Necklace Length Guide: Where Each Length Falls on You

The chart above is drawn for an average neck. Yours moves it. The same chain falls lower on a slender neck and higher on a broad one, so an 18-inch chain can rest on one person's collarbone and clearly below it on someone else's.

Most necklaces are made between 16 and 20 inches, and 18 is the most common length of all.

The names help, but jewelers don't all put them in the same place. Princess means 18 inches everywhere. Collar and choker overlap between 14 and 16, matinee covers roughly 20 to 24, opera sits around 30, rope starts at 36. When you order a chain, give the length in inches or centimeters, never the name.

Two minutes, a piece of string and a tape measure.

1. Hang the string around your neck like a chain and pinch it where you want the necklace, or the stone, to fall. Look in a mirror, wearing the top you wear most.
2. Take it off, open it and lay it flat along the tape. That number is your length.
3. Round it to a standard length. Chains are made in steps of 2 inches from 14 to 24, then 30 and 36.

No string? Lay a necklace you already like flat and measure it end to end. Or wrap the tape snugly around your neck and add 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm): the low end gives a close fit, the high end a standard length.

The length on a chain is the chain alone. A pendant hangs below the point where the chain sits, by its own height, and a heavy one pulls the chain into a deeper V. Your stone always lands lower than the chart says.

So I'd measure to the stone. Pinch the string where you want the stone to rest, then take off the height of the pendant. Scale counts too: a small stone looks lonely low on a long chain, and a large one needs a longer chain to sit in proportion. If the pendant is made for you, give your jeweler that number and the spot where the stone should land; a chain can be shortened or lengthened to match. To choose the stone itself, see how to choose a stone for a pendant.

• Your neck. A short chain can make a neck look shorter and wider. If your neck is short or wide, try a length past 18 inches before you try a choker.
• Your frame. Tall frames carry any length. On a petite frame, short to medium lengths keep the necklace from taking over.
• Your neckline. The chain should land clearly on skin or clearly over the fabric, never on the edge of your top. Strapless and off-the-shoulder tops suit 16 inches and shorter; a V-neck suits 18. Under a collar or a blazer, a 16-inch chain simply disappears.

Most men wear 20 to 24 inches. At 20 the chain falls just below the collarbone, at 22 it rests on the upper chest, and at 24 it reaches mid-chest, the length usually chosen for a pendant worn over a shirt. On a broad neck, go one length up.