The five-piece everyday jewellery capsule

Most people wear about ten per cent of the jewellery they own. A capsule inverts that: a small number of pieces chosen to work with each other and with everything in your wardrobe, so getting dressed stops being a decision. Five pieces is enough.

1. A fine chain, 45 cm

The backbone. Plain enough to disappear under a collar, fine enough to layer beneath anything else, long enough to sit at the collarbone where a pendant looks natural. If you buy one piece of jewellery this year, buy this one.

2. Small hoops

Between 12 and 20 mm — big enough to read as jewellery, small enough for a work call, a school run and dinner without changing. Huggies work equally well and are harder to lose.

3. A pendant with meaning

An initial, a birthstone, a shape you like. This is the piece people ask about, and the only one in the capsule that needs to mean something to you rather than merely go with things.

4. A plain band

Worn on any finger, stacked with others or alone. A plain band is the quietest possible way to look deliberate, and it never competes with anything else you have on.

5. One statement piece

A chunky chain, a cuff, a pair of drops — whatever is loudest in your taste. Four quiet pieces and one loud one is a wardrobe; five loud ones is a costume box.

How they combine

• Weekday: chain, hoops, band. Three seconds to put on.
• Weekday with intent: add the pendant, layered under the chain.
• Evening: statement piece plus the band, and nothing else competing.
• Wedding or event: chain, pendant, hoops and the statement piece together, since the occasion can carry it.

Build it slowly. Buy the chain, wear it for a month, then add the hoops. A capsule assembled in one afternoon is just a shopping trip; one assembled over a year is a set of pieces you actually reach for.