Softening a Strong or Angular Jaw line: Necklaces to work with your Face Shape

I’m excited to see that more people are discovering “A Stylish Transition”. We just past 1000 views, and are just past 80 Facebook fans. Yay!...  if you’ve newly found us… Welcome! 

One of the most popular posts thus far has been our discussion of the most flattering neckline styles. I thought I’d rekindle and expand on the topic to discuss face shapes and how to best work with each one to achieve a more feminine image. We’ll look at necklaces and how to pick just the right one for whatever your favorite outfit may be. When paired with the right neckline, necklaces can do wonders to soften a strong jaw line or square, rectangular or triangular shaped face. Trans-women don’t always fall into these categories, but if you do, it may be something you’d like to soften up. I have an oval or oblong shaped face for example… its not overly angular but still benefits from a little softening (don’t we all right?). As always, there are plenty of ways we can make our jaw lines softer while making our necklines dazzling. If you are unsure of your face shape, compare it to the picture below. As you can see... rectangular, square and triangular all have “strong” more masculine jawlines. Face shapes are also very important to consider when choosing a flattering hair style, however we’ll save that for another post!

Before we get into the specifics, let’s look at the basics and learn the lingo (so we can at least sound like we know what we’re talking about!) Necklaces are classified generally by length. Below you’ll see the 6 most common necklace lengths:

I find a graphic like this to be especially helpful for reference when buying jewelry online. Sites will always give you at least the necklace length, so you can get a general idea of how it’ll fall when you wear it.

As you will remember from our discussion on flattering necklines, if we’re looking to shrink broad shoulders we’re typically looking for scoop, v-neck or perhaps even cowl neck styles, anything to break up the shoulder line. For the group of face shapes I mentioned above, we are looking to soften the hard angular lines of the face by:

1. Adding the appearance of length to the face to give the appearance of stretching out those hard angles
2. Add more curved lines around the neck to create a softer “framing” for the jaw.

We’ll start by pairing necklaces with our “go-to” necklines, but also take a look at others since you certainly shouldn’t limit yourself to only those styles. In fact, with the right necklace, some of the less flattering choices can become much more friendly.

Before we start, here are a few general necklace guidelines I always try to be conscious of:

-      Avoid lengths where the bottom of the necklace hits right at the neckline. It will simply get lost in the lines of the top and look unpolished. If this happens, you can adjust the length either with a built in clasp or by using an extender.

-      Think of your neckline as a frame for your necklace. Consider:  How does the shape of the neckline showcase the necklace?

-      Not every outfit needs a necklace! Having too many competing pieces in an ensemble detracts from everything.

Without further ado, let’s jump into some examples:

First, we have a teal, v-neck sweater with a princess length, heart pendant necklace. With pendant style necklaces, the line created by the necklace chain is typically a “V” shape. This pairs well with v-necklines and just like the neckline, helps to elongate the jaw and face vertically, softening any hard edges. Take a look:

Notice how the neckline frames the nicely centered heart. This is typical the type of look I wear most when choosing a princess length necklaces. It is very “classic” cute… and will work on most everyone. Be careful wearing really thin chains and tinier necklaces if you are especially built in the upper body as it may exaggerate things through contrast. Instead, chose something less fragile looking to avoid the necklace looking out of place.

Just as a pendant creates a “V” shape, a necklace that is a simple chain alone will create a more curved shape as it rests against your chest. For example:

This silver chain is paired with a fairly deep scoop neck top. The curved lines of the top and the necklace compliment each other and also help the eye to “expect” curves rather than sharp angular lines. This effect can help soften harder jaw line. The opposite holds true as well… typically you’ll want to avoid angular, geometrically shaped necklaces if you have a more rectangular jaw line.

Let’s explore another look:

Yes, you are seeing clearly… there is no necklace here! I wanted to make sure I re-iterated my point from earlier, not every outfit needs a necklace. Don’t feel pressured into accessorizing every possible option. This deep plunging V-neck does a fabulous job of lengthening my face and jaw line vertically; many necklace choices with this outfit would just break up that lengthening effect and create clutter. Could one wear a necklace here? Yes, but my style choice is always on the side of less is more.

If you recall from the flattering necklines post, crew necks did not rate super favorably when compared to the other, more flattering choices. Let’s take a look at how a necklace can enhance the value of a neckline that doesn’t do much for us:

Here, this long, rope or lariat length necklace serves to create a stretched vertical line that in essence, creates a new neckline for the top. Try pairing longer necklaces with necklines that are more horizontal such as crew or boat necks to add that helpful vertically stretching line.

Just for fun, our last example is a choker length statement necklace:

Again, this necklace exhibits both curving lines and extending vertical lines for all those jaw-softening effects. Bold statement necklaces, especially those with some bulk and volume also can make a jaw line appear smaller by contrast (that whole make something look smaller by putting something big next to it effect!). Let flashier pieces of jewelry such as this be a breathtaking focal point of an ensemble… they will get noticed and work best when not competing for attention with other parts of an outfit.

Thanks for checking out this post! Be sure to Like “A Stylish Transition” on facebook and share it with all your friends.

Cheers,

Kayci