch a bit of afternoon light at the base of the throat without announcing themselves.

What's coming in and what's going out

The pieces that are going out of season at the end of May are the heavy ones. The chunky chain that looked right against a wool sweater in February looks slightly off against a linen shirt in late May. The dark stones that anchored the winter palette do not have the same conversation with the bright early light of summer. The longer pendants that swung against winter coats now hang in the wrong relationship to bare collarbones. None of these pieces are being thrown out. They are being put away for the next time the light is right for them, the same way the wool coat is being put away for the next time the air is cold enough for it.

The pieces that are coming in are the small bright ones: thin chains layered in twos and threes, pearls at varying lengths, a small pearl earring without a matching companion on the other ear, rings on the third and fourth fingers in materials that meet without matching. The 2026 instinct, the same instinct that drove the Met Gala lineup in May and that informs the way magazines have been styling layered pieces in their summer issues, is that what looks expensive in summer is not the maximum amount of jewelry but the smartest amount of jewelry. The wearer who has chosen three pieces correctly is reading the room more accurately than the wearer who has put on eight

There is a basket on the counter and a chain at my collarbone, and they have come into the kitchen at approximately the same hour of the same Saturday in late May. The strawberries will be eaten by Tuesday. The asparagus will be in the dinner tonight, with the small bunch of mint that I have decided to put on top because it is in season and I have it and the salad will be better with it. The chain will stay where it is, until it is replaced by another chain, or until the season changes and a different chain becomes the chain that wants to be at the base of the throat for the next set of months. The practice is the same, whether the basket is a basket on the counter or a dish on the dresser. The wearer chooses what is in season because what is in season is the thing that wants to be there.