Hailey Bieber’s stylist Dani Michelle explains how to put together the perfect jewelry stack

From Hailey Bieber to Kendall Jenner, celebrity fashion stylist Dani Michelle has dressed some of the world’s most famous people. But when it comes to her own clothes, the most personal aspect is her jewelry, which she began collecting as a child on family outings and while shopping with her mother.

“I’ve always loved rings and bracelets and I remember having countless jewelry boxes,” says Michelle. “When I was young, probably around 12, I was given a necklace and I remember being so touched by it. It came from someone I really cared about. At that moment I realized how emotional, personal and timeless jewelry is and I knew it was something I would have forever. Since then, I’ve always used jewelry as a way to symbolize special moments in our lives. We all do, whether it’s an engagement ring or a personal gift.”

This is one of the reasons why Michelle founded Méga. She was also inspired by fashion“I realized I had a voice and a footprint in this space, and I wanted to expand my creativity and create something new,” says Michelle. “We spent a long time searching for a name and our soul, and we kept coming back to Méga. It feels like what the brand is to me: bold, strong and confident.” Her collection of timeless jewelry includes necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings and more.

“There was a gap in an upscale, affordable jewelry collection that was universally cool,” says Michelle. “There are a lot of expensive lines with cool pieces, but as a stylist, we mix so much high and low and it works so seamlessly together. I knew there was no question that I could create an affordable line that was fashionable and could communicate style to such a large audience. In those moments when I was styling looks, I kept saying, I wish there was something like this and I would buy bits and pieces from everyone, but by creating our own line, I have everything I need at my fingertips. With Méga, I was able to create all the elements that complete the look, whether it’s a big statement earring or something for every day.”

As a fashion stylist, Michelle knows the importance of jewelry when getting dressed. “Jewelry is the last thing (I add to an outfit), but I think it’s one of the most important things,” she says. “There are so many occasions where we’re styling something, and it could be a simple dress or a look, and if you finish it off with the right earring, that’s what completes it. So many times you look in the mirror and when you hold up the jewelry, you think, ‘This is my moment.’ We always do the outfit and depending on whether you have your hair up or down or whether it’s day or night, then the earrings go there. Great jewelry, great sunglasses complete the look and are important to feeling finished.”

Michelle often draws inspiration for Méga from her own extensive jewelry collection, as well as from vintage fairs. But it’s not just the pieces themselves that attract attention, but how she combines them. “When people stopped me, they didn’t ask me where I got a specific piece, but how I combined them all,” says Michelle. “I realized that it wasn’t that people didn’t know where to get a ring or a necklace, but that they didn’t know how to combine them. That’s another gap I noticed.”

That’s why Méga’s website allows you to shop whole stacks together or à la carte. “If you like the whole look, you can enjoy the whole experience,” says Michelle. “I found myself so many times going to other people’s websites and loving an editorial photo they took and then trying to click through to buy it and it would take me to different homepages. There was no platform that helped people style the jewelry as well as they could.”

For Michelle, it’s not just jewelry that tells a story, but how you wear it too. “Some girls layer a lot of pieces, like me; I wear a lot of rings and necklaces,” she says. “And some leave something alone, whether it’s a statement ring or a single necklace. The story is told through the styling.”

To help you put together your own jewelry stack, Michelle shares her top tips. One mistake to avoid: “Stick to the right sizes – you don’t want to have this huge thing and a bunch of small things,” she warns. “As long as they’re roughly the same size, they’ll look sensible together.”

How to wear stacked earrings, multi-row bracelets, a ring stack and multi-row necklaces:

Earrings

“Always go from the largest in the front to the smallest in the back, so it goes up and down your ear,” says Michelle. “A lot of people think if you have a hoop you have to stick with it, but with earrings you can play around. You have a lot of freedom in mixing metals, studs, hoops and diamonds in your ear stack. Have fun with it.”

Bracelets

“There are two kinds: a bangle, a hard bracelet, and then there’s something with links, which is softer,” says Michelle. “At first I thought it was better to stick with one track or the other, but then I looked at my wrist and saw that I had mixed the two. It’s about worlds relating to each other. When you have a bangle or a chain link that feels cohesive, it feels like it’s telling a story. It relates to your style and your own way of telling. There’s no hard and fast rule that it has to be just bangles or just chains; they just have to speak to each other and feel authentic to you.” Méga will launch bangles this fall.

ring

The rule used to be that when stacking rings, they should all be the same width, but Michelle believes those rules are made to be broken. “I looked at my hand and saw that my rings are all different,” Michelle says. “It’s the styling. I wear three rings on one finger and they don’t look like a stack; they look good in the order I wear them and not in a different order—that’s the order they should be in. With all of those rules, there are always caveats; there’s no set answer. It just depends on what feels right and if it’s aesthetically pleasing.” If you’re a newbie, Michelle recommends starting with a simple ring and gradually expanding. “There’s a lot of space on that finger. As you collect more rings, you’ll start rearranging them and styling your own hand and figuring out what goes well together.”

Necklaces

“Necklaces really offer complete freedom,” says Michelle. “I always feel like more is more with necklaces.” To perfect your stack, try mixing and matching different shapes and sizes. Choosing different lengths is an easy way for beginners to try out the trend. “As you start building them up, you’ll see what goes well together.”