Rebecca Levitsky

“Madonna meets Chanel,” jewelry designer Rebecca Levitsky says, is the way to wear costume jewelry right now. “I see people piling on necklaces,” she says.

Not always with the greatest success. To make it look best, Levitsky says, you need a sense of proportion. If your waistline is high, long necklaces look too long. If you’re wearing one of this season’s longer jackets, you need a longer long necklace. If your blouse has a fancy collar, jewelry will only interfere.

For suede blazers, wear matte-finish jewelry in real or simulated stone, pottery or porcelain.

Levitsky explains: “Matte-finish jewelry complements suede’s matte finish.” If you’re wearing leather, wear gemstones or crystal.

“Shiny jewelry goes with leather’s shiny surface.” She likes silver jewelry with jeans and rhinestones with sweat shirts.

Levitsky says that pearls in all colors and lengths are her best sellers right now. She mixes them with silver beads for what she calls “refined arty” jewelry.

But beyond her own rules for wearing jewelry, she concedes: “You can do completely outlandish things and make them work, if you’re comfortable with what you’ve done.”

From the sound of it, Madonna can relax.

Levitsky introduced her fall collection at Millie, a jewelry boutique in Santa Monica.