That Thing Where You Feel Forced To Choose Either Silver Or Gold For Life

It was impressed on me at a young age that serious jewelry-wearers either wear gold or silver. Being a fan of furry jewelry myself, I had a hard time picking, but it seemed that cool girls wore silver. So, I had a silver ball-chain choker and a pair of silver smiley-face stud earrings. I chose a silver class ring, and when it came time to pick out my very first piece of "real" jewelry when I started college, I picked a silver Elsa Perreti for Tiffany necklace.

But then, I moved to New York, and it seemed like every cool-looking woman had a gold chain around her neck, gold hoops in her ears, and stacks of gold rings on her fingers. And so, I switched (that ball chain was starting to look more black than silver anyway). I wore my gold initial necklace and gold circle studs dutifully, until one day, I came across a ring that actually made me feel nauseous because it was so pretty. It had two half-circle sapphires surrounded by a halo of diamonds — like The Heart Of The Ocean, but Margiela-ized. It was the most beautiful ring I've ever seen, and I wanted it more than I wanted any single piece of fashion in my life. But, I hesitated. Because it was silver.

Which, of course, is all so, so stupid, because of course there's no such thing where you have to be a "silver girl" or a "gold girl," and the idea that you have to choose a team is as ludicrous as only eating sausage breakfast sandwiches when you could eat bacon sandwiches, too (or both together in the same sandwich!). But Google "are you a gold or a silver person" and you'll get 63,600,000 results trying to parse the personalities of either side. And in my job, "mixing metals" somehow always gets parsed as a dangerous style move.

Long story short, I wear that silver ring now every day, and I wear it with my rose-gold watch, and my yellow-gold necklace, and I might even pair it all with a gunmetal clutch this holiday season. In the spirit of not letting a style rule as dumb as gold vs. silver hinder your ability to live, we're showcasing a few women who've already diversified.