Fine vs Fashion Jewellery Guide: When to Invest | Sozèle Style Journal

There's a particular moment that arrives in every woman's life, usually sometime in her late twenties or early thirties, when she finds herself standing in front of a jewellery counter having what can only be described as an existential crisis. On one side, there's a pair of diamond studs classic, timeless, eye-wateringly expensive. On the other, several trendy pieces that together cost roughly the same amount. The shop assistant hovers nearby, diplomatically silent, whilst you wrestle with a decision that feels oddly weighted with significance beyond mere accessorising.

This isn't simply about money, though that's certainly part of it. It's about identity, values, and how we choose to adorn ourselves in an age where personal style has become a form of self-expression more nuanced than ever before. The jewellery we wear tells stories about our taste, our priorities, our understanding of quality versus trend, permanence versus novelty. And increasingly, the question isn't whether to choose fine jewellery or fashion pieces, but rather how to navigate between them with intention and intelligence.

The Great Jewellery Dilemma

The relationship women have with jewellery has shifted dramatically over the past two decades. Our mothers and grandmothers operated within a relatively straightforward framework: you received significant pieces to mark life milestones, you inherited family treasures, and you perhaps purchased the occasional costume piece for fun. The categories were clear, the rules understood, the hierarchy unchallenged.

Today's landscape bears little resemblance to that orderly world. We're living through an era of unprecedented access to information, to global markets, to both luxury goods and expertly crafted alternatives. A teenager can order statement earrings from a trendy online retailer for fifteen pounds that look remarkably similar to designs selling for fifteen hundred at established jewellery houses. Simultaneously, that same young woman can educate herself about diamond cuts, gold purity, and gem quality through YouTube videos and Instagram accounts run by actual gemologists and jewellery historians.

This democratisation has created wonderful opportunities but also genuine confusion. The old signifiers of quality aren't always reliable. Price doesn't necessarily correlate with craftsmanship in the way it once did. And the cultural messaging we receive is contradictory at best minimalist influencers advocate for capsule jewellery collections of precious, timeless pieces, whilst fashion publications showcase editorial spreads dripping with bold, clearly costume jewellery stacked and layered with deliberate excess.

Every style-conscious person eventually confronts this central question: should I invest in one perfect piece or buy several trend-driven accessories? The answer, as with most genuinely interesting questions, isn't binary. It's not either-or but rather both-and, with the critical factor being your ability to discern when each approach serves you best. This requires understanding not just the technical differences between fine and fashion jewellery, but also your own lifestyle, style evolution, and relationship with adornment.

The confusion is compounded by the fact that contemporary jewellery exists on a spectrum rather than in neat categories. Between clearly precious pieces and obvious costume jewellery lies a vast middle ground of semi-precious stones, vermeil, solid silver, and well-crafted alternatives that blur traditional boundaries. A beautifully designed piece in sterling silver might be more meaningful and better made than a poorly executed item in gold. Context matters. Intention matters. And increasingly, the story behind a piece matters as much as its material composition.

Understanding the Fundamental Distinction

Before we can make intelligent choices about when to invest and when to play, we need to establish what we're actually discussing when we use terms like 'fine jewellery' and 'fashion jewellery'. The distinctions are partly technical, partly cultural, and partly philosophical.

Fine jewellery, in its traditional definition, refers to pieces crafted from precious metals gold, platinum, silver and set with precious or semi-precious gemstones. But this technical definition only tells part of the story. Fine jewellery also implies a level of craftsmanship, durability, and design integrity that transcends mere material value. A truly fine piece is constructed to last generations, with attention to details invisible to the casual observer. The settings are secure. The clasps function smoothly after decades of use. The design possesses a certain timelessness that allows it to transcend fleeting trends.

Fashion jewellery sometimes called costume jewellery, though that term carries different connotations encompasses everything else. Base metals, plated finishes, crystal or glass stones, resin, enamel, and increasingly, innovative materials that deliberately play with our expectations about what jewellery can be. But fashion jewellery isn't simply 'less than' fine jewellery. At its best, it's jewellery liberated from preciousness, free to take risks, experiment wildly, and respond immediately to cultural moments in ways that fine jewellery, with its longer production cycles and higher stakes, cannot.

The technical differences affect how these pieces age and how they function in your wardrobe. Fine jewellery, properly cared for, improves with time. Gold develops a subtle patina. Gemstones, if they're genuine and of quality, maintain their brilliance. A well-made gold chain worn daily for twenty years will still be wearable, valuable, and beautiful. Fashion jewellery, by contrast, is designed for a different lifespan. Plating wears away. Base metals tarnish or cause reactions on sensitive skin. Glued settings fail. This isn't a defect it's simply the nature of pieces never intended to be heirlooms.

But there's another distinction that matters just as much as material composition: cultural capital. Fine jewellery from certain houses carries recognition that extends beyond personal satisfaction. A Cartier Love bracelet communicates something specific to those who recognise it. So does a Van Cleef Alhambra necklace or Tiffany engagement ring. Whether we find this appealing or distasteful is a separate question the point is that these pieces exist within a system of shared cultural meaning that affects their function in our lives.

Fashion jewellery, meanwhile, operates in a space of greater freedom precisely because it lacks this weight of expectation. You can wear enormous acrylic earrings shaped like fruit without worrying about their investment value or whether they'll 'stand the test of time'. They're not supposed to. They're supposed to be fun, immediate, expressive, and possibly quite ridiculous. This liberty is valuable in its own right.

When to Invest in Fine Jewellery

The decision to invest in fine jewellery should never be casual, nor should it be driven primarily by external pressure or the vague sense that you 'ought to' own certain pieces by a certain age. Instead, investment in fine jewellery makes sense when several conditions align: you've identified pieces you'll genuinely wear regularly, you can afford them without financial strain, and you understand what you're purchasing well enough to make informed choices.

Investment pieces should possess genuine timelessness not just classic design, but the kind of versatility that allows them to work across different contexts in your life. A classic gold chain in a simple design serves you at twenty-five and at sixty-five. Diamond studs transition from office meetings to evening events without requiring a second thought. A tennis bracelet adds polish to a white t-shirt and jeans or complements your most formal occasion wear. These pieces are jewellery wardrobe foundations, and like any foundation, they need to be solid, reliable, and enduring.

The mathematics of investment jewellery is compelling when you examine cost-per-wear over time. Yes, a pair of quality diamond studs might cost two thousand pounds. But if you wear them three times a week for twenty years, you're looking at roughly sixty-five pence per wear and that's assuming they haven't appreciated in value, which quality pieces from established houses often do. Compare this to fashion earrings at thirty pounds that you wear a dozen times before they tarnish or you tire of them. The investment piece becomes not just emotionally rewarding but financially rational.

However, the calculus only works if you're honest about your wearing habits. There's no point investing in a statement cocktail ring if your lifestyle rarely calls for cocktail ring moments. The piece sits in a drawer, unworn, neither bringing you joy nor justifying its expense. Investment jewellery should be chosen with brutal honesty about your actual life, not the life you imagine you might live someday if circumstances were entirely different.

Certain categories of fine jewellery make more sense as investments than others. Simple gold chains in classic lengths sixteen to eighteen inches work with everything and never date. Diamond studs in the half to full carat range provide maximum versatility without looking either too modest or too formal. A quality watch, particularly from manufacturers with heritage and reputation, serves both functional and aesthetic purposes whilst often appreciating rather than depreciating. A signet ring or simple band can be worn daily for decades and passed down as a family piece with genuine meaning.

The key is avoiding pieces that feel like fine jewellery but lack the characteristics that make fine jewellery valuable over time. Intricate designs that feel very 'of the moment' may be crafted from precious materials but lack the timelessness that allows them to transcend their era. Pieces from houses without established reputation may be well-made but won't hold resale value or carry cultural recognition. And jewellery purchased primarily because you feel you 'should' own it because magazines say these are 'essentials' or friends have similar pieces rarely becomes beloved enough to justify the investment.

Brands That Hold Value

Not all fine jewellery is created equal when it comes to retaining or appreciating in value. The brand name matters, sometimes enormously, in ways that don't always correlate perfectly with quality or craftsmanship. This is worth understanding even if you find it slightly distasteful the market realities affect your investment either way.

Cartier occupies a peculiar position in the jewellery hierarchy. The Love bracelet, introduced in the 1970s, has appreciated steadily and reliably over decades. It's instantly recognisable to anyone with even passing familiarity with luxury goods. The secondary market is robust, with vintage pieces often selling for more than their original retail price after adjustment for inflation. This isn't simply about the gold content or even the design, though both matter. It's about cultural cachet the bracelet has appeared on enough wrists, in enough contexts, to achieve a kind of shorthand status for a particular type of luxury.

Van Cleef & Arpels' Alhambra collection demonstrates a similar principle whilst feeling quite different aesthetically. The four-leaf clover motif has been in production since 1968, achieving that crucial combination of recognition and versatility. The pieces command premium prices on the resale market, particularly vintage examples and harder-to-find variations. Again, the materials alone don't fully explain the value retention it's the combination of recognisable design, brand heritage, and consistent cultural presence over decades.

Tiffany classics, particularly pieces from the Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso collections, remain desirable across generations. The brand's cultural penetration that distinctive blue box appears in films, advertisements, and our collective imagination translates to sustained demand. A Tiffany T-wire bracelet from the 1980s still looks current and maintains resale value that pieces of similar quality but lesser-known provenance simply don't achieve.

But we should pause here to acknowledge the elephant in the room: this emphasis on brand name and resale value can feel uncomfortably commercial, reducing something personal and expressive to mere investment calculation. There's validity to this discomfort. Jewellery's primary function isn't financial it's ornamental, emotional, symbolic. The pieces that matter most in our lives are often ones with no resale value whatsoever: the ring your grandmother wore daily, the necklace your partner gave you on a significant anniversary, the earrings you bought yourself after a major achievement.

Yet understanding market dynamics doesn't preclude emotional connection. Rather, it allows you to make informed choices about when brand matters and when it doesn't. If you're spending several thousand pounds on a bracelet you plan to wear for decades, understanding that certain names hold value whilst others don't helps you allocate resources wisely. You might choose the Cartier piece over a similar design from a lesser-known maker, not because you're a label snob, but because you appreciate having the option to sell or trade up later if circumstances change.

Conversely, understanding that brand premium exists might free you to choose beautiful pieces from excellent jewellers without the household names, particularly if you're confident you'll never sell them. A bespoke signet ring from a skilled goldsmith might cost a third of what a similar piece from a prestige house would run, with no compromise in quality. If resale value doesn't concern you, the choice becomes obvious.

The vintage and estate market offers another dimension entirely. Pieces from defunct houses or lesser-known makers can be exceptional values, particularly if you develop enough knowledge to assess quality independently of name recognition. Georgian mourning rings, Victorian brooches, Art Deco pieces from competent but not celebrated makers—these can be had for a fraction of what contemporary equivalents cost, often with superior craftsmanship and materials.

When Fashion Jewellery Makes Sense

Fashion jewellery isn't simply what you buy when you can't afford fine pieces. It serves distinct purposes that fine jewellery cannot fulfil, and understanding these purposes transforms how you approach your jewellery wardrobe.

Trend-driven pieces are where fashion jewellery truly excels. The chunky gold chains that dominated for several seasons, the coloured gemstone trend, the return of pearls in unexpected contexts, the statement earring moment—these are all perfect candidates for fashion jewellery. You'll wear them intensely whilst they feel current, then move on when the cultural wind shifts. There's no guilt about the investment because there isn't meant to be investment. These pieces are fashion's equivalent to seasonal rental rather than property purchase.

This allows for experimentation and risk-taking that would be financially foolish with fine jewellery. Want to try wearing three necklaces layered together? Fashion jewellery lets you test that without committing thousands to the experiment. Curious whether you can carry off enormous door-knocker earrings? Twenty-five pounds at a high-street retailer answers that question without lasting consequences. This low-stakes exploration is how personal style develops. You discover what works on your particular face, frame, and in your specific life through trial and considerable error.

Fashion jewellery also allows participation in fashion itself the rapidly changing, culturally responsive, sometimes gloriously absurd world of trends and moments. Fine jewellery, by its nature, stands somewhat apart from fashion's quick cycles. It can't respond immediately to cultural shifts or viral moments. Fashion jewellery can and does. This responsiveness is valuable. It's how we signal cultural literacy, how we participate in shared aesthetic conversations, how we mark ourselves as engaged with contemporary visual culture rather than sealed off in timeless classicism.

There's also simple abundance to consider. Fashion jewellery allows you to own many pieces rather than few, to have options for different moods and occasions, to match specific jewellery to specific outfits in ways that would be impossible if every piece required serious investment. This abundance isn't frivolous it's the difference between a functional wardrobe and one that sparks actual joy and creativity in getting dressed.

The quality question deserves attention, though. Not all fashion jewellery is created equal, and the gap between well-made fashion pieces and cheap rubbish is significant. Look for fashion jewellery that's thoughtfully designed, even if the materials aren't precious. Substantial weight suggests quality base metals rather than the flimsiest alloys. Secure clasps and settings, even on inexpensive pieces, indicate care in manufacture. Finishes that mimic precious materials without pretending to be them, good gold plating or PVD coating rather than flaking gilt, age far better.

Certain fashion jewellery brands have elevated costume pieces to something approaching art. Butler & Wilson's vintage work, particularly from the 1980s, is now collectible despite being unabashedly non-precious. Ken Lane's elaborate creations from the same era appear in museum exhibitions. Contemporary designers like Shrimps and Alighieri use semi-precious materials and inventive techniques to create pieces that blur the traditional boundaries between fashion and fine jewellery. These exist in a middle space worth exploring—too considered and well-made to dismiss as disposable, but priced and positioned as fashion rather than investment.

The Ideal Mix: Creating a Balanced Collection

The most satisfying jewellery collections aren't uniform they're thoughtfully varied, combining pieces that serve different purposes and operate at different levels of preciousness and permanence. Building this kind of collection requires moving beyond either-or thinking toward a more nuanced understanding of how different types of jewellery work together.

Start with a foundation of fine jewellery classics, even if that foundation is quite modest initially. These are your reliable constants, the pieces you reach for reflexively because they work with everything and never feel wrong. For most women, this foundation includes some combination of: simple metal chains or pendants, diamond or precious stone studs, a quality watch, perhaps a tennis bracelet or bangle, possibly a signet or simple band ring. The specific pieces matter less than their function they're your jewellery baseline, establishing a level of polish and finish you can achieve with minimal thought.

This foundation needn't be expensive, particularly when you're starting out. A single gold chain purchased from a reputable source will serve you better than three mediocre pieces at the same total price. One pair of small diamond studs beats a dozen pairs of fashion earrings if you wear them constantly. Build gradually, adding investment pieces as you can afford them, prioritising versatility and genuine personal appeal over completing some imaginary checklist of 'must-haves'.

Once you've established this foundation and it might take years, which is perfectly fine you can layer fashion pieces on top for personality, trendiness, and visual interest. This is where your jewellery collection becomes distinctively yours. Your grandmother's diamond studs can pair beautifully with bold gold hoops from a high-street brand. Your simple gold chain looks entirely different when layered with two longer fashion necklaces in complementary tones. A classic watch gains edge when you stack fashion bangles beside it.

This layering approach fine foundation with fashion accents allows you to participate in current trends without constantly replacing expensive pieces or looking costumey. The fine pieces provide continuity and quality, whilst the fashion pieces rotate with your changing taste and the shifting cultural moment. You get the best of both worlds: investment pieces earning their keep through constant wear, and fashion pieces providing novelty without guilt about their temporary nature.

The proportions matter less than the principle. You might build a foundation of three or four investment pieces that you wear constantly, rotating through dozens of fashion pieces for variety. Or you might accumulate more investment pieces over time whilst being quite selective about fashion additions. There's no correct ratio only what works for your lifestyle, aesthetic, and relationship with adornment.

What doesn't work is either extreme. A collection composed entirely of investment pieces, whilst certainly valuable, tends toward sameness and can feel overly formal or precious. You're afraid to scratch your bracelet, hesitant to wear good pieces to casual occasions, unable to play and experiment with your look. Conversely, a collection entirely of fashion jewellery, no matter how extensive, lacks the grounding that quality pieces provide. Things constantly need replacing. Nothing develops meaning through sustained wearing. And you never experience that particular pleasure of putting on a beautifully made piece that you know will last.

Shopping Strategy: Making Intelligent Choices

Developing a coherent approach to jewellery purchasing prevents the twin pitfalls of impulsive accumulation and paralysing indecision. Strategy doesn't mean rigidity, it means having principles that guide your choices without eliminating spontaneity or pleasure.

The eighty-twenty principle provides useful guidance: allocate approximately eighty percent of your jewellery budget to classics, twenty percent to trends. This naturally weights your spending toward pieces that will serve you longest whilst preserving room for experimentation and fun. The specific ratio matters less than the general principle of prioritising investment pieces whilst leaving space for fashion.

This budget split might manifest differently depending on your resources. For someone spending two thousand pounds annually on jewellery, that's sixteen hundred toward one or two investment pieces and four hundred spread across multiple fashion purchases. For someone with two hundred pounds to allocate, it's one hundred sixty toward a single quality piece perhaps saving across several months for that gold chain and forty pounds for fashion pieces. The ratio scales regardless of absolute amounts.

When purchasing fine jewellery, buy from established houses with heritage, particularly for significant investments. This isn't snobbery, it's recognising that established reputation correlates with quality control, customer service, repair capabilities, and resale value. You're not just buying a piece; you're buying the entire infrastructure that supports that piece across its lifespan. Can you have it repaired if needed? Will the house still exist in twenty years if you want to trade up? Does the brand carry enough recognition to ease resale if necessary?

However, 'established houses' needn't mean only the obvious luxury names. Excellent regional jewellers with decades in business, specialist makers known for particular techniques, and reputable auction houses all offer alternatives to Bond Street flagships. The key is research understanding who makes what well, which houses excel in specific categories, where the value actually lies versus where you're paying primarily for marketing.

The vintage and estate market deserves particular attention for exceptional value on investment pieces. Jewellery doesn't typically wear out if it's well made, which means pieces from the 1920s can be in perfect condition and cost substantially less than contemporary equivalents. You're avoiding the retail markup whilst often getting superior craftsmanship from eras when labour costs allowed for details simply not economical today.

Estate sales, auction houses, specialist vintage dealers, and increasingly, curated online platforms offer access to this market. But expertise matters, you need to understand quality indicators, how to assess condition, what constitutes fair pricing, and which pieces have been well-maintained versus poorly repaired. This education takes time but pays dividends. A Georgian ring purchased wisely might appreciate whilst providing daily wearing pleasure, true investment in both financial and personal terms.

For fashion jewellery, the approach is necessarily different. You're not building for permanence, so brand heritage matters less than design appeal and acceptable quality at the price point. High-street retailers, online fashion sites, and independent designers all offer viable options. The questions to ask shift: Is this piece distinctive enough to justify owning? Will it work with multiple items already in my wardrobe? Does it feel current without being so trend-specific that it'll look dated in six months? Is the construction adequate for the expected lifespan?

Resist the temptation to buy fashion jewellery simply because it's inexpensive. Three mediocre necklaces you wear once each costs more, ultimately, than one you genuinely love and wear repeatedly. Even with fashion pieces, selectivity serves you better than volume. Curate rather than accumulate.

The Sustainability Question

We can't discuss contemporary jewellery purchasing without addressing sustainability, both environmental and ethical. The jewellery industry's supply chains have historically been opaque at best and actively harmful at worst, from mining practices to labour conditions to environmental impact.

For fine jewellery, this means asking questions about sourcing. Is gold recycled or newly mined? If mined, how and where? Are gemstones conflict-free and ethically sourced? Does the jeweller provide transparency about supply chains? Established houses increasingly respond to consumer pressure on these issues, but standards vary enormously. Your purchasing power, even for a single piece, can support better practices if you direct it intentionally.

Lab-grown diamonds have emerged as a significant alternative, offering chemically identical stones at substantially lower prices with clearer supply chains and less environmental impact. The traditional industry has responded with varying degrees of hostility and adaptation, but for consumers, lab-grown diamonds represent a genuine option worth considering, particularly for larger stones where the price differential becomes dramatic.

Fashion jewellery presents different sustainability challenges. The industry churns out enormous volumes of pieces designed for brief lifespans, creating waste and encouraging disposability. Yet ironically, high-quality vintage costume jewellery demonstrates that fashion pieces can last decades if well made and cared for. The solution isn't avoiding fashion jewellery but choosing more carefully—buying fewer, better pieces rather than constantly cycling through the cheapest options.

Second-hand markets for both fine and fashion jewellery represent the most sustainable choice. You're keeping existing pieces in circulation rather than demanding new production. The environmental and ethical costs have already been incurred. And particularly for fine jewellery, vintage pieces often represent better value and superior craftsmanship than contemporary equivalents.

The Psychology of Adornment

Beyond practical considerations of value and versatility, jewellery operates in psychological territory worth examining. The pieces we choose to wear—or not wear—reveal something about how we see ourselves and wish to be seen.

Investment jewellery often carries psychological weight disproportionate to its physical mass. You might hesitate to wear your good pieces casually, reserving them for special occasions that arrive less frequently than expected. The jewellery sits in a drawer, unworn, whilst you rationalize that you're 'saving' it. This protective instinct defeats the entire purpose of ownership. Jewellery fulfils its function only when worn, not when preserved in pristine unused condition.

The solution is adjusting your relationship with preciousness. Fine jewellery is meant to be lived in. Yes, it might get scratched. That's patina, not damage. Yes, you might lose a piece eventually. But years of wearing pleasure outweigh the small risk of loss. The psychological shift required is moving from treating fine jewellery as museum artifacts toward understanding them as tools for daily living elevated tools, certainly, but tools nonetheless meant for use.

Fashion jewellery offers different psychological benefits. The low stakes create freedom to experiment with versions of yourself that might not feel fully formed. You can try aesthetics you're unsure about without commitment. This exploratory quality is genuinely valuable, particularly for women whose sense of style continues evolving throughout life. We're not finished at twenty-five, or thirty-five, or sixty. Fashion jewellery allows continued evolution without requiring constant disposal of expensive pieces that no longer feel right.

There's also the simple pleasure of abundance. Multiple options, the ability to match jewellery to specific outfits or moods, the small daily choice about which pieces to wear—these aren't trivial concerns. They're part of how we construct identity and experience agency in our self-presentation. Fashion jewellery's relative affordability allows for this abundance in ways investment pieces cannot.

Making It Personal

Ultimately, the fine-versus-fashion question is deeply personal. Your answer will differ from your sister's, your colleague's, your best friend's, and that's not only acceptable but necessary. Style is individual precisely because our lives, resources, values, and relationships with adornment differ.

Some women feel most themselves in substantial investment pieces worn daily. Others rarely wear jewellery at all but want the few pieces they do wear to be meaningful and lasting. Still others adore the abundance and variety fashion jewellery allows. None of these approaches is more correct than the others.

The goal isn't achieving some external standard of jewellery collection correctness. It's developing enough self-knowledge and market understanding to make choices that genuinely serve your life. This requires honesty about your actual wearing habits, your budget, your values around sustainability and labour practices, your aesthetic preferences, and how you want jewellery to function in your self-presentation.

Start where you are. If you currently own no investment pieces, you needn't rush to change that. But perhaps begin noticing which fashion pieces you reach for constantly—those reveal what you might invest in. If you own several investment pieces that sit unworn, investigate why. Sometimes the solution is styling differently. Sometimes it's acknowledging a piece doesn't suit your actual life and shouldn't have been purchased.

Build your collection gradually, guided by genuine enthusiasm rather than obligation. The jewellery that serves you best is jewellery you genuinely love wearing, whether that's a simple gold chain from a heritage house or a ridiculous pair of statement earrings from the high street. The distinction between fine and fashion matters less than your own pleasure and the piece's function in your life.

The Freedom of Understanding

Once you grasp the distinction between investment and fashion jewellery—not just the technical differences but the philosophical ones—you gain tremendous freedom. You stop feeling guilty about fashion pieces because you understand their purpose isn't permanence. You stop agonising over investment purchases because you've developed clear criteria for what merits that level of commitment.

This understanding transforms the experience of shopping for jewellery from anxiety-inducing to genuinely pleasurable. You know what you're looking for and why. You can evaluate whether a piece fits your needs without either impulsively purchasing or endlessly deliberating. The decision becomes clearer because you've done the internal work of understanding what jewellery means in your life.

Perhaps most valuably, you stop comparing your jewellery collection to others'. Your colleague's Cartier bracelet and your grandmother's vintage ring serve different but equally valid functions. Your drawer full of fashion earrings isn't a failure to invest properly; it's a different approach to adornment that suits your life. This liberation from comparison allows you to build a collection that genuinely reflects your own values and aesthetic rather than trying to approximate someone else's version of correctness.

The question isn't whether to invest in fine jewellery or play with fashion pieces. It's understanding when each serves you, then building a collection that balances both according to your own life's particular requirements and your own aesthetic soul's specific delights. That's not a decision anyone else can make for you, but once you've made it clearly for yourself, everything else becomes remarkably straightforward.