It’s slow-going influencing shifts in men’s fashion.
Though we have an increasingly casual society, it has taken decades to evolve the expectation of donning a neck-tie for evening or corporate attire.
Men’s fashion weeks provide plenty of fodder to inspire experimentation, but another area usually confined to strict convention is also seeing heartening signs of change.
Jewellery is being chosen by high-profile men to adorn black-tie and high-fashion ensembles on red-carpets and at events, and not just a splashy gold or diamond chain or cufflinks either. Instead, refined high jewellery designs associated with top luxury maisons like Tiffany & Co, Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari and Cartier are now proudly being displayed.
In particular, the surprising return of an item once seen as relic of the past – the brooch – adorned with glittering diamonds and precious stones has those fine-jewellery houses rubbing their hands together.
Brooches have appeared in many women’s ready-to-wear collections this season, but are also being pinned to the lapels of tuxedos worn but some of the world’s most recognisable men. Michael B. Jordan, Jeff Goldblum, Adrian Brody and Leonardo DiCaprio all wore brooches in the most recent awards season. Those top jewellery houses are now working quickly to position their existing glittering and pearl-adorned high jewellery pins and brooches for their male clients, too.
In the last few decades men’s accessories have traditionally involved more utilitarian pieces, but as also seen in the watch world, this is changing as increasing desire for decoration and personalisation is met with new designs and ways to wear.
Rachel Sloane, co-owner and creative director of Aotearoa fine jewellery brand Naveya & Sloane, agrees the accessories landscape is changing for men.
“There’s a quiet confidence emerging” she confirms. “Men are moving away from jewellery as status and toward jewellery as story. It feels more personal, less performative. Instead of ‘look at this,’ it’s more, ‘this means something to me,’ which is really cool.”
More men are wearing heirloom pieces that may reflect this desire for expression and connection to the past, and the culture feels less rigid. “When the rules loosen, personality shows up, and character is always more magnetic than polish.”
Sloane is excited about the embrace of the brooch.
“They feel very chic and slightly old world, which I adore, she says. “There’s a sense of theatre to them.”
Whether they translate into everyday wear will depend on confidence she muses, but says fashion often filters down in subtler ways.
“We may see smaller pins, sculptural lapel details, or precious cufflinks incorporated into tailoring. It’s less about replicating a red carpet look and more about borrowing the spirit of it – the permission to adorn. I think we’re entering a time where men feel more permission than ever.”
Brooches we’d love to see worn by men:
Clockwise from top L: Swarovski brooch; Tiffany & Co. brooch; Tiffany & Co brooch; Gucci brooch; Van Cleef & Arpels brooch; Dior brooch; Bvulgari brooch
