[purepearls]

Hi Mike,
Have you watched TV lately? Plug-in and you'll see more than your fair share of men wearing man-pearl jewelry, especially the Tahitian on leather. There are a quite a few conservative men in Houston or Texas for that matter walking around with Tahitian pearls around their neck. I think it looks fabulous. As far as white pearl jewelry is concerned, it is more liberal but works really well in the pop and hip-hop culture for men. When it comes to jewelry, I think anything goes.

[mikehrz]

Well, the Tahitian on leather can work for the right guys. However:

Assemble pictures of:
1. Henry VIII
2. Kabir Bedi as Sandokan (thanks Zeide)
3. Tim Curry
4. Liberace
5. Pierce Brosnan

Then, go into several random jewelry stores and ask the male customers which one they would want to look like. I have a feeling I know who would win that contest.

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Mike,

Kabir Bedi as Sandokan, anyday.

Zeide

[Slraep]

Kabir Bedi is not above wearing heavy black eyeliner
and make-up, so pearls are definatly not out of place on him.

Does anyone have a pic of him wearing pearls off stage??

Slraep

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Slraep,

No, but His Supreme Handsomeness Lord Krisna owns Taravali a hundred-incher of white pearls and nobody thought any less of him for that.

Zeide

[Kevin Canning]

well Mike this pic might really make you cringe then, but I for one am not afraid to wear my own product, although even I'm not too hot on the idea of white pearls on a man.

[Slraep]

Hi Zeide,

Kabir Bedi is a little too old for me, regardless of his pearls.
He was a real looker when young, though. Gorgeous eyes
and eyebrows.

Kevin, on the other hand looks quite HOT if that is a true likeness of him.( Kev, sweetie, you would have really had me drooling over that suit if the bracelet were a pair of cuff links, and your neck was bare.)


Slraep

[mikehrz]

Well, I'm not cringing exactly, but I don't think I'd wear that bracelet.

Have any of the men replying to this thread spoken up supporting white pearls as men's jewelry? doesn't look like it.

[Kevin Canning]

well I'll be the first to admit my bracelet or a pearl ring for men is not for everybody, but I think there is a niche market for both.

And Slraep don't worry, for my next modeling appearance I'll wear a pair of Tahitian cufflinks just for you

[Slraep]

Hi Kev,

Don't forget the suit.

Slraep

[purepearls]

Of course the men haven't spoken up about the white pearls! There are only certain men who can pull it off, like say Jay Z or Usher or royalty! You have to be ultra hip

I think Tahitian cufflinks paired with a white or blue french cuff shirt look stunning and the Tahitian pearl on leather is a huge growing trend! Men are really coming into their own with fashion.

Remember, it all depends on who your selling to!

[Satine De La Courcel]

I really can not see Prince Charles in White pearls Sorry. Possibly William not Harry I can see both wearing Pearls on a leather thong.

We women have it easier I think when it comes to this gem. I can see my husband waering a Black or golden FWP on a Leather thong possibly even a Abalone but not white not at all! and definately not Pearl bracelets! I really feel it takes a certain style of man to pull off the Pearl bracelet!

Ash

[Caitlin]

Now folks, this conversation just brings out the armchair anthropologist in me- skip this post if you don’t want to hear it.

Funny thing- there are already men wearing full strands of white pearls with at least 1 white stud earring already! You may not adopt the style for yourself- but please notice- it is already happening .

I already reported I saw Randy Jackson wearing just that on Larry King Live on a show post-AI, guest hosted by Ryan Seacrest. I’d say they were 8mm and they looked perfectly fine on him. I got used to the look very quickly.

Men bring something to pearls that women to do not - testosterone I guess, because just about anything on an attractive man looks good to me. Just as anything on a cool guy looks cool.

Remember? Levis weren’t icons until James Dean wore them for a pin up poster - it changed their image forever when the coolest dude from the 50’s movies adopted them...Levis went from lower class working apparel to a permanent member of classic fashion.

One's comfort level with men in pearls is not determined by some immutable law of fashion, but by temporal and local fads and what one is used to seeing.

Caitlin

PS
And one area of pearls that we really skirt around on this forum -because we stick to the extrinsic value of pearls and pearls as fashion- is the topic of pearls as a mystical gems- embued with power due to their very miracle of creation and their intrinsic composition of elements. Pearls are considered sacred by many cultures. Power objects. Not as baubles for women at all, but as symbols of deeper things. And it is usually men who wear the power and the objects that reflect it.

Well, the above paragraph goes for real pearls, natural, wild pearls, especially, but solid nacre cultured pearls are also acceptable. Thin skinned Akoyas really are nothing but fashion baubles- they have no intrinsic value- only the extrinsic value of their provenance.

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Caitlin,

Maybe we gals should rather talk the guys out of wearing pearls. Pearls are highly addictive, imagine the havoc a whole bunch of financially over-endowed male pearl junkies could wreak on pearl prices. However, I am fairly sure that they will be easy on the akoya market.

Zeide

[Caitlin]

Hi Zeide
You have a point. But on the other hand ,don't you think the best way to get some akoya growers to tissue stimulate solid nacre pearls would be for the men to wear akoyas?

##

To continue my lesson in multiculturalism-.... not to you Zeide-!
In my culture, here in the Southwest and in Tucson, most men wear jewelry. They wear necklaces, bracelets, rings, bolo ties, and even pins.

I went Googling yesterday and found many images of men wearing turquoise rings. The same men also could be found wearing multi-strand necklaces, bracelets, bolo ties, and large ornamental belts. the predominent metal is silver and the most usual stones are turquoise, coral and abalone shell or MoP.

I see a very small jump to substituting a baroque or mabe pearl for the MoP in the 3 part stone rings and bracelets popular among men in this area for decades. Did I say decades? These have been worn in the SW for millennia.....

The fullblown SW look is really handsome on men and I can see why the look periodically returns to style.
I got permission to use this picture: