My daughter asked why I always wear all three. I did not have an answer until I heard myself give one.
Six things a layered necklace gets right that a jewellery box full of single chains got wrong, written down by a customer, not a jeweller.
Nancy Brooks · Customer · Melbourne, VIC · 5 min read
It arrived on a Thursday and I nearly sent it back. Three chains at once felt like a lot for a woman who had worn the same thin gold chain for eleven years, and I stood in front of the mirror that first morning fully expecting to take two of them off.
I did not. And then in March my eldest was home for the weekend, and she watched me put it on and asked why I always wear all three. I heard myself say "because there's three of us" before I had decided to say anything at all. Her, her sister, me. I had been wearing it for two months without once telling myself that was what it was.
It is called the Roots & Heart Layered Necklace and it comes from Cute Home, a small Melbourne outfit. I sent them a long email about it, which is not a thing I make a habit of, and they asked whether they could share what I said. So here it is — the six things this necklace gets right.
Three chains, and every woman counts her own three
This is the whole thing, really. Most jewellery is decoration — it is pretty, it means nothing, and nobody asks. This is three separate chains sitting one below the other, and every woman who has looked at it has quietly decided who the three of them are before she has said a word. My sister saw us and our mother. The woman at the chemist saw her three sons. Nobody has ever needed it explained to them. That is why it gets asked about, and it is not something you can design into a plain gold chain.
"My son asked who the three were. I had not thought about it until he asked, and then I could not stop."
The tree sits in the middle, and it is the one people lean in to see
The middle chain carries a small round pendant with a tree on it — proper roots underneath, a full canopy on top, set on a white shell face with a ring of tiny stones around the edge. It is about the size of a five cent piece, which sounds small until you have it on. It catches the light when you move and that is what makes people look twice. And a tree with its roots showing is not a subtle thing to be wearing at fifty-three. Everyone knows what it means. Nobody has to say it.
"The roots are what got me. My mother would have understood it straight away."
The heart is plain, and that is exactly why it works
The bottom chain has a small gold heart on it, and I want to be clear about what it is not. It is not engraved. It has no stones in it. There is no writing on it and no initial and no birthstone. It is a smooth, slightly domed little heart and nothing else, and after a lifetime of jewellery that tries too hard I find that genuinely restful. It sits low enough to show above a jumper and it does not announce itself. It is just there.
"No engraving, no initials, nothing fussy. I have had enough of fussy."
I sent one to my daughter and now we are the two women in the same necklace
I did not plan this. I sent her one for her birthday because I could not think what else to send, and the first time we were in the same room wearing them I felt something I was not braced for. She is interstate. We speak on Sundays. It is not the same as her being twenty minutes away and I have made my peace with that, mostly. But there is something about both of us reaching up and touching the same small thing in two different cities that a phone call does not do.
"My daughter and I both wear ours now. She rang me the day hers arrived."
Three lengths that do not argue with each other
This is the practical bit and it is the reason I still wear it. The three chains are set at three different lengths, spaced far enough apart that they sit where they are meant to sit and stay there. They do not cross over. They do not ride up and bunch under my chin. I have tried to layer my own necklaces before and spent ten minutes at the mirror untwisting them and then given up and worn one. This goes on and it is right the first time.
"It goes on in one go and sits right. I do not fight with it at the mirror."
It gives better than anything I have bought in years
Three have gone out of this house as presents since autumn — one to each girl and one to a friend who had a rough year. Here is why it works as a gift in a way most jewellery does not: you do not have to explain it. She opens it, she sees three chains and a tree and a heart, and she decides for herself who the three of them are. That does something a card cannot do. It is also under fifty dollars, which means you can give it without it becoming an occasion, and nobody has to feel they owe you something back.
"Bought one for me and two as gifts. Easiest presents I have given in years."
One honest note before the price
This is not fine jewellery and I would not want you to expect it to be. It is gold-plated steel, not solid gold, and it is not something you hand down. Take it off before the shower and before the pool, the way you would with anything plated, and it will keep its colour. If what you want is an heirloom, this is not it. If what you want is something you actually wear, it is.
The layered necklace, against the necklaces you have been buying
You can find a gold chain under $50 almost anywhere. I know, because a drawer upstairs is full of them. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
- Pretty, and it means nothing to anybody
- One plain chain that nobody ever remarks on
- Layer your own and spend ten minutes untwisting them
- A green mark on your neck by the end of a warm day
- A pendant so small nobody notices it at arm's length
- Three chains that every woman reads her own way
- A tree with its roots showing, and a plain gold heart
- Three set lengths that sit right the first time
- Gold-plated steel that keeps its colour with normal care
- Sized to be seen across a table, not squinted at
About the price
I will be straightforward, because the price is what made me suspicious in the first place. It is $49.95, down from $99.95. I fully expected it to look cheap the moment it came out of the packet, and it did not — the pendants have some weight to them and the chains are properly finished rather than crimped.
Cute Home say the sale pricing is about selling direct with no middleman taking a cut. That is their arithmetic, not mine. Mine is simpler: I have paid three times that for a chain that was in the charity bag by Christmas, and this one has not been off my neck since summer.
If you have been wanting one thing that goes on in the morning and simply stays, this is the one I would put on you myself.
— Nancy
ROOTS & HEART LAYERED NECKLACE
- Three chains at three set lengths, no tangling
- Tree of life pendant on a white shell face
- Smooth gold heart, no engraving, nothing fussy
- Gold-plated stainless steel, keeps its colour
- Lobster clasps, on and off in seconds
- Free Australia-wide delivery with tracking
- 30-day money back guarantee · Afterpay available
About the writer. Nancy Brooks lives in Melbourne, VIC. She writes occasionally about the small things she has actually kept using. She is not affiliated with Cute Home beyond being a customer.
This page is an advertisement for Cute Home. Nancy's letter is shared with her permission. Cute Home · An Australian start-up from Melbourne · Free Australia-wide delivery · 30-day money back guarantee.