As I was doing research on the web today, I hap­pened to come across images of men wear­ing pearls. The first pho­to­graph was of fash­ion designer, John Gal­liano attend­ing Yves Saint-Laurent’s funeral. Around his neck were strands of black pearls twisted into a rope, which made them look more like a scarf than a neck­lace. He appeared cre­ative, com­fort­able, and utterly con­tem­po­rary. While I think that most men wouldn’t be able (or inclined) to pull off this look, there are vari­a­tions on this theme that are equally cool and do not require a mas­ter class in self-confidence.

Back in the nine­teenth cen­tury, the Mahara­jahs and princes of India wore strands of large, nat­ural (not cul­tured) pearls. It was part of their cus­tom and birthright as these gems were con­sid­ered highly valu­able and prof­fered an unabashed dis­play of wealth and power. Here is an image of Prince Rana of Dhol­phur. Per­son­ally I love the very large pearl choker. Note the way in which the pearls are worn as sin­gle strands in cas­cad­ing lengths –a man­ner of style that would become quite pop­u­lar dur­ing the Edwar­dian period. It was at this time that Queen Mary was often pho­tographed wear­ing strands of pearls and dia­monds in a sim­i­lar way. Here she is look­ing quite won­der­ful in her regalia.

Men should and can wear pearls, per­haps not with the same panache as Mr. Galiano or Prince Rana of Dhol­phur, but rather as an accent. Three lumi­nous pearls, or even one large one, on a black leather cord has a relaxed, beach-boy appeal with a soupçon of sophistication.