There was some discussion a while back aimed at producing a dynamic chain along similar lines, and it worked quite well going by the renders posted at the time. The links were in the hard decorated group, and tended to pull apart in small-radius bends. However for small links such as those found in necklaces etc. that didn't matter too much. I don't seem to have bookmarked the thread, unfortunately. 

I can't see why this approach wouldn't work with a soft decorated rope, and potentially work better. I must try to find the time to experiment with these ideas.