What suit would that be without a jewel-brooch?

Worn in the past by Greeks and Romans as a symbol of their social status and still worn today on soldiers' jackets to show ranks and recognitions, brooches are the accessory of this season for men's fashion. Thanks to the return of dandy aesthetics and this year's announced Met Gala theme, "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," in celebrity red carpet looks and some men's collections presented during fashion weeks, we can see how jackets and coats have once again been adorned with fine jewelry brooches. Jewelry and accessories have always been part of men's wardrobes: from medieval fibulas used to fasten knights' cloaks to brooches worn on the lapels of dandy jackets in the 19th century. After the world wars, during which men gave up all forms of decoration in clothing, jewelry returned to men's wardrobes with the Hip Hop Culture in the '90s. Jewelry has played a precise role in the image of artists from this musical genre. The controversial “necklace-gate” case involving Tony Effe at Sanremo reaffirms this relationship (rapper-jewelry): “I’m really angry, they took my powers away” Effe declared on Rai Radio Two after his performance at the Ariston stage. This reaction demonstrates how today, especially for rap artists, necklaces, grillz, and brooches are not just superficial ornaments to complete a look but symbolize their identity, their wealth, and their strength.

The writer Alessandro Giammei in his book Cose da Maschi says that we are usually accustomed to associating men's jewelry with objects that must be necessarily useful like a watch, a tie clip, and cufflinks. In reality, this male interest in jewelry created purely to make us feel beautiful, and which, according to gender social norms, should only be worn by women, contributes to challenging and partly dismantling the codes of rigid masculinity. The rapper from Rome, who presented himself for the first time at the Ariston with a pristine Gucci suit adorned with a Tiffany brooch in the shape of a cross and, most notably, without tattoos, was met with astonishment. Tony Effe was not the only one to wear precious jewelry on the most famous stage in Italy. Achille Lauro, during the first evening of the festival, like a young Helmut Berger in The Leopard, wore a Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo decorated with a high-jewelry brooch in the shape of a flower, which, by the way, was the standout accessory in the brand’s latest FW 25 (menswear) collection. Specifically, in this fashion show, brooches were used as jacket buttons or scarf clips on double-breasted suits and fur coats. The Sicilian maison also dressed midfielder Edoardo Bove, who, during his guest appearance at the festival, wore a branch of floral jewelry on his jacket lapel instead of the traditional boutonnière.

Still talking about athletes, well-known football player Travis Kelce, for the last Super Bowl, appeared at the Superdome in a copper-colored suit with '70s silhouettes by Amiri decorated with a gold brooch in the shape of a rose. The founder and creative director of the brand, Mike Amiri, stated in an article by Samuel Hine for GQ that the suit worn by Kelce (proposed in the FW 25 collection) was originally designed as a women's suit: “(Travis) is simply a fantastic person to dress because he can wear the clothes, not the clothes wearing him. He can make anything work” Also, Kim Jones in his latest show for Dior Homme (FW25) used brooches in the shape of scissors, rosettes, and flowers to embellish his looks inspired by the colors and silhouettes of Christian Dior’s Couture collections. The “royal” brooches chosen by Jones are perfectly in line with the spirit of the collection: merging the codes of haute couture women's fashion with the techniques of men's tailoring.

Damiano David

Adrien Brody

Jon Batiste

Jeff Goldblum

Damiano David

Jewelry brooches are more than ever the true stars of celebrity looks in Hollywood. For example, Colman Domingo, at the Golden Globes, wore a Valentino look on the red carpet with a feather-shaped brooch. Not by chance, Alessandro Michele, at the helm of the Roman maison, presented butterfly brooches on coats and jackets, as seen in the Resort 2025 and SS25 collections. Furthermore, Adrien Brody has often used brooches to enhance his all-black looks: both at the last Met Gala and at the Venice Film Festival red carpet, Brody wore two “winged” brooches from the Haute Couture jewelry line of designer Elsa Jin. Even Jeff Goldblum during last year's Met, inspired by Prada's “Villains” show (Fall 2012), wore a long black coat made by the maison covered on the lapel with brooches by the renowned jewelry designer Jean Schlumberger, who led Tiffany in the 1960s. Goldblum wore one of the designer's most famous and precious creations: the “Bird on Rock” brooch, which depicts a bird perched on a diamond symbolizing a rock. The same brooch has been worn in different versions by Damiano David at the VMAs, J Balvin at the Grammys, and more recently by Jon Batiste during his opening performance at the Super Bowl.