Tips To Style Pearls To Make It An Ultimate Fashion Statement

When Harry Styles debuted a thick pearled necklace along with his grandpa attire, it was obvious that the accessory had to make big. He made multiple public appearances in a single strand of delicate white pearls, which went on to become his staple accessory. Apart from Styles, milky pearl necklaces have adorned the necks of rapper A$AP Rocky, designer Marc Jacobs, singer Shawn Mendes, and Bollywood’s own Ranveer Singh.

The history of men in pearl necklaces can be traced to the early 16th century, during the Mughal Empire in India, when long strands of pearls could be seen on the emperor Babur. In Europe, Henry VIII wore clothes embroidered with them during his reign as the king of England in the first half of the 1500s. Luxury fashion houses like Dior, Alexander McQueen, Ryan Roche, and more have sent male models down the runway wearing baroque-inspired necklaces, tiaras, and more accessories — pearl necklaces in particular — have been sported by famous faces on the red carpet. According to a report by Lyst, pearls were crowned as the hottest jewellery of 2020. There have been 11,000 monthly searches for men’s pearl jewellery since January ’20. The searches for ‘men’s pearls’ are up 17 per cent year-on-year, and searches for freshwater pearl anklets are also up 67 per cent since January.

These necklaces on men might have been seen as pushing the boundaries but now, it’s just another way for guys to add their own signature on their red carpet looks. When we say pearls, we tend to think of soft white pearls with blush pink overtones. While these celebrities may look like they were born to wear white pearls and look good in them, the rest of us might be more comfortable exploring other options. Luckily, there’s a wide range of pearl types available now to suit everyone’s needs.

Who Wore What When founders Pranay Jaitly and Shounak Amonkar think that it’s time for men to not be shy from accessorising. “Pearls can look really chic and smart. You can start with tiny charm necklaces with pearls, which will make any outfit stand out, keeping the subtlety.”

Celebrity stylist Isha Bansali gives basic tips to start out with pearls. “Start out with smaller sized pearls. The accessory should be of the perfect length – slightly longer than your collarbone, or just about around the collarbone or the nape of your neck. Keep it a bit loose, it shouldn’t be tight like a choker,” she says.

Anmol Vaswani, the founder of the brand Love Letter, says, “For a man just starting out with pearl necklaces, keep it simple instead of going for a statement piece or something very out there. Think: a beachy tropical print viscose shirt over a pair of shorts, Birkenstocks, and a thin rice pearl necklace layered with an army tag style necklace. It’s the simplest way to get the look while feeling comfortable wearing something new and unusual.”

Another styling tip, Bhansali explains, “Team the pearl necklaces up with a couple of regular chains, and wear it with a collared shirt to start with. It might get slightly subdued, but a substantial amount will be visible enough to make a statement. For brunch, it will go perfectly with a Cuban shirt for a resort vibe and for a date night, it will fit well with a simple tee and a blazer with rolled-up sleeves. Coming to casual everyday wear, it could be a simple white shirt and denims, and a string of pearls. Nothing can go ever wrong with this.”

“Recently, we have seen pearls in a lot of collections on both Indian and international runways. The H&M collaboration with Simone Rocha and designers Falguni Shane Peacock have used pearls in multiple outfits. H&M x Simon Rocha had a beautiful trench coat that had a lovely pearl detailed collar that you can easily wear over top of a monochrome beige outfit, making it an ideal brunch look. It can be a great conversation starter, thanks to the detailing on the coat. For date night, it could be really interesting to have a stack of pearls around the neck, or just a single layer,” conclude Amonkar and Jaitly.

PEARL ACCESSORIES TO SHOP IN INDIA

LOVE LETTER

Love Letter pearls are all freshwater. Their two best sellers — Playa and Vasco — are most pearl-heavy pieces that are loved by both men and women.

HANNAN

Hannan has a wide range of pearl necklaces and bracelets, some of which are also paired with charms, adding the touch of the Y2K style, which is quite popular these days.

LUNE

Lune has a range of necklaces, earrings, and studs that will fit into your daily outfits, delicate and chic enough to glam up all your outfits.

How to check hallmarking details of your jewellery.

Starting 16 June, all jewellers must sell hallmarked jewellery. The government has taken the step to ensure there is no mis-selling. Many times, jewellers may sell jewellery stating that it’s 22-karat, but it could be of lower purity in reality.

But if a jeweller wants to, it can also fake hallmarking details. To ensure that the hallmarking on jewellery is genuine, there are a few things that you can look at.

Hallmark is a certification of purity. A jeweller can get the hallmark certificate from assaying and hallmarking centres (AHCs). The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) accredits these centres. The jeweller must also get a licence from BIS to get its goods hallmarked.

A piece of hallmarked jewellery tells you the purity of gold – whether it’s 18-karat, 20-karat or 22-karat. When buying jewellery, you will notice three marks on hallmarked jewellery—purity, assaying or hallmarking centre’s identification mark, and the jeweller’s identification mark/number.

To ensure that the details are genuine, always buy from a jeweller registered with BIS. You can also ask the jeweller to show the BIS licence.

The next thing to do is check the bill. The regulations require the jeweller to mention the hallmarking charges separately. The AHC charges a fee of ₹35 per piece.

According to regulations, the bill or invoice must separately indicate the description of each article, net weight of the precious metal, purity in karat and fineness, and hallmarking charges.

If you are still unsure, you can get your jewellery tested from any of the BIS-recognized AHCs.

The centres undertake the testing of jewellery of consumers on priority on a chargeable basis.

After testing, the AHC will issue a report. If the jewellery is of lesser purity than what is stated in the bill, the AHC, which did the initial certification, will have to refund the consumer’s fees.

You can also approach your jeweller with the report as it is also liable to compensate customers in such cases.

Hallmarking will help in curbing mis-selling. But ensure that you do your due diligence, too.

Stunning engagement rings inspired by royalty

It is believed that the first bejewelled engagement ring was presented by Archduke Maximilian of Austria to his future bride in 1477. Engagement rings only truly became popular, however, in the early 1800s, helped along by Prince Albert designing and giving Queen Victoria a gold ring featuring diamonds, rubies and an emerald, styled in the form of a serpent – a symbol of wisdom and commitment. Since then, the design choice of regal engagement rings have reverberated into contemporary pieces available today, with brides adorning their vena amoris with inspiration taken from these original royal influencers. Read on for Tatler’s pick of the most glittering rings fit for a royal.

Queen Elizabeth II – Diamond Solitaire

In July 1947, the late Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark presented the future Queen Elizabeth II with a ring by Philip Antrobus. The Prince helped to design the ring using diamonds that originated in a tiara belonging to his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg. The ring features a three carat central white diamond solitaire with five small diamonds mounted each side set in platinum. The style of a central diamond solitaire still accounts for 85 per cent of engagement ring choices today.

Empress Josephine and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark – Toi et Moi

The romantic setting of the Toi et Moi style of ring features two stones set in opposite directions. In 1796 Napoleon Bonaparte presented his bride-to-be, Josephine, with an engagement ring featuring two pear-shaped stones, a blue sapphire and a white diamond set in gold. In later years, Empress Josephine’s ring was passed through the generations until being sold at auction to a private buyer in 2013 – fetching nearly a million pounds, 50 times the estimated price. In 1966, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, an eighth generation descendent of Empress Josephine and third cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, was presented with a slightly larger version featuring six carat twinned cushion cut diamonds designed by Van Cleef and Arpels.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands – East/West setting

Despite some controversy surrounding Maxima being the daughter of a senior ranking officer of the Argentinian Videla dictatorship, she and Prince Willem-Alexander became engaged in 2001 with a ring featuring a rare orange diamond – a fitting tribute to the House of Orange-Nassau – the reigning house of the Netherlands. The East/West set diamond is flanked by two white diamonds and two diamond pave bands. Similarly, twice engaged Princess Madeleine of Sweden firstly wore an emerald cut diamond solitaire in an East/West setting with a pavé band.

Princess Alexandra and Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece – Cabochon

Already having a well established association with royalty, the cabochon has seen a recent revival in popularity. The Imperial State Crown itself hosts a red cabochon spinel known as the Black Prince’s Ruby, believed to have been worn in the helmet of King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt. Royal bridesmaid and first cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Alexandra was proposed to in 1962 by Sir Angus Ogilvy with a giant cabochon sapphire set in a yellow gold band flanked by a diamond on either side. In 1995 Marie-Chantal Miller became engaged to Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, son of King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie, with a ring featuring a cabochon cut blue sapphire, a family heirloom, with a heart shaped diamond set to one side.

Wallis Simpson – Emeralds

After a 325-day reign, King Edward VIII abdicated, declaring, ‘I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love’ – and by so doing became the Duke of Windsor, free to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite, which he did six months later in June 1937. Wallis had a whopping 19 carat emerald engagement ring set by Cartier, inscribed with the words, ‘We are ours now 27 x 36,’ widely believed to represent the day and year of his proposal. In 1958, to celebrate their 20th anniversary, the Duchess returned the ring to Cartier, asking for it to be brought up to date with a more elaborate gold setting. To this day it remains one of the more expensive and unusual royal engagement rings with a purchase price equating to £700,000 today.

The Duchess of Cornwall – Art Deco

In 2005 Clarence House announced the engagement of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles, eldest child of Major Bruce Shand and his wife Rosalind Cubitt, the daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe. As an engagement ring, Charles presented Camilla with a family heirloom, believed to have come from the Queen Mother’s collection, an Art Deco style ring featuring a five carat emerald cut diamond at its centre with additional diamond baguettes on each side. The marriage was to have been on 8 April 2005, but was delayed by one day to allow the Prince of Wales and some of the invited dignitaries to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.