If this season's runways channeled a previous era, it was the grace and elegance of the 1930s, when design detail took place upwards of the hips, putting all emphasis on necks and waists and leaving skirts and pants to flow inconspicuously. Necklaces were an ubiquitous accent to many of Spring's most talked-about collections, yet these standbys of a woman's jewelry box were worn in creative ways that gave new life to old reliables. The flirty, breezy chiffon skirts and flouncy shirts seen in many collections were tightened up with belts and sashes, and became decidedly demure when worn with colored gemstone strands in contrasting colors like rich green tourmaline or olive quartz with sugar-candy pink rose quartz or morganite. Even the runway's hippie looks cleaned up their act, becoming more primal-chic than primitive. Those earth-conscious identifiers, coral and turquoise, are still the perfect accent to feathers and fringe, yet this time around the stones are smoothly polished into delicate beads and worn in contrasting lengths for an effortlessly elegant look. The uninhibited wearing of necklaces hints towards a certain lawlessness in stacking and layering. Whether multiple colored gemstone strands, a colorful gemstone torsade worn with a lady-like lavaliere style pendant, or an opera-length strand of Chinese freshwater cultured pearls wrapped haphazardly in graduating lengths, the message is one of controlled excess.