Are pearls a step too far for today’s fashionable man? – The Australian Financial Review
Despite my sons’ reluctance to embrace the full Coco Chanel look, I do love the way men in general have started to explore new fashion possibilities and embrace trends previously deemed feminine. Fashion houses such as Gucci, Bally and Vetements are leading the charge, sending their male models out in gender-defiant pussy-bow blouses, satin, lace and brocade, and totally reinvigorating the menswear category as a result. Designers are providing more interesting fashion choices than the suit, shirt and tie, and it’s clearly paying dividends. But are pearls a step too far even for today’s hipsters?
Why can’t we take inspiration from Renaissance France, or the maharajas of India, and bring in some major show-stopping pieces for men, such as tiered diamond and jewel necklaces, gem-studded bracelets, fingers stacked with rings? Mainstream jewellery for men has been so safe and apologetic in recent times – a simple silver bangle, a diamond stud earring, small amulets on leather cords. It’s a “gender appropriate” style that says, I’m a little metro, but, hey, in no way girly.
To my mind, pushing traditional gender limits is highly attractive. As a David Bowie-obsessed teen, I was thrilled to see him in make-up and earrings (no one has ever looked as great as he did in blue eyeshadow and a tailored suit in the Life on Mars video). I say skip the leather and silver tat and go hard on the diamonds, pearls, opals, whatever.
A Swedish fashion boss, and one of the most devastatingly stylish men I have ever seen, once met me for lunch at Sydney’s Rockpool restaurant, a popular destination for barristers and businessmen in bland expensive suits. Olive-skinned, with long black hair, he wore a white open-necked shirt, a bespoke navy pinstriped suit, green velvet slippers, one gold drop earring, neck tattoos and a gemstone gold ring on every finger. Superb. If he had also been wearing smudged kohl eyeliner, I would have found my perfect man.
Rappers and rock stars have certainly expanded the concept of jewellery for men, with their gold chains and diamond skull rings, but Pharrell in his demure pearls was a genuine shock. A wonderful shock. How great if men started wearing pearls, and brooches, and diamante drop earrings (very nice against a tuxedo).
As fashion blurs the lines between genders, and we all wear hoodies and leggings, and parkas and suits, the last barriers to fall are shoes and jewellery. I once noticed a man in Neiman Marcus in Los A, who was wearing a satin bomber jacket, with his jeans tucked into high-heeled stiletto snakeskin boots. He turned some heads, to be sure, but I applaud his choice. David Bowie would have approved.
This is an extract from Why Did I Buy That? Fashion mistakes, life lessons by Kirstie Clements (Murdoch Books).