Something’s caught my eye recently – men around town are wearing lots of jewellery. TikTok and Instagram are full of it. Love Island Lotharios in pearls! Timothée Chalamet in a Cartier candy-inspired necklace! Good lord, Jacob Elordi’s thermometer-busting eyebrow piercing in Saltburn.
All roads lead back to Harry Styles, with his rock star rings and grandmother trinkets. As well as former Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele, who set fashion’s mood music for years while wearing multiple rings. More recently, Harry from The Traitors, with his dangling crosses, has been having a word in all our ears. You wouldn’t know we’re in a recession, from the gold and ice in these streets. But can any man jump on the trend – and should they?
I never wear jewellery. When I do, I feel as if I’ve raided the party box. If I try on a ring, I immediately panic about not being able to take it off. (Who do you call to cut off a finger? Locum? Locksmith? Loan shark?) The recent trend for welded cuffs – a BFF chain taken to the next level, in which a jeweller seals one permanently around your wrist or ankle – fills me with horror. Jewellery-wearing men often strike me as self-loving, but in a bad way. Yet secretly … I think they look good. It’s time I tried this trend. So I spoke to an expert, to rid me of this sartorial conservatism.
“Social media has given men the confidence to wear jewellery more,” says Peter Bevan, a fashion stylist and writer, who shows me how to wear it. Drinking cappuccino at a plant nursery, Bevan wears gold rings and three necklaces, stacked at different lengths. He essays a thrown-together elegance. If I was wearing the same, I suspect I’d look like a five-year-old cosplaying as Mr T. Jewellery makes me feel lopsided, I confess. “I feel the same!” smiles Bevan. “If I wear more rings on one hand, I’ll wear a ring and bracelet on the other.”
It is all about balance and authenticity, advises Bevan. I should think about visually tying pieces together, by design, weight or material. A silver ring and chain, for example. Yet jewellery should express your personality, and rules get in the way of that. Mixing metals was once a fashion faux-pas, “but silver and gold can look great together”, he says. Don’t think about “dressing up”. Jewellery elevates any look, from a wedding suit to a simple T-shirt. Even a slim bracelet adds value to an outfit. Looking at Bevan, I start to get it.
Watching the Netflix romcom One Day, I’ve been admiring the signet ring that handsome lead actor Leo Woodall wears. Woodall’s ring looks set to be this year’s Connell’s chain – the simple chain worn by sensitive beefcake Paul Mescal in the BBC adaptation of Normal People that became a cultural phenomenon in 2020. It inspired a song, its own Instagram account, and still shines as a symbol of our lockdown thirst. I want some of that. “A pinky signet might be the place to start?” suggests Bevan. But I go all in, picking out a chunky number by Missoma, which I decide to wear for a week.
I manage, well, one day. The signet makes my hands look sausage-y. It also – and this may be the least impressive thing I’ve ever written – hurts my fingers. My typing degrades significantly. One evening, I lose my grip on a pot, spilling partly cooked brown rice over the floor. Historically, signet rings were engraved with crests, used by kings and pharaohs to imprint wax seals on state documents. Wearing one at moments like this feels like taking the piss out of myself.
Necklaces feel more doable. They’re symmetrical, easy and discreet, just like me. But I am self-conscious about my hairy chest. Having a drop crystal nestled in a man rug feels a bit Tony Soprano. “That’s the only way to wear it!” laughs Hikmat Mohammed, an editor at fashion industry trade journal WWD. To his eye, a smooth, posh-boy chest lacks edge; a gold chain nestling in chest hair is virile. “You don’t want your jewellery to get lost in it, though,” he concedes. He trims his with clippers set to 2.5 or 3.
Unlike Bevan, who changes his look every day, Mohammed has a bold signature. Five regally stacked chains of Iraqi gold, gifts from his mother. Rings of gold, onyx, diamond (one modelled on his hero Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s engagement ring). His pendants, which include an evil eye and chilli pepper, all have personal significance. Jewellery is a way of wearing our stories, I realise, and selectively sharing them. They are conversation starters, Mohammed twinkles, “and a way for people to flirt with you”.
Two years ago, he was wearing the pearls and beads that are everywhere now, but has since gone off them – “maybe because all the straights are doing it,” he laughs. “Now I see pearls and think, ‘Is that a gay man? Or a straight gay man?’” He’s joking, but is there a sense in which heterosexuals are appropriating part of a culture they once oppressed? “Jewellery is for everyone,” he says magnanimously. “Gay men just get to things quicker. And get bored more easily.”
The majority of men are more trend-aware now, says Joel Atkin, a buyer at luxury retailer Matches. While simple bands and chains still sell well, precious stone and metalwork detailing have grown in popularity. “There is more interest in design detail and depth of brand,” says jeweller Bleue Burnham, meaning consumers follow specific companies and designers, “whereas previously it was more about certain styles for certain occasions.” Burnham is one of the most celebrated young jewellers around, known for innovative techniques, crafting eye-catching pieces in “Rice Krispies” pearls, and vibrant, Jolly Rancher colourways in gems.
Our modern thing for bling is, in a sense, vintage. Men wore big jewellery for centuries. Check out Henry VIII, or Sir Walter Raleigh and his natty pearl earring. An 18th-century ideological shift turned western clothing habits inside out. The Great Masculine Renunciation saw men abandoning beauty, in order to claim rationality and utility. They ditched aristocratic style, bright colours, high heels – and trinkets. The mainstream influence of queer fashion, which challenges gender norms, is helping restore to men the swagger they once had.
At the theatre with my mother, I wear a silver signet, bracelet and pendant. “No earring?” she asks, disappointed. She follows up with a story of how her uncle DIY pierced her ears at home, botched the job and it became infected. Not the feedback I’m looking for.
On a trip to the seaside town of Hastings, I match my jewellery to my surroundings. I wrap myself in a pearl necklace, from A Sinner in Pearls. I’m shocked to say, I love the pearls’ warm, half-organic, half-alien sheen. The wife of a friend says I look good. I nervously finger my pearls in the street while the pubs are kicking out, like a luxurious rosary. No one bats an eyelid. I drop into a fish and chip shop. Am I secretly hoping for mushy peas with a side of bigotry, for journalistic colour? I get nothing but a warm smile and excellent chips. The world is ready for this.
What advice for men who are new to jewellery and looking to dip a toe? Start simple, with a gold or silver chain. “You become comfortable with jewellery through wearing it, which informs the next step,” says Burnham. Choose pieces that match your personality, and complement your skin tone. It strikes me that paler colours look nice against my skin – I fall hard for a freshwater pearl pendant on a platinum-plated necklace from Completedworks. My personality does not cry out for heavy accessories, agrees Bevan, and daintier pieces are easy to experiment with. The aim is to look considered, so don’t swamp a chunky signature piece with smaller ones. And avoid a full set of rings, chains, earrings and necklaces. “You’re not Queen Elizabeth sitting for a portrait,” says Mohammed.
Louis Vuitton, Byredo and Saint Laurent have all recently moved into men’s jewellery, yet designer houses don’t usually offer the best value. Bevan points me to a Bottega Veneta ring, of the kind that costs hundreds. Like most fashion jewellery, it has gold plating, which will show silver after a few years, although they can often be replated. Mid-range brands such as Missoma and Mejuri offer precious metal, he says, for a similar cost.
If you’re looking for investment pieces, Mohammed has an even better tip: don’t shop online, where most gold pieces are 14-carat at most; rather, Arab and Indian jewellers, often found in the suburbs of larger cities, will sell 18- and 21-carat gold at a far better rate. We wear jewellery regularly for two reasons, Mohammed observes: because we spent a decent amount of money on it, or it has sentimental value. So go shopping for pieces on holiday, or shake what your grandmother gave you.
On my last night out experimenting with bling, I throw away all the advice. I wear a pearl necklace, silver Alighieri pendant, two chunky mottled rings from Cos and a gold band, as well as a dainty silver bracelet. As I enter the basement of a cocktail bar, there is an audible, Ooooh. An old friend says I look handsome. I meet someone who shows me the chain his girlfriend has just bought him – he always wanted one, he says. The feedback is all positive, apart from when someone says, “Good for you!”, which makes me pause. Still, I love my jewellery, and I’m going to keep wearing it. Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but don’t be surprised if this year, they’re hanging out with the guys.
