I’m having a gold chain summer—nay, a gold chain year—and find myself drawn to just about any iteration I lay my eyes on. There have been hordes of irresistible designs to choose from, varying and exciting thanks to the distinct points of view their designers bring to the category.
I’d mostly concerned myself with gold-chain necklaces and bracelets. But chains reach a whole other level of awesome when present in earrings and rings.
Like this gorgeous pair of earrings from “wearable magic” purveyor Unhada, a brand I connect with for designer Jocelyn Prestia’s ability to spin enchantment into her colorful, covetable jewels.
From Unhada’s Rails line, the treasures pictured above evoke a sense of adventure by paying tribute to the world’s railroads, which connect people with places near and far. “The chains are meant to mimic the tracks,” Prestia tells JCK, making the earrings “a metaphor for the journey we must all take.”
A cheerful trio of peridot, tsavorite, and opal rounds between the earrings’ chain-like “rails” feels seasonless yet perfect for an easy breezy summer. The bottom of each earring is bridged by a fringe of golden chains that graduate in length to offer another geometric touch to jewels that put colorful circles as their centerpoints.
“I think the layers behind jewelry take on so much meaning—the intention, the emotion that is evoked by the wearer, the power the combination takes on—and transforms it into pure magic,” says Prestia.
Unhada deals plenty in fringey chain accents—I hear tinkling, fairyish chimes in my head as I look at them—and every jewel that boasts them is like a dream. These earrings come in other gemstone combinations, from all moonstone (celestial charmers) to assorted sapphires (lovely lookers).
The gorgeous greenies you see here are just the right style for the upcoming month (peridot is August’s birthstone) as well as a summer that might as well be declared the season of green—we can’t seem to get enough of it, and probably never will.
“I wanted to use forest greens because I envisioned a train moving through an enchanted forest,” Prestia says. “The opal adds a touch of supernatural to the trio.”
Top: Rails earrings in 18k yellow gold with peridot, tsavorite, and opal, $3,860; Unhada
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