Rank: The Jewellery That Sits on the Shoulder, Not the Neck

Western jewellery was designed for a neckline. The Arab gown does not always have one to offer, and the abaya has none at all. That is the gap Wazna’s Rank collection was built for: it moves the jewellery from the neck to the two places an Arab silhouette actually shows, the shoulder and the waist.

What a Rank piece is

The house describes the collection as inspired by Arab culture and made for women who lead, fusing tradition and modernity. In the hand, a Rank is a run of hinged, angular gold segments that step and fold like the chevrons on an insignia, with the inner faces set in pave diamonds. Worn on the shoulder it reads as a mark of standing; the name is not decorative. The matching Belt takes the same architecture around the waist of a gown or a jalabiya, where a fabric sash would normally sit.

Three tiers, one design

Unusually for a fine jeweller, Wazna offers the collection at three levels of material, so the design is not reserved for one price. The Diamond Rank and Diamond Belt are 18K gold, in rose, white or yellow, set with diamonds. The Gold-Plated Rank and Gold-Plated Belt use zircon stones on plated metal. The Silver Rank and Silver Belt use zircon on silver. A pair of Diamond Earrings in 18K gold, in the same three colours, completes the set. The shape is the same across all three; what changes is what it is made of.

How to wear it

Three rules, all judgment rather than doctrine. One shoulder, not two, unless the occasion is formal enough for symmetry. The Belt on a plain gown; the pattern of the piece is the pattern of the outfit, and a printed fabric fights it. And when a Rank is on the shoulder, keep the neck bare; the whole point is to move the eye, not to crowd it.

A Rank also answers a practical question Emirati women are asked more than most: what jewellery works with an abaya. Very little that hangs from the neck does. Something that sits on the shoulder does.

The collection is in the shop, and a Rank can be commissioned in a different scale or stone through the atelier.