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How to dress like a gentleman- A guide on the jewellery of a gentleman: how to dress like a true gent
JEWELLERY
HISTORY
There are peoples who go naked, but none who go unadorned. The need for self-decoration is
more basic, even, than the desire to go clothed. Jewellery is the oldest from of art, predating
cave-painting.
Most of the ornamental metal processes used today were known to the ancient Egyptians, as
were such familiar items as the signet ring. Noble Romans were wont upon occasion to wear a
ring on every finger. Barbarian chieftains clanked from their load of studded belts, buckles and
bangles that bore witness to their rank and dignity. Among the Celts, gold torques and bangles
of great beauty were worn.
By the Middle Ages, pearls and gems were being embroidered into clothing. As the craft of
cutting and mounting developed, eve more opulent belts and pendants were fashioned,
culminating in the ornamental chain of office, worn over the shoulders.
The demand from wealthy families was such that designs for jewels by celebrated painters such
as Hans Holbein the Younger and Albrecht Dürer were printed and circulated throughout
Europe-surely the first ‘designer wear’. Through the 16th century, gold chains distributed by
monarchs to the loyal nobility were much like the gold watches of later times.
The concept of having a matched set of accessories, or parure, was well established by the 18th
century. A high-born gentleman’s parure would consist of buttons, shoe buckles, sword hilt and a
chained insignia of some knightly order. It was rather like having one’s personal regalia.
Up to this point, gentlemen had out-glittered the ladies, but things began to change rapidly and
radically, until court ceremony was the only occasion left for male ostentation – and the draught
felt by the French Revolution put a chill even upon that. By the 19th century, a man was reduced
to his signetring, cravat pin and watch, with a brooch, perhaps, and fancy studs and cuff links to
leaven the sobriety of his evening wear. A curious and quite long-lasting phenomenon was
‘mourning jewellery’, rings and brooches, sometimes containing locks of hair, in remembrance of
departed loved ones.
The progressive process of denying the gentleman his baubles continued into the 20th century,
until he was down to his cufflinks, and even these were deemed unessential in the egalitarian
nihilism of the 1960s. A reaction, naturally, was in train. Starting with the ‘Peacock Revolution’ of
the late 1960s, the young began to sport chunky bracelets and gold neck chains. Among the
lower orders in particular, chains and earrings (and dare one mention the occasional nose ring?)
were worn with aggressive delight.
HISTORY
There are peoples who go naked, but none who go unadorned. The need for self-decoration is
more basic, even, than the desire to go clothed. Jewellery is the oldest from of art, predating
cave-painting.
Most of the ornamental metal processes used today were known to the ancient Egyptians, as
were such familiar items as the signet ring. Noble Romans were wont upon occasion to wear a
ring on every finger. Barbarian chieftains clanked from their load of studded belts, buckles and
bangles that bore witness to their rank and dignity. Among the Celts, gold torques and bangles
of great beauty were worn.
By the Middle Ages, pearls and gems were being embroidered into clothing. As the craft of
cutting and mounting developed, eve more opulent belts and pendants were fashioned,
culminating in the ornamental chain of office, worn over the shoulders.
The demand from wealthy families was such that designs for jewels by celebrated painters such
as Hans Holbein the Younger and Albrecht Dürer were printed and circulated throughout
Europe-surely the first ‘designer wear’. Through the 16th century, gold chains distributed by
monarchs to the loyal nobility were much like the gold watches of later times.
The concept of having a matched set of accessories, or parure, was well established by the 18th
century. A high-born gentleman’s parure would consist of buttons, shoe buckles, sword hilt and a
chained insignia of some knightly order. It was rather like having one’s personal regalia.
Up to this point, gentlemen had out-glittered the ladies, but things began to change rapidly and
radically, until court ceremony was the only occasion left for male ostentation – and the draught
felt by the French Revolution put a chill even upon that. By the 19th century, a man was reduced
to his signetring, cravat pin and watch, with a brooch, perhaps, and fancy studs and cuff links to
leaven the sobriety of his evening wear. A curious and quite long-lasting phenomenon was
‘mourning jewellery’, rings and brooches, sometimes containing locks of hair, in remembrance of
departed loved ones.
The progressive process of denying the gentleman his baubles continued into the 20th century,
until he was down to his cufflinks, and even these were deemed unessential in the egalitarian
nihilism of the 1960s. A reaction, naturally, was in train. Starting with the ‘Peacock Revolution’ of
the late 1960s, the young began to sport chunky bracelets and gold neck chains. Among the
lower orders in particular, chains and earrings (and dare one mention the occasional nose ring?)
were worn with aggressive delight.
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