Dorsey Jewelry: The Tennis Necklace.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved jewelry. As a girl, I was always getting into my mother’s jewelry box, naturally drawn to anything sparkly. My parents called me a little magpie. As an adult, my love of jewelry has only intensified. Costume jewelry, fine jewelry, I love it all! I have a post about how I’ve built my own fine jewelry collection if that is interesting to you.

Last year, I remember seeing so many of the stylish fashion accounts on my feed (Courtney!) draped in these stunning diamond tennis necklaces. The sort of jewelry that stops you in your tracks. What the heck!? From an outsider’s POV, it looked like these women were wearing hundreds of thousands of dollars around their necks. Enter Dorsey. Lab grown sapphire necklaces (that look like diamonds). Truly, the sparkle is intense. I’d never seen anything like them. I knew I “needed” my own tennis necklace and ordered the James necklace (I love the round bezel setting!) on the spot. This was last August. Since then I’ve started working with Dorsey and they have gifted me a few different pieces (note: while this post is not sponsored I am a part of their affiliate program!).

I get so many questions (truly, so many – especially around size and metal choice!) about this brand that I wanted to dedicate a proper long-form blog post to talking about them.

PS – this little shop page has all of my Dorsey favorites in one easy to access place!

Dorsey Jewelry: The Tennis Necklace

Sizing

The sizing is probably the biggest thing I get asked about. I have the 16″ in most styles but I cannot stress enough how personal necklace fits are. I have a larger neck (proportional to my body) so what works on me may not work for you. So I recommend taking a piece of string, putting it around your neck to determine how long you want it to be/where you want it to lay, and from there… and then measuring your string to see what size you should order. The extra work will be worth it!

I don’t recommend styling allll the necklaces together like this. (I mean you can, 5 year old me would have loved this look!) but I wanted to show them all together for scale.

The Tennis Necklace

“Tennis necklace” just refers to a type of necklace with a continuous, complete strand of diamonds that encircles the full neckline. And a little fun fact (because you know I love these little trivia bits). The term “tennis necklace” or more aptly, “tennis bracelet” originates from the diamond tennis bracelet that Chris Evert wore. At the 1978 US Open, she lost her diamond bracelet mid-match (it went flying off her wrist!). You can read more about that here, if you’d like!

Quality wise, I find Dorsey’s jewelry to be fantastic. The necklaces each have a double clasp in back, the pieces are substantial and weighty (some of the total carat weights!), the metals don’t tarnish or lose their shine. Dorsey’s stones are engineered in a lab, meant to mimic the conditions of how stones would naturally develop and grow. So they have the same physical and chemical properties as mined stones (and are equally sparkly and high quality) but are much more affordable.

I wanted to show you the difference between the Kate and the Moss. This is the Kate (16″) and the Moss (17.5″) layered together. You can see that the 3mm stones of the Moss are more delicate than the 4mm stones of the Kate. This is totally a personal preference thing, I like the smaller stones… but again I wear both (and really like how they look together!)

moss – 17.5″ (SILVER)

The Moss is my newest addition, and actually it is probably my favorite and now most-worn style. I really love Kate but sometimes she is just a little too sparkly. The smaller (3mm vs 4mm) stone makes the difference for me, making it a little easier to wear every day. I also love the longer length… for me, it feels a little easier to wear. (Again, big neck — measure yours!) It also layers beautifully with the shorter styles.

Kate – 16″ (SILVER)

I have the Kate in 16″ in silver. It’s the perfect staple. Anytime I wear it, someone asks me if it’s “real,” and I inevitably wind up launching into a whole long winded diatribe about lab grown sapphires and diamonds. I was in line for coffee at the airport a month ago and a woman asked me if I was wearing real diamonds. It cracked me up a little and also made me giggle… I can’t even imagine how much money it would cost if it were traditionally mined diamonds. A lot. Not something you can casually wear on the plane!

I like how the two Moss necklaces layer together. Again, the smaller 3mm stones are what seem to work best with my personal style!

James – 16″ (GOLD COATED SILVER)

The James Bezel Necklace is my second most worn tennis necklace after the longer Moss. And it was my first introduction to the brand! I love the round setting. It is so chic and feels really special and unique. I have had this one the longest out of everything, and it is in perfect shape. I got the 18k yellow gold coated silver here.

sapphire moss – 17″ (SILVER)

Sapphire is my birth stone and I adore this necklace. I love it paired with a classic tee or tank and the white sapphire moss. Casual glamour. Again, I love the smaller 3mm stones – a daintier look (that still packs a punch).

bessette – 16″ (Gold coated silver)

The Bessette is fabulous for special occasions. It is made up of 121 baguette sapphires and makes such a statement. It’s really special. I love that Dorsey is introducing the Bessette in a mini style too.

Not a tennis necklace

Dorsey Earrings

While not a tennis necklace, I had to mention the earrings I am wearing above, The Crawford. They are amazing, they feel like a vintage heirloom. Any time I wear them I get a ton of questions and compliments. They are sold out at the moment but I’ll post to instagram next time they restock. I have a few other pairs of Dorsey earrings that I really really love. For special occasions, I love the Gwen earrings. These are insanely sparkly. Like, showstoppingly so! And for everyday, you cannot go wrong with The Lucien. The perfect simple drop earring. Also majorly sparkle but the setting is more subdued.

Dorsey Tennis Bracelets

Up until recently I could only speak to the amazingness that is Dorsey’s earrings and tennis necklaces. But I recently got Dorsey’s lab grown diamond tennis bracelet and it’s everything. I went with the smallest size diamond (2.5mm and love it so much). It is worth putting on your wish list. A more affordable alternative would be their 3mm Kate lab grown sapphire bracelet. It’s almost as sparkly, and a slightly bigger size (the same size as my Moss tennis necklace, so still delicate!).

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