Another remarkable male jewellery enthusiast from the archives known for his style was the late Maharaja of Indore, Tukoji Rao III Holkar. “I found him extremely chic,” says Julien-Loïc Garin, founder of bespoke Hong Kong jewellery boutique The Collection by JLG. The Maharaja collected 1,200 jewels during his reign alone. He visited the Chaumet high jewellery salon in southern France in 1913, when he was shown a necklace suspending two pear-shaped diamonds of 46.70 and 46.95 carats. He bought the necklace, along with the two white diamonds later known as the Indore Pears. The Indore Pears were worn by the maharaja in a famous portrait by French painter Bernard Boutet de Monvel. In the 1920s, the diamonds were gifted to Nancy Anne Miller of Seattle when she became the Maharani of Indore. She sold the Indore Pears to Harry Winston, who resold them privately. 

While for centuries men did not hesitate to wear pearls or signet rings with their family crests, there seemed to be a sudden shift in mindsets after the onset of the industrial revolution. “It was due to the emergence of American bourgeois society that the shift occurred,” says Garin. The working class took over. Wealth was no longer measured with power rings and family heirlooms. Gentlemen had started “making money out of investments, railroads and industrial goods”. As a result, it was considered frivolous to wear jewellery to work. Fashion for men became uniform with black ties, hats and monotones, while jewellery disappeared for those who wanted to appear like they literally meant business. “And then in the 20th century with the World Wars, jewellery became something that represented non-working individuals, mostly women. Suddenly, men who wore jewellery were branded as feminine and not serious about their day jobs,” he says.

But since then, much has changed. Bulgari, founded in 1884 by Sotirios Bulgari, is another high jewellery maison that embraces gender neutrality in its designs. It is known for its bold, colourful pieces, including its gender-neutral collections such as B.zero1 Rock and the Serpenti Misteriosi Intrecciati. “Jewellery always expresses emotions, but I don’t think this is a reason to link it to the female gender. I believe a perfect example is our Serpenti line,” says Lucia Silvestri, the executive creative director for jewellery at Bulgari.

With the advent of social media and pop culture, the conversation around jewellery expression has gained momentum. In 2014, the topic of jewellery for men caught the attention of many who spotted singer Pharrell Williams walking down the red carpet wearing a chunky diamond necklace. Williams, who was recently appointed creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, is also the founder of Joopiter, a global digital-first auction house and content platform. He has previously auctioned jewels from his personal collection. Other sightings of male celebrities such as Jared Leto wearing a diamond necklace from Gucci’s high jewellery collection at the Met Gala in 2019 and former One Direction member Harry Styles’ gender-bending sheer black blouse and pearl earrings at the same event, saw a number of comments on social media, where they were praised by their followers for their innovative fashion choices.

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“At the Met Gala, they [male celebrities] are all dripping in jewellery because it’s becoming more socially acceptable. I’m getting approached now by men who want me to make medallions that can be worn as brooches,” says Chantel Shafie, a Hong Kong-based bespoke jewellery designer. “Forty per cent of my clientele are gentlemen,” agrees Garin describing jewellery as “a great show of taste”, and that men are unapologetic about expressing themselves lately.

Thanks to this trend, brands recognise the importance of inclusivity and diversity in their product portfolio. “It is very important for us to keep up with the times and current needs that are increasingly trending toward a genderless aesthetic; so we also think of a design that reflects these characteristics while creating new jewels for lines such as B.zero1 or Bulgari Bulgari, for example, that can easily embrace new fluid aesthetic needs focused on a playful, versatile and easily wearable style,” says Silvestri.

Boucheron’s Poulit-Duquesne adds: “The trend of gender fluidity has emerged mainly in Asia, where we have seen the rapid development of jewellery worn by men.” For instance, K-pop stars have contributed a lot to this trend. It all started in 2018, when BTS collaborated with South Korean jewellery brand Stonehenge.

Another K-pop group, Ateez, followed suit when they partnered with jewellery brand J.Estina to create a collection that was inclusive for all. These collaborations resulted in a broader understanding that gender is a social construct and that “listening to people makes it possible to understand them, to respect their uniqueness, to accept them in their differences, and to build collective intelligence [to create jewellery]”, says Boucheron’s boss.

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Ruby Autore, founder of Autore Moda, a ready-to-wear, demi fine jewellery brand from Sydney that specialises in South Sea pearls, adds jewellery “is just a reflection of the times we’re in at the moment”. The brand aims to embrace the “age of soft masculinity” with its designs. Having grown up on a pearl farm, Autore got into the jewellery business taking her parents’ legacy ahead; they set up the business in the early 2000s and sell their jewels internationally across Europe, US and Australia, as well as in retail stores and e-commerce sites like Farfetch and David Jones. According to the second-generation designer, brooches and pearls that were once prevalent in the Art Deco era “are going to have a big comeback this year,” as we circle back to the era of the maharajas and royalty. Autore mentions that pearl bracelets, stud earrings and chains in particular are in demand among her male clientele.

High jewellery maisons, bespoke designers and fine jewellery brands are all taking a thoughtful approach to gender neutrality in their designs. Rather than simply unisex pieces, the market is full of jewels that are versatile and adaptable. This allows anyone to wear them in a way that feels authentic and true to their identity. Silvestri says, “Sometimes the expressive power that jewellery can convey is underestimated: it is amazing how strongly it can characterise an outfit, communicating a strong and charismatic personality.”

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