Length

Necklace length guide: where 14, 16, 18 and 20 inch chains fall

Where a 14, 16, 18 or 20-inch chain falls on your neck, how to measure yours with a piece of string, and how the extender changes it.

Published September 15, 2026 · 5 minute read

1. Measure your neck with a piece of string
2. The standard lengths, and ours
3. What the extender does
4. Match the length to the neckline
5. Adding a second necklace
6. Lengths for men and boys

Measure your neck with a piece of string

The number on a necklace is the length of the whole chain with the clasp closed, and that number means little until you see it on your own neck. A piece of string, a shoelace or a phone charger cable fixes that in two minutes.

Hang the string around your neck and hold both ends together at the front, at the spot where you want the pendant to rest. Let go of nothing yet. Take it off with your fingers still pinching the meeting point, lay it flat on a table and measure from end to pinch. Double that figure if you measured only one side of the loop.

Do it twice: once for a pendant on the collarbone and once for a pendant just below it. Write both numbers down: the gap between them is the gap a two-chain stack needs. It is also why the same 16-inch chain can sit high on one person and lower on another, since a wider neck and broader shoulders use up more of the chain before it reaches the front.

Wear the top you have in mind while you measure. A string laid over a crew neck gives you a different answer from one laid on bare skin.

The standard lengths, and ours

Necklace lengths have names, and the names describe where the chain lands on an average neck. Treat them as landmarks rather than rules.

Between the landmarks sit the chains of our three-chain stacks, at 15, 17 and 19 inches, and two lariat styles that hang alone at 21 inches. Those in-between lengths exist on purpose: they keep each chain two inches away from its neighbor.

Yoosteel Bead choker initial necklace

Layered initial necklace · from $14.99

What the extender does

Almost every necklace we make has an extender, a short tail of links behind the clasp, 2 or 2.5 inches long. Close the clasp on the last link and the necklace is at its longest. Close it on the first and it is at the length on the label.

That turns one necklace into a small range. A 16-inch chain with a 2.5-inch extender can rest on the collarbone or sit an inch and a half below it, which is often enough to move a pendant out from under a neckline.

The extender also changes how a necklace behaves. Worn at its longest, a chain has more slack, and a light pendant can drift to one side as you move. If a pendant keeps turning up off center, shorten the chain by a link or two before you blame the pendant.

When you layer, the extender is your fine adjustment. Set the lower necklace first, then move the clasp of the upper one until the gap between them looks even.

Match the length to the neckline

A necklace is only as visible as the neckline lets it be, so choose the length with a specific top in mind.

With a crew neck, anything that rests on the collarbone disappears under the fabric. Either go shorter, a 14-inch choker that sits above the neckline, or go long enough to lie on top of it, from 20 inches. A V neck is the easy case: a 16-inch pendant sits at the top of the V and an 18-inch one lands closer to its point.

Scoop and boat necks leave a wide stretch of collarbone, which suits chokers and 16-inch pendants. An open collar works like a shallow V. A buttoned collar hides nearly everything, and a necklace worn over a turtleneck needs to be long, on the chest, where it reads as part of the outfit.

Lariats are the exception. A Y-shaped necklace has a 3-inch vertical drop below the front of the chain, and that drop needs open skin behind it. Under a crew neck, you see a chain and nothing else.

Adding a second necklace

The simplest rule of layering is also the most useful: keep about two inches between chains. Closer than that and the chains lie on top of each other, then twist into one another by lunch.

If you already own a 16-inch pendant, look for a 14-inch choker to wear above it or an 18-inch chain to wear below it. Keep the finer chain higher and the pendant lower, so the eye travels down to the piece that carries the detail.

Our layered pieces are built on the same gaps. The paperclip coin initial comes as a 14-inch chain and an 18-inch pendant chain, the bead choker initial as 14 and 16 inches, and the three-chain stacks as 15, 17 and 19 inches, each chain on its own clasp. You can wear any of them whole, take a chain away, or add one of your own at the next two-inch step.

Our layering guide goes further, with example stacks and how to put them on without a knot.

Yoosteel Wave and satellite chain stack

Layered necklace set, 3 pieces · from $12.99

Lengths for men and boys

Chains for men are usually longer, because the pendant is meant to sit on the chest and show over a T-shirt. For an adult, 22 or 24 inches puts a pendant around the middle of the chest. On a boy, 18 or 20 inches does the same job without reaching the belt of a game uniform.

Pendant size changes the choice. Our stainless steel cross pendants measure 38.5 by 25 mm and are 3.4 mm thick. A pendant that size on a short chain sits close under the throat and feels crowded, so give it length. The baseball cross necklace is sold with its chain, in 18, 20, 22 and 24 inches, which covers a boy's first chain and a man's.

A string still settles the question fastest. Measure over the shirt that will be worn most, and pick the length that ends where you want the cross to rest.

Every necklace page here is built on Yoosteel standards: the chain length, the extender and where the pendant falls, printed in the Details table.