Necklace Lengths, Explained — How to Choose the Right One

If you need one number and you need it now: 18 inches. On most adults it falls an inch or two below the collarbone, it clears almost every neckline, and it suits a pendant. It is the length most necklaces are made in for a reason.

But "most adults" is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and the difference between 16 and 18 inches is the difference between a necklace somebody wears every day and one that lives in a drawer. We're Chapel Hills Jewelry, family-owned on Freeport Road in the Aspinwall area of Pittsburgh since 1989, and this is the question we answer more than any other across the counter.

What each length actually does

Measured as the full circumference of the finished necklace, clasp included:

• 14 inches — collar. Sits high on the neck itself. A deliberate look, and too short for many adults to wear comfortably.
• 16 inches — choker. Sits at the base of the throat, right where the neck meets the collarbone. Close-fitting and elegant, and the length that varies most from person to person.
• 18 inches — princess. Just below the collarbone. The standard, and the safe choice when you are buying for someone else.
• 20 inches. An inch or two lower — clears a shirt collar, sits nicely over a crew neck.
• 22 to 24 inches — matinee. On the upper chest. Long enough to layer under, and the usual home for a larger pendant.
• 30 inches and up — opera and rope. Mid-chest or lower, worn long or doubled.

Measure it in two minutes

Take a piece of string, a shoelace or a soft tape measure. Hold it around the neck and adjust it until it rests exactly where you want the necklace to sit, then mark the spot and measure the string flat against a ruler. That number is your length — not a starting point to add to. This is the one place a necklace differs from a bracelet, where you measure the wrist and then add.

Two shortcuts if the neck in question is not available:

• Measure a necklace they already wear and like. Lay it flat, clasp closed, and measure the full loop. This is far and away the most reliable method.
• Ask what they own. "Do your necklaces usually sit above or below your collarbone?" is a question you can ask in passing without giving anything away.

Three things that move where a length lands

The same 18-inch chain does not sit in the same place on two people, and it is worth knowing why before you decide the number is wrong.

• Neck circumference. A larger neck consumes more of the chain, so the necklace hangs higher. The same length can read as a choker on one person and a princess on another.
• Where the collarbone sits. Height and build change the distance between the base of the throat and the collarbone. That distance is the whole difference between 16 and 18 inches.
• What is being worn. A necklace that looks perfect over a crew neck disappears under a turtleneck and gets lost in an open collar. Neckline is a real variable, not a styling flourish.

A pendant does not sit at the chain length

This is the mistake that costs people the most. A pendant hangs below the chain — the bail, the loop the chain runs through, adds its own height, and then the pendant itself drops from there. A one-inch pendant on an 18-inch chain sits roughly where a 20-inch chain would.

So if you already know where you want a pendant to land, choose the chain shorter than that spot, not level with it. And if you are buying a pendant for a chain someone already owns, the pendant's own drop is the number to ask about.

The chain itself matters too, but that is a separate question — weight, link style and how a chain wears are covered in our guide to 14K gold chains.

Tennis necklaces are a different animal

A tennis or riviera necklace is a continuous line of individually set stones on hinged links. It has almost no drape. Where a fine chain follows the curve of the neck and settles, a line necklace holds its own shape and rides higher than the same number in a chain — so a length that felt right as a chain can feel tight as a line necklace.

Two things follow from that. First, try the length on if there is any way to do so; this is the piece where a half inch is visible. Second, a line necklace is not casually shortened. The stones are matched to each other and graduated along the line, so removing a section is a design problem rather than a quick alteration — the same reason we tell people not to guess on a tennis bracelet. If you are choosing one, our guides to diamond tennis necklaces and natural diamond tennis necklaces cover the piece itself; this article is only about the number.

One security note while we are here: a necklace clasp sits at the back of your neck where you cannot see it, so it deserves the same periodic check a bracelet clasp gets — close it near your ear and listen for a crisp click rather than a soft push.

Station necklaces and layering

A station necklace — diamonds spaced along a chain, the format usually called diamonds by the yard — is the most forgiving thing in this article, because the stones are distributed rather than concentrated and it looks intentional at almost any length. It is also the format most often made to a specific measurement rather than bought off a standard length. Our piece on diamond by the yard necklaces covers how they are built.

If you are layering, the rule that actually works is two inches of separation minimum between necklaces — 16 and 18 read as one thick necklace, while 16 and 20 read as two. Vary the weight as well as the length so the eye can tell them apart, and put the piece you most want seen on the shortest chain, since the longer ones will drift under a neckline.

Men's chains run longer

The convention is different and it is worth stating plainly: 20 inches sits at the base of the throat on most men, 22 inches is the common all-purpose length, and 24 inches puts a pendant below the collarbone and under a shirt. Heavier chains also want a little more length, because weight pulls the whole necklace down and forward.

If the length is already wrong

A chain that is too long can often be shortened, and a chain that is slightly too short can often take an extender — a short length of chain with its own clasp that adds one to three inches. Neither is universal. It depends on how the chain is constructed, where the solder joints fall, whether the clasp can be moved, and what the piece is made of. Shortening a chain, fitting an extender, moving a clasp and re-stringing are all ordinary bench operations in the trade; whether they are right for your necklace is a question for someone holding it.

Bring it in and ask. Repairs, sizing, restoration and finishing are done here in house by our own benchman rather than mailed out.

And if what you actually want does not exist at a standard length, it can be made to one. Length is one of the easiest things to specify in a custom piece, and we design in CAD with a 360° preview so you can see the proportions before anything is made.

Buying it as a gift

Three rules, in order of usefulness:

1. Measure a necklace they already own. Beats every guideline in this article.
2. If you cannot, choose 18 inches. It is the standard because it works on the widest range of people.
3. Ask whether the length can be changed afterwards, before you buy. On a chain the answer is usually yes. On a line necklace it is often no.

Come and try one on

Every number in this article is a starting point, and thirty seconds in front of a mirror settles the question better than any of them. You are welcome to come in and try lengths against your own neck and the necklines you actually wear — there is no appointment needed to do that, and no obligation attached to it. Browse our necklaces, or come by 503 Freeport Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15215 or call 412-782-1757.