Jewelry

A body chain is jewelry worn on the body rather than at the neck or the wrist. The shape that does the most work is the body chain bra: fine chain and set stones that follow the line of a bra without actually being one. It goes over a bikini top, a bodysuit or bare skin, and it reads as part of the outfit rather than as an accessory added to it.

The reason people buy one is that it solves a problem nothing else does. A plain black bodysuit or a plain bikini is a blank, and a chain over it changes the whole thing without covering any of it. The honest trade is that chain has no stretch. It hangs where the length says it hangs, so this is the one category where the measurement matters more than the size label, and most of them run adjustable through an extender at the back for exactly that reason.

The other half of this page is engraved, and it sits somewhere between a day collar and a gag gift. The phrases are the same ones that sell hardest on the collars, put on a flat bar or a small heart on a fine chain instead of on a leather band. That changes what it can do. It gets worn to work, to brunch and to the grocery store by people whose coworkers have no idea what they are reading, and that joke is most of the appeal. Which is why most of them are bought as presents, and why the custom ones take any words you want.

Worth knowing on metal before you buy anything on a chain: skin turning green is almost never the jewelry on its own, it is plating reacting with lotion, perfume and sweat. Put jewelry on last after everything else has dried, take it off before a shower, and dry it before it goes away. Plated pieces last years instead of months.

Grouped by where it sits, with the rest of each one next door.

• Body chain bras: the full piece, in rhinestone, crystal and plain metal. Worn over a bikini top or a bodysuit, or on bare skin when the chain is the top.
• Bra chains: lighter and less structural, draped across or under the bust. The easiest way into the look and the one that works under a sheer top.
• Engraved bar necklaces: a flat bar on a fine chain with a word on it. The subtler of the two engraved shapes and the one that gets away with being worn anywhere.
• Engraved heart necklaces: the same joke with more weight to it. Reads as a present more than a bar does, which is usually the point.
• Custom engraving: your own words, names or dates instead of a stock phrase. The ones people order for somebody else.
• Collars and leashes: the same phrases in leather and hardware, built for play rather than for daylight. Where this vocabulary started.
• Harnesses: straps instead of chain. Same job on the body, a harder finish.
• Pasties: what goes under a chain bra when the chain is doing the styling and not the covering.
• Gifts: where the custom engraved pieces belong, alongside everything else worth wrapping.
• Accessories: leg wear, bags, glitter and the rest of the finishing layer.