The very best males’s jewellery manufacturers show there’s by no means been so many choices for fellas trying to flex some gems. As somebody who’s just lately began to rock a bracelet and hoop earring myself, it’s a wave I’ve been fortunately swept up in—and after just a few months spent cautiously, then confidently shining, the enchantment of a class I ignored for a lot too lengthy immediately makes whole sense.
As a result of I more and more solely wish to put on my default denim and tees every single day, having a few glinty bits on me always communicates effort, even when I actually simply threw on the closest objects of clothes earlier than dashing out the door. Moreover, as somebody who likes to know the tales behind the issues they personal, I’ve beloved how most items of bijou are accompanied by a transparent rationalization of their origin—whether or not it’s a hoop that replicates the move of a stream close to the designer’s childhood dwelling, or a necklace impressed by Roman medallions. Carrying one thing when the story behind it simply means extra, and that gravitas can floor a whole match.
After all, there’s additionally the heirloom ingredient. Not like clothes materials that weaken over time, 925 sterling silver and gold might be endlessly returned to their authentic polish, whereas necklaces, rings, earrings and bracelets can all be adjusted to swimsuit any wearer you may in the future want to go your piece onto.
The universe of bijou choices accessible to males has by no means been so crowded, so that can assist you make sense of all of it, I’ve narrowed it right down to the designers it’s good to know proper now—from the extra wallet-friendly upstarts to the marriage day-worthy jewellery wizards.
The Greatest Males’s Jewellery Manufacturers, In line with GQ
- The Inexpensive Stalwarts: Maple, Mejuri, Miansai, Jaxon
- The Family-Title Heritage Acts: David Yurman, Cartier, Tiffany & Co.
- The Heirloom-Worthy Upstarts: Bernard James, Foundrae, L’Enchanteur, Prounis
- The Restrained Independents: All Blues, Bunney, Gottlob, Sophia Buhai
- The Kooky Craftsmen: Alighieri, Beepy Bella, Bleue Burnham, Éliou, Santangelo
- The Rock-God Resurrectionists: The Nice Frog, Johnny Nelson, Martine Ali, Tom Wooden
The Inexpensive Stalwarts
For those who’re new to the jewellery recreation, likelihood is you’ll wish to hold prices down. The excellent news is that there are a lot of approachably-priced items which are good-enough high quality to be worn for years to come back. That’s the place the reasonably priced stalwarts excel. As a result of they work at a scale that permits them to maintain costs decrease, they’ll provide long-lasting designs in tremendous supplies, miraculously typically for below $100.
Maple
Austin McMahon created Maple in 2014 with the guiding focus of being a “culturally-relevant” males’s jewellery model. That want manifests in his satisfying cultural references, together with rings impressed by the Grateful Useless’s bear and the Nirvana’s smiley face brand. As a result of Maple makes use of recycled silver, all of its designs really feel a contact edgier and heftier.
Mejuri
Over the previous decade, Mejuri has turn out to be the primary identify in premium, handcrafted jewellery bought at a mostly-approachable value level. “On a regular basis tremendous jewellery” is the thought, and that’s precisely what you’ll discover—elevated designs, typically accessible in both sterling silver or gold, which are nonetheless easy and comfy sufficient to throw on every single day and match together with your current wardrobe.
Miansai
Conceived for the man who doesn’t put on jewellery (sound such as you?) Miami-based Miansai is reasonably priced, understated, and extremely simple to put on. That three-part method enabled it to just lately have a good time fifteen years in enterprise, and whereas new designs drop often, a lot of its very first items—like screw cuffs and cuban bracelets—stay among the many model’s hottest.
Jaxxon
For those who’re trying to flex on ‘em with out emptying your pockets, look no additional than Jaxxon. The Odell Beckham-backed jewellery model presents all method of iced-out chains and bracelets for maximalists—all made in Italy.
The Family-Title Heritage Acts
After all, there are the designers who’ve stored tremendous jewellery prime of thoughts for nearly two centuries. The designers whose names alone are sometimes used as a stand-in for all the jewellery trade—and who, in some instances, can lay declare to a whole colour (a ruby crimson field, say, or a signature robin-egg blue that earned its personal Wikipedia web page.) You see their names nearly day by day in magazines and billboards, however generally that intense publicity is sufficient to make you neglect there are some fairly particular items lining their cabinets. Take into account this your reminder.
David Yurman
The identify David Yurman could now be synonymous with easy, tremendous jewellery, however its founder took loads of divergent roads to get there—first as a Nineteen Sixties touring Beatnik, then as an apprentice below varied sculptors all through the Nineteen Sixties. Within the seventies, nevertheless, he and his co-founder (and spouse) turned their consideration to jewellery, and the remaining is American craft historical past.
Cartier
Based in Paris in 1847, we have now Cartier to thank for watches. Like, literal watches. In 1903, Louis Cartier created what is believed by many to be the primary wristwatch, and since then, the ‘Maison’ has been adorning males the world after with exceptionally-crafted, instantly-recognizable items, designed to be handed down repeatedly. Whilst you might be able to image a Tank, Santos, and Ballon Bleu from their names alone, their non-horological items could have escaped your consideration.
Tiffany & Co.
As a result of it’s so referred to as the place to go for the women in your life, the truth that Tiffany additionally makes loads of items for him is usually neglected. However they do! From pendants to rings and embossed cuff bracelets, the Tiffany males’s line is designed with all the identical care and high quality supplies as the remainder of the gathering (which, for what it’s price, is lots price perusing too.) The model’s menswear chops had been just lately boosted even additional by the discharge, this yr, of a jewellery line with Pharrell Williams, consisting of sixteen items that includes loads of spikes, pearls, and punky reverse-set diamonds.
The Kooky Craftsmen
One of the crucial refreshing developments in each males’s and ladies’s jewellery lately has been a newfound appreciation for asymmetry, odd kinds, contrasting gems, matte finishes, and altogether off-kilter creations. Dissatisfied by the choices accessible to them as they realized their commerce, these kooky craftsmen launched their manufacturers with a nothing-to-lose, iconoclastic spirit that, considered collectively at this time, has grown into one thing of a baying military of boundary-pushers.
Alighieri
For a decade, London designer Rosh Mahtani has earned a beloved following for her “talismans of energy and braveness.” Impressed initially by Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, gold classical medallions are naturally a few of her hottest items (proper on time for this Gladiator fall) however newer designs just like the poet’s necklace, which inserts any crimson carpenter’s pencil, present a designer persevering with to mess around.
Beepy Bella
Beepy Bella’s universe is pure whimsy, all the best way right down to the cursor that follows you throughout her web site. Based in New York Metropolis by Isabella Lalonde, Beepy’s world contains extra than simply jewellery—there’s purses, tops, even “thriller containers”—however for guys, Lalonde’s rings and bracelets are your finest approach into wonderland.
Bleue Burnham
Be gone, muted rubies and clear crystals! Bleue Burnham’s joyous, kaleidoscopic designs all the time prioritize vibrant inexperienced, pink and yellow gems over your extra conventional, humble stones, which is why their designs shine maybe the brightest of this whole new crop of playful, much less self-serious males’s jewellery. Generosity is the vitality right here: single rings are crowded with diamonds and pearls that evoke a floral bouquet—one thing the model performed upon when opening their Harrod’s house, the place prospects obtained a bunch of flowers with each buy.
Éliou
Whereas Beepy Bella’s sizes nonetheless skew smaller, Éliou—began by two childhood finest associates with equally playful aesthetics—has a whole, larger-sized males’s class that can assist you discover the type you actually like finest. For those who want some proof that their juice is definitely worth the squeeze, contemplate that Harry Types himself—a person who’s guided extra males into jewellery than most—wears a customized necklace from the indie model.
Santangelo
The Santangelo aesthetic is a favourite of shiny editorial spreads, however its ethos might be distilled to 1 phrase: summer time. Founder Anna Santangelo has all the time spent hers clubbing and browsing in California and Sydney, and her supplies replicate that: anticipate loads of pearls, shells, glass beads and stones, all handmade in New York Metropolis.
The Restrained Independents
As a lot as I can admire a kooky attraction or two, not all the impartial studios are centered on breaking the mould in such an attention-grabbing approach. The truth is, the under crop of craftspeople have earned devoted followings for the best way they ever so subtly elevate simple-seeming items, whether or not with an uncommon selection of attraction, barely outsized hyperlinks, or with a single contact of caprice combined into in any other case severely top quality, stripped again supplies. Personally, many of the male-identifying jewellery wearers I do know are at present procuring this class greater than another, and I can report that they’ve been happy to seek out long-lasting items which are deeply particular to them and those that discover, however can simply as simply fly below the radar—or a shirtsleeve—when applicable.
All Blues
Based in Stockholm fifteen years in the past by two finest associates, All Blues now shares a block within the Swedish capital with Louis Vuitton and Gucci. Nonetheless, the designers know that their success has come as a result of of their playful, impartial mindset (a set impressed by a failed omelet was one early success) and they also proceed to play with kinds and supplies at this time, albeit in a quieter approach than the manufacturers above.
Bunney
There’s a stillness and sense of play to Bunney’s hand-crafted unisex items. Take their animal charms, which may fasten to any necklace you’ve got, or the pleasant trompe l’oeil belt ring which, whereas actually an funding, will delight a whole lot if not 1000’s of individuals fortunate sufficient to dine throughout from you over the course of your lifetime.
Gottlob
Gottlob is at present providing a fairly distinctive proposition—a bracelet with actual soul, for below $100. Made by hand in Cologne, Germany, the repeating-beads jewellery is newly stocked at venerable menswear boutiques, together with Neighbour in Vancouver and Nitty Gritty in Stockholm, two of GQ’s favourite clothes shops on the earth.
Sophie Buhai
Work round vogue editors, and also you’ll hear Sophie Buhai’s identify talked about repeatedly—typically after a praise has been paid to some earrings, a hoop, or a necklace. Buhai—who, exterior of her personal line, additionally lent her abilities to Lemaire after they wished to launch their very own jewellery line—makes items that may put on simply as properly with denims and sweaters as night apparel, which is why fellas shouldn’t overlook her collections both.
The Heirloom-Worthy Upstarts
There’s a distinction between your on a regular basis chains and the rings and bracelets that get handed down via generations. For those who’re right here to make an funding within the household jewels—however nonetheless wish to accomplish that with a brand new crop of designers—the manufacturers under are right here that can assist you do exactly that.
Bernard James
Lewis Hamilton, Jacob Elordi, and Brad Pitt have all been featured in GQ’s pages carrying items from Bernard James. Whereas his designs are likely to promote out quick, I’m completely happy to notice that the ‘Flora’ sequence—impressed by the Brooklyn Botanical Backyard—is stocked, and particular.
Foundrae
Perennial A-list favourite Foundrae is finest identified for its handmade, 18-karat gold medallions—and for good motive, they’re beauties—however the assortment additionally contains intricately detailed signet rings, necklaces and bracelets, all that includes energy and wisdom-related iconography from a complete vary of various cultures and time intervals.
L’Enchanteur
Tanzanite, Purple Sapphire, Tsavorite, Morganite, Garnet, and Aquamarine, all on one 14K gold bracelet? For equivalent twin designers Dynasty & Soull Ogun, that’s simply one other day on the workplace. As a result of all the pieces’s made to order by hand, customers may select the precise gems they need in nearly any design, be it the charming sub-$175 cuff under, or the aforementioned show-stopping tennis bracelet.
Prounis
Goldsmith Jean Prounis makes her semi-matte tremendous jewellery the identical approach the Greeks made theirs 5,000 years in the past—utilizing a pure mix of simply three metals: tremendous silver, copper, and 22-karat gold. Prounis is Greek, and it isn’t simply her course of that’s impressed by her heritage, but in addition the type of her items: weighty, classically-sized gems sit inside hefty 22-karat gold casings, whereas she just lately sourced some uncommon Greek ceruleite to make a really one-of-one necklace whose future proprietor I already envy.
The Rock-God Resurrectionists
Whereas the number of new aesthetics in males’s jewellery is thrilling, it will be fallacious to not acknowledge—nay, honor—the sort of designs that males have been carrying for many years. The thick skulls, canine tags, and revolutionary-minded creations that convey that the wearer believes life is about gathering tales, forming alliances, and dwelling just a bit extra fearlessly. These items could have rather less shine, however boy do they make up for it in grit.
The Nice Frog
Even if you happen to haven’t seen its shops in New York or LA, you’ve in all probability been within the presence of The Nice Frog’s jewellery numerous occasions over the course of your life. That’s as a result of earlier than lots of the above manufacturers got here alongside, The Nice Frog was the primary cease on any males’s jewellery retail mission. Made in London since 1972, TGF’s designs should not for the faint of coronary heart, however if you happen to’re assured sufficient to rock skulls—winged, snaked, or in any other case—that is my advice for the place to get ‘em.
Johnny Nelson
Rapper turned jeweler Johnel Jamison—also called Johnny Nelson—delivers awe-inspiring designs that honor Black icons of the not-too-distant previous, from Harriet Tubman and Shirley Chisholm to Straightforward-E and ODB. Some rings—like his Mount Rushmore sequence, under—even function 4 such figures collectively. All are made to order, rigorously by hand, in New York Metropolis.
Martine Ali
Brooklyn’s Martine Ali attracts on references from ‘90s grunge and early 2000s hip-hop to make her punchy Cuban hyperlink chains, canine tags and chokers, however these aren’t the knockoff Y2K items crowding Depop. Reasonably, Ali works completely in sterling silver, exhibiting her veneration of a fabric that’s too typically been a background participant in jewellery design.
Tom Wooden
Hailing from Norway, Tom Wooden is finest identified for its gem-inlaid signet rings, which pack the same punch to The Nice Frog’s wares. (Not solely are they made with stable 925 sterling silver, however they’re additionally plated with white rhodium to stop tarnishing and hold you shining for longer.) Whereas I’d encourage you to evaluate the total vary from all the manufacturers on this listing, generally you simply wish to know what a model does that you may’t discover elsewhere—and with Tom Wooden, it’s the seamlessly-executed rings under.
