Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette.
Today's video is all about men's jewelry.
We discuss what it is, how to wear it, and
general do's and don'ts.
So to start, what is men's jewelry?
Throughout history in different cultures
what can and cannot be worn by men has
varied
and still varies greatly. For example, if
you think of the Maharajas in India
or the French kings of the 18th century
with their showy gems,
it could be considered to be effeminate
or
over the top in this day and age. However,
if anything,
history has shown us that wearing
jewelry as men
is something very normal. By definition,
jewelry is any accessory
that is made in parts of metal or
gemstones or semi-precious stones
that serves as an ornamentation and
doesn't necessarily have any practical
value.
So what are some typical pieces of men's
jewelry? Well let's start with
cufflinks and actually, they do serve a
purpose but just because they do,
doesn't mean they're not jewelry because
they are very decorative.
When it comes to men's jewelry apart
from rings, cufflinks
are probably the most widely worn item
today.
Most of them come in metals, usually are
less expensive, more precious metals
include sterling silver, yellow gold, rose
gold, white gold,
or platinum. You can have a sterling
silver cufflink that is
heavily plated with platinum or gold
that will never rub off and
you can pass on to your grandchildren.
Sometimes cufflinks have decorative
elements such as
enamel or semi-precious stone inserts
such as lapis lazuli or
onyx or they could have sapphires or
rubies.
Sometimes they're also made out of shell
such as mother of pearl
or maybe some jade. Of course, cufflinks
require you to wear
a shirt that is made for them which is
typically a French cuff or double cuff
shirt
that is folded over. For white tie, you
can also have 
a single-cuffed shirt that is also worn
with cufflinks. In a more casual setting,
you can sometimes find combination cuffs
which are button cuffs but they also
have two buttonholes so they can be worn
with cufflinks.
To learn everything you need to know
about cufflinks, please check out this
in-depth guide.
Personally, I love to wear cufflinks and
when I wear a suit,
I usually always wear cufflinks and even
with a sport coat.
If you're interested, you can watch this
video that gives you a glimpse into my
cufflink collection and if you're
interested in high quality cufflinks at
a fair price,
check out the cufflinks at the Fort Belvedere shop here. The second item
of jewelry that is not as
popular today anymore are shirt studs
and waistcoat buttons. Traditionally,
shirt studs were worn with
formal outfits such as a black tie
outfit or
white tie and they were just more
decorative than the regular buttons you
have sewn-on on dress shirts today.
Often, those shirt studs would match the
cufflinks and you basically had a set.
Now today, most people don't attend many
black tie functions
and so, it's really valuable to have a
pair of cufflinks that can be worn
independently of formal functions. Also,
if you travel, you can just bring
one set of shirt studs and cufflinks and
you can wear it
with regular events, with business events,
and for formal events. Because of that, I
designed a set with monkey fist
cufflinks
that you can find here. You can buy them
independently,  you can wear them
independently,
but it's kind of the one set that works
for all. If you want to learn
more about shirt studs, please check out
our black tie and white tie guides here.
Traditionally, men would also wear
removable matching
waistcoat buttons so you had shirt studs,
cufflinks,
and waistcoat buttons all in the same
look.
This was called a full dress set and
today, you can't really find them new
anymore.
You have to buy those vintage but if you
go to all those lengths
and dress up for black tie and white tie,
you might as well
go the extra mile, especially if you're
into clothes
and it's just a hobby and a passion for
you just like it is for me.
Number three: watches. Again, it's
functional, it tells you time,
but ultimately today, it's more of a
jewelry piece for most men
especially if they invest a lot of money
into it
to show off certain complications or
just a really cool look.
Of course, one could argue if it has a
leather strap,
it's more of an accessory. If it has a
metal band, it's more of a piece of
jewelry
but at the end of the day, it doesn't
matter. It's all about what
you think and how you feel. As a funny
side note, historically, it was
impolite to have a watch with you
because if you would look at it
in company, you would imply that you had
better things to do
which would have been considered to be
rude. Then came the pocket watch
and today, people wear their Rolex
Submariner
with their tuxedo outfits even though it
doesn't make sense
from a formality point of view. If  you want
to learn more about the scale formality
in classic menswear,
check out this video. Perhaps, the
most
obvious jewelry item a men can wear is a
classic
ring; the most common one being the
wedding band or the wedding ring
but you can also have things like a
pinky ring or a signet ring.
If you're interested in the differences,
we have videos for each one of them that
you can check out.
So how many rings should you wear
and what's the specific meaning of a
ring if you wear it on your thumb or
your middle finger
check out this video. Personally, I
like rings a lot
and I have quite the collection and of
course, I made a video about it, too.
Typically, I wear a wedding band and
one other ring --
be the pinky ring or something on the
ring finger on the opposite hand.
The fifth man's jewelry items are tie
bars or tie clips.
Particularly, men who don't just dress up
because they have to
but because they want to find it's just
another thing
they can add to make their outfit more
special. Another
functional advantage of a tie bar is if
you have
one shoulder is lower than the other
like me, your tie will have a tendency to
go in one direction
and a tie clip can keep it in place all
day so it always looks neat.
My entire clips are an elegant example
of having a
functional item that still serves an
ornamental purpose.
Sometimes, you can even find vintage sets
that have matching tie bars
and cufflinks back in the 60s, 70s, and
80s
you could also find tie tacks and
sometimes they had chains that held your
tie in place.
If you wear it today it gives you a
certain vintage look
which is okay. If that's what you're
going for but it's definitely
a modern aesthetic. If you go in the
further back
men wore tie stick pins which was just a
pin that would go through your tie
and no, it doesn't damage it even though
it leaves a little hole.
Today, you can wear them with ascots
especially formal ones
and maybe even with a formal three-piece
suit.
I like the look of it because it's very
subtle but it's
different. Prince Charles, for example,
still wears them today
and particularly with morning wear
ensembles. Of course, if you want to learn
how to use a stick pin
for a formal cravat, please check out
this video 
and if you want to learn more about tie
tacks and tie clips
and where to position them so you look
the part,
here is a video for you. The sixth piece
of men's jewelry
are collar pins. Collar clips or collar
bars
and those at their heyday during the
1930s.
At that time, a lot of men would wear
them over the years.
They almost completely lost their appeal
to main street
and really only dandies or clothes horses
would wear them
to underline their unique style.
Fortunately, in recent years due to shows
such as Boardwalk Empire
Madmen, Peaky Blinders or Perry Mason,
more men have become aware of collar
clips and collar pins and as a
consequence,
you see more of them wearing them today.
Again, they're typically worn by men
who don't feel like they have to wear a
uniform
but who see clothing as an expression of
their personal style
and they enjoy it. Traditionally, collar
bars, clips, and pins were only worn
with very narrow collars because you
couldn't have that much of a spread. It
would slightly elevate the tie knot
but today, collars are typically a bit
more spread
and so with all our customers asked us
to make a wider collar clip,
and so we listened and we did. To learn
more about
how to wear a collar clip or pin in
your outfit without looking over the top
check out this video here and to learn
more about the history,
we got you covered too. Number seven:
chains
and fobs. When the pocket watch was at
its
peak, men would of course also have a
pocket watch chain
that they would wear. Typically, the vest
had a little hole or it was just
pulled to a buttonhole and you would see
it in the front and the pocket watch
was in your vest pocket. If you wear a
watch chain today,
it adds a distinctive vintage look to
your appearance
and people typically only do it if
they're really into clothes.
Personally, I really like wearing a
double Albert chain
with a hole in a double-breasted vest
because it has this symmetrical look,
has a little fob on it and it's just
very debonaire in my mind.
When it became historically okay to wear
a timepiece with your evening wear
and people weren't offended if you
looked at it, first, you had
really flat thin pocket watches and
those wouldn't be worn
with a long watch chain but with a
simple fabric fob
or that was a bit decorative in your
vest
waistcoat pocket. Today's style icons
such as Lino
Ieluzi have popularized chains in
menswear again.
For example, he uses it with a money clip
in his pocket
and then the other end of the chain
being attached to a belt loop or a belt
so when he wears a jacket or a suit, it
hangs
out underneath and you can visually see
it like with a pocket watch.
This is definitely a more casual
approach to wearing a chain
but it's nevertheless quite popular and
modern
and it works well if you don't want to
be too
stiff in your overall appearance. Number
eight are bracelets, necklaces, or
chains. If I look at my dad's generation,
I could often see men
wearing necklaces or bracelets and
I remember,  I used to wear one because my
dad would
and so I got one and I even got a silver
bracelet
on one of our Turkey vacations back in
the day. In combination with a mullet,
five rings on your fingers, and a strong
tan, you can look like you're straight up
in New
Jersey from the 1980s. A more modern
approach to bracelets
are semi-precious stones such as tiger's
eye or onyx or lapis lazuli. In my mind,
they're a bit of a fad
and I'm sure they won't stay around and
they're not really
part of the classic men's style realm
at the same time all the younger people
like to wear it
and it's more in line with a casual
approach to style.
Heavy link chains are typically of gold
or in gold colors and they're sometimes
bedazzled with
diamonds and they have become a status
of wealth
in society today; they're not something
that is
classically associated with permanent
men's style. The ninth jewelry item are
belt buckles
and most people will think of belt
buckles as a very functional item
and not an ornamentation item but if you
think about it,
cowboys, for example, have sterling silver
buckles with inlaid
turquoise or you can spend thousands of
dollars
on Hermes H buckles in precious
metals for example
that are definitely more of a jewelry
piece than a functional piece even
though
they serve a functional use.
Personally, I like to match the color of
my belt buckle
to the rest of my accessories and to do
that very effectively,
I work with a belt system that allows me
to change the style and color of my belt
buckle
very easily with all the belts I have in
my collection and you can learn more
about it
here. Last but not least, there are lapel
pins
or chains. Even though it's a quite rare
sight,
to see those on men they are around
and I've found that in recent years
they've become more popular than maybe
20 years ago.
It's under a pin that goes through the
buttonhole of your lapel
or sometimes it's a chain that drapes
from
the buttonhole down into your pocket.
Sometimes they're old pocket watch
chains
that just have been repurposed just like
a boutonniere lapel pin
can make you stand out a bit more
because it's a bit more uncommon.
But even politicians sometimes have
little pins there
that show their association to their
country
or their alma mater. So now that we
covered traditional men's jewelry,
what are the do's and don'ts? The first
rule is
to skip jewelry that has big branding on
it
or that's super ostentatious unless of
course, you want to impress
others with your status symbols
rather than your intellect, your humor, or
your charm.
Frankly, trying to impress others with
their expensive Hermes belts
or Rolex watches typically means that
there's an insecurity
that you have to overcome because you
don't feel valued enough by others
without them.
Always keep in mind, jewelry catches the
eye because it's typically made of metal
or reflective
areas and it is made to draw
your attention to it. As a general rule
of thumb, less is more
and if someone calls it bling, it's a
good indicator that it's too much.
So let's say you wear a white tie or black
tie, you don't have to wear that watch
and it was historically acceptable to do
so. It also means that cufflinks for
daywear
are typically made out of just gold or
silver without any
bold diamonds that are sparkling and
just showy.
Of course, some precious stones are
different because they're less showy
they just pick up a color
maybe that's in your tie that being said
at the end of the day
it's your style and if you want to be
bolder and wear bolder colors and more
jewelry
go for it just be aware about how it
could be perceived by others.
Rule number two: Don't wear too many
pieces of jewelry at the same time.
Coco Chanel's advice to women was to
always look in the mirror
and then remove one accessory and the
same holds true for men.
A common misconception is that more
jewelry is more
formal but a little dose of minimalism
can really help so if you have
one loud ring or signature cufflinks
keep the rest really toned down. Franks
most men are fine with a wedding band
and maybe one other ring on the opposite
hand.
If you look at pictures of Pitti Uomo, you
see a bunch of guys wearing stacked
bracelets
and other accessories which is a good
way to show that
too much is just not a good take
because it looks overloaded. Three:
don't wear huge oversized jewelry for
men.
That could be an extremely big gold
watch
or a ring that resembles that
of an NFL championship ring. Usually, big
expensive rings
or items of jewelry for men are really
no different
than a status symbol and the equivalent
of wearing a really big engagement ring
and holding it in a way that everyone
can see how much
money someone spent on you. It can easily
come across at looking
cheap or like a mobster or drug lord.
Keep in mind subtlety is the key to true
elegance
which brings us to point number four: do
choose the right proportions for your
jewelry.
if you are a bigger person and you have
bigger fingers,
by all means, go with a ring that is more
substantial.
If you're a very thin guy, maybe a
thinner band works
just like a thinner tie would or a
jacket with skinnier lapels or if you
have thin wrists and have a small build,
well a smaller watch is better than one
with a larger diameter.
5. Do select jewelry that has a personal
meaning to you.
There is a reason why pandora is so
commercially successful
because they allow women to commemorate
certain events in their life and make it
part of their jewelry bracelet.
Men can do the same with a watch a
signet ring or a pair of cufflinks
that can commemorate an important step
in their life.
It can be something they reward
themselves for
or it can be tied to a relative like
your father, your uncle
who handed it down to you or maybe
there's an interesting history that
really resonates with you
that makes it very special to you and
is above the materialistic value of the
jewelry piece.
I've even heard of people who've gotten
heirloom jewelry pieces
maybe from the opposite sex but they
still wanted to wear it so they melted
it down
and made it into a ring that they were
happy to wear and every time they wear
it and look at it
they think of the person who gave them
that ring.
At the same time, be careful not to be
too
kitschy and maybe have political party
affiliations
made part of your jewelry. It will likely
just
alienate people and it's the equivalent
of
wearing t-shirts with bold messages on
them.
Six: do always try to match your metals.
Now that may sound simple at first but
once you think about all the different
metals in your outfits it can be quite
tricky.
Now, if you don't happen to have a
matching metal for everything.
That's okay, don't be self-conscious, just
wear it if you can make it all work
together consider it
and the overall result will be better.
And no, if your wedding band
is gold or silver,  you should always
leave it on
and not try to take it off or mix and
match
other things because again, it has a
meaning and that's
more important than matching up the
colors. Last but not least, rule number
seven is
do make your jewelry choices based on
the occasion. Now that's not just true.
In general for clothing but particularly
for jewelry,  you wouldn't want to
show up or be dazzled at a funeral
because that would draw the attention to
you and your status symbols or shiny
objects
rather than to deceased in their family.
By the way,  to learn more about funeral
etiquette
check out this video here. Also, let's say
you're going to a job interview
it's probably wise not to wear your most
expensive Rolex watch. On the other hand,
when you're negotiating a business deal
and the other person wants to see that
they're dealing
with an accomplished business person,
that Rolex may actually help you
so there's no cut and clear rule about
what to wear.
It all depends on the situation. In
conclusion, we all have different styles
and someone can pull off wearing
earrings,
a number of bracelets and rings and it
just works with their overall style
but if you look at it from a lens of the
classic
permanent style, all the jewelry items
and rules we've laid out here
will serve you well and keep in mind
when you're in doubt,
always tone it down and go with less
than more.
That being said in today's video, I'm
wearing a combination
consisting of a light blue shirt with
french
cuffs. I'm wearing a pair of contrasting
purple glass cufflinks with gold metal
elements
and I'm combining it with a striped tie.
It's a vintage one from Brooks Brothers and
an olive green
sport coat. My pocket square picks up the
tones of greens and blues
and yellows and it's paisley from Fort
Belvedere
and my ring is a wedding band in gold
with a little milgrain pattern
and then I have a citrine gold ring.
Again, I'm matching the colors of the
metal and it also ties in
to the stripe in my tie. My slacks are
also part of a suit
and there is solid navy blue with cuffs
I'm combining them with olive green
shoes that pick up the color of the
jacket
and to provide a visual interesting
element without being overboard
I'm combining it with a two-tone pair of
socks from Fort Belvedere
in a darker blue and kind of a prussian
blue
which provides a very interesting look
depending on how the light
shines on them without being too
dramatic.
