Was it sportswear, street style, punk, or Health Goth that made all-black-everything cool? Who knows. While this aesthetic is regularly applied to clothing and footwear, jewelry is often overlooked. It’s understandable — if you’re already wearing a mostly noir ensemble, chances are you’ll want gold or silver accessories to juxtapose.

Black jewelry comes with a lot of baggage. It’s often perceived as harsh, masculine, and a little too vampy for many people’s tastes. While this may be true, we think you should embrace your dark side. Apparently accessories designers are onboard as well; black jewelry has been featured in major collections from Rick Owens to Saint Laurent for fall 2014. If you want to add some edge to your ensemble, we recommend rocking the look with monochromatic outfits (all black, all white, or a mix of the two), on metallic clothing, or over-top of sheer/ translucent fabrics. Most options available either are stainless steel with a black finish, oxidized metal, rubber, leather, or naturally dark crystals.

To help you get “black to basics,” here are our favourite noir numbers for your jewelry box.