I’ve been a watch guy since elementary school, if we’re generous enough to count a dual-sided compass/watch on a carabiner as a watch. In college I added a bracelet. I’ve been a ring guy for over ten years, thanks mostly to being married and partially to getting lunch drunk in Albuquerque, going ring shopping for my wife, and finding a sterling silver bear signet ring that I’ve worn non-stop since.
I’ve had an earring for two years, thanks to a quick weekend in Miami and a well-timed Harrison Ford interview clip crossing my algorithm about getting his ear pierced in a Claire's. Recently, I’ve been curious about my personal final frontier of men’s jewelry—the necklace. The other listings above are all fairly low entry points, safe experiments in the world of men’s jewelry.
The earring may be the exception, but this is 2026; one small silver hoop isn’t that daring, even in the Midwest. A necklace has never really been my thing. That is, until this year.
For an unrelated project, I was breaking down some of the signature stylistic calling cards of Robert Redford. And there it was, across paparazzi pictures and movie stills and in memoriam roundups. In almost every photo, Redford has some kind of necklace, usually peeking from a precariously unbuttoned western shirt.
Further study of what we can safely call Hollywood’s golden age of off-duty style shows the same: McQueen and Newman and their contemporaries, swanning around on and off-film, always wearing some sort of necklace or chain or pendant. This is, of course, a common trap: to look at a famously handsome Hollywood star and think, yeah, all that’s separating me from THAT is a necklace. And sure, a good cheekbone and clavicle will get you pretty far in life.
There’s no magic amulet here, nothing that will shazam you into leading-man looks. But there are a few lessons on styling from guys whose literal job it was to present themselves favorably to the world. And a few lessons on what necklaces to choose to help get there.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
