Circuit off, measure, and then join the wires from the ceiling to those of the light: brown or black to live, blue to neutral, green-yellow to earth. The weight of the light never hangs on those wires but on the hook or the ceiling plate. That is why the strain relief comes first and the connection after.
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The difference with a ceiling light
A ceiling light is screwed to the ceiling and stays there. A pendant light hangs from a cable and so pulls down constantly. If that pull is on the terminal, the wires slide out over time or the copper breaks at the terminal. Every pendant light therefore has something that takes the strain: an eye or knot in the cable, a steel cable, or a ceiling cup with a clamp the cable runs through.
What is in your ceiling
In most homes there is a junction box above the light with a hook and two to four wires. The light hangs from that hook, the wires go to the terminal. If there is no hook, or your light is heavy, screw the light's ceiling plate into the ceiling with plugs, preferably into a joist or concrete.
Not sure whether the hook will hold the weight? Hang something heavier than your light from it first, such as a bucket of sand, and see whether it stays put. A chandelier or a large light with glass deserves its own fixing in the joist.
Step by step
Circuit off and measure. The switch is not enough. See How do you check that the power is off?
Old light down. Take a photo of the connection before you undo anything. Leave the stiff wires from the ceiling in place and disconnect the flexible wires of the old light.
Set the height and shorten the cable. Do this before you connect. With some lights you cut the cable to length yourself, as with the Calo, which comes with 1.5 meters of cable. Others you adjust afterwards: the Filo adjusts from 9.5 to 160 centimeters without cutting.
Strain relief first. Hang the light on the hook or clamp the cable in the ceiling cup. Only once the weight hangs there do you start connecting.
Connect. Live to live, neutral to neutral, earth to earth. Strip about a centimeter of copper, push it all the way into the connector or terminal block and give it a gentle tug. If the light has a metal shade and an earth wire, it must be connected.
Ceiling cup against the ceiling. Push the wires and connectors into the box or under the cup without pinching anything.
Bulb in, circuit on.
Light and light source
Many pendant lights come without a light source. The Calo has a GU10 socket, the Filo an E27 socket, made to show off a filament bulb. What an E27 is, is in What is an E27 socket? If you want to dim, choose a dimmable bulb and an LED dimmer.
There are also pendant lights with built-in LED. The Baro is a 120 centimeter bar with 3000 lumens and a CCT switch from 2700K to 6500K that you set when mounting. Note: it is not dimmable, so a dimmer will not work on it.
Two or three lights on one point
Above a long table you often want two or three lights, while there is only one ceiling point. You can then take a bar instead of separate lights, or a 1-phase track with pendant adapters, so each light takes its power from the track. Mounting such a track is covered in How do you mount a 1-phase track? All models are in pendant lights.
Can a pendant light hang from its wires?
No. The weight belongs on the hook, the steel cable or the clamp in the ceiling cup. If it hangs on the terminal, the wires slide out over time.
Which wire is the live on a pendant light?
Brown or black. Blue is neutral, green-yellow is earth. In an older installation the live can also be gray.
Can you hang a pendant light without a hook in the ceiling?
Yes, by screwing the light's ceiling plate into the ceiling with plugs. With a heavy light, preferably into a joist or concrete, not just plasterboard.