[Jewelry making - Article 00162] - Re: [Orchid] Wearing your jewelry creations

[Helen Hill]

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Hi David et al,

>     My experience is with American men and women, this may be different
>     elsewhere in the World, but I doubt it. 

    I'm not sure whether it's different in the UK or not, as a rule.
    Looking back over the decades, the whole male grooming thing seems
    to have taken different turns along the way. My Granddad's generation
    took a lot of care over their appearance and dressing table sets and
    traveling sets of grooming products were popular for men - Macassa
    oil for the hair, etc. Then by the time you got to my Dad's
    generation, such things were VERY uncool and considered too feminine
    and not to be worn if you were a "real man". "Real men" didn't wear
    potions and lotions. I think male jewellery probably went hand in
    hand with the grooming side of things. However, the modern man (and I
    just need to look at my son to see the trends, as he's a bit of a
    sheep) spends as much time as a woman in the bathroom getting ready
    to go out, gelling the hair, applying whichever designer fragrance he
    feels like, and accessorising his outfit with the finishing touches -
    nice belt with designer buckle, smart, fashionable shoes and
    jewellery of choice - a silver or stainless steel ring, a chunky
    silver chain. 

    I'm sure it'll go round in circles forever more too, just as
    fashions for women do, as these twists and turns have occurred
    throughout history too. But presently in the UK, jewellery for men
    seems to be once again fashionable. There is a lot of sterling silver
    jewellery and stainless steel available for men, a lot of it chunky
    chains and chain/ID bracelets, dog tags to wear on a chain, lots of
    rings available, a myriad of cufflinks in all manner of designs and
    belts with fashionable buckles seem to be popular too. As far as
    durability is concerned, stainless steel is obviously a good choice
    but not all of us have the capabilities of working with that, but
    then again, it probably doesn't matter because even if a sterling
    piece wears out, something new will probably be in fashion by then
    anyway. 

    Just like the biker jewellery you mention (which I saw a lot of when
    I rode motorbikes), there is the body jewellery associated with body
    piercing which is popular with some, so even if the general male
    population isn't into jewellery at any one time, there are still
    those niches to fall back on. Pat Pruitt and others on the list seem
    to be doing well in the male jewellery arena so could possibly
    comment on trends for men. 

    I spoke to my mum the other day and my 74 year old father (newly
    nicknamed by mum, the "King of Bling") apparently hasn't worn
    cufflinks (or any other men's jewellery) for a few decades but he's
    proudly sporting his new sterling cufflinks I made for him, at church
    every Sunday. So there's hope and a potential market even for the old
    "real men" who at one time would never have worn such things -
    although of course he probably only wears them because I made them,
    and would never think to buy such things. 

    Male trends (or the lack of) may well vary depending on geography
    too, especially in such a huge place as the States, where there are
    very definite "personalities" associated with different regions, so
    for one store owner in a quiet town, such man-jewellery may never
    sell, whilst in somewhere like New York, there will be many outgoing
    "individual" males who might buy and wear jewellery made for men. 

    Crikey! I didn't mean to waffle on for so long, sorry. Skip onto the
    next post if you get bored! 

Helen
UK
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