Hot fashion: How to wear charms

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FASHION MUST-HAVE: Charm-bracelet mania is now back with a vengeance in fashion.

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Our ancient Egyptian sisters, trendsetter Queen Victoria and fashionable femmes through the ages wore charms as a sign of status, travel and taste.

Why you need it now

Receiving a charm has always been a rite of passage for teenage girls. Charm-bracelet mania went mad in the 1980s and is now back with a vengeance in fashion. Charm choices also reflect your style, have sentimental value and are a great conversation starter.

What to look for

Quality is key in the design and the hardware (imagine building a collection only to have it slip away due to a cheap clasp). First, choose a style. For a take on traditional, Tiffany & Co. have a finely crafted collection and Louis Vuitton's diamond-encrusted tokens are seriously decadent.

Enamelled and glass charms add colour, with Italian glass beads the most covetable.

Chic and modern, Pandora's beads include a range featuring precious gems, enamel, glass and wood that work equally well on snake chains or leather lariats.

Next, go with a theme that tells a story, such as expressions of love, mementoes, fashion trinkets, favourite animals or simply favourite colours. Pandora's website features a wish list for gift-idea-challenged friends to access.

Style to suit you

Petite and fine-boned frames suit a single-layer bracelet of beads, stacked fine bracelets or pendant charms on a necklace. Chunky charms will swamp your delicate wrists.

Large hands with slim wrists can carry off a charm-laden bracelet and if you are blessed with slim ankles, too, try a few beads on each leg acting as ankle straps to dress up your favourite shoes.

Large-boned ladies who might dislike fussy wrist pieces should go with neck charms on long gold ropes (or join a few bracelets). It's a sophisticated way to wear your treasures while creating a slim line down your torso.

Long and thin arms are lucky enough to be able to stack on a multitude of charm bracelets, Cleopatra style.

Where to shop

Pandora's threaded bracelets space the slick beads evenly. Tiffany & Co.'s exquisite charms are fine and delicate or trawl antique dealers for pre-loved charms with history.

Thomas Sabo is a fun way for younger ones to show their mettle before outlaying bigger money on more precious versions.

Five more ways to wear

Classic = Charms on gold or silver links with swinging metallic charms occasionally inlaid with precious gemstones.

Edgy = Charms on plaited leather lariats featuring darker tokens mixed with feminine pieces.

Modern = Several mixed bead rows on snake and leather bangles stacked on one arm.

Chic = Charms spaced intermittently on long, layered necklaces.

Cool = Sparse charms on fine bracelets layered beside a large-faced watch.

- © Fairfax NZ News