Male Jewelry Guide - How to Buy Cufflinks - Watches - Rings - Tiebars - Style Advice
for Men
Hi.
Iím Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, weíre going to be talking about men and jewelry.
All right.
If you havenít already, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
I love seeing the membership grow and itís the best way to have this instantly delivered
whenever you visit YouTube, I know you can even choose to have them delivered to your
inbox.
Itís such a great way to stay in touch.
In addition, make sure to go to the article down below.
I always try to actually do a video in conjunction with an article because I know that you want
to learn more or possibly go look at some pictures and read more about this.
And when you go ñ I think that someone is going to link to A Tailored Suit.
Youíre going to be able to see ñ there should be a light box that pops up and you can subscribe
to our email list.
And if that doesnít pop up, there should be a banner going right across the top to
subscribe to our email list.
Our email list is the best way for us to stay in touch and every week, I send great updates,
chalk full of solid information about menís style.
Okay.
So, men and jewelry.
Itís one of those things that I always think less as more and understated is better than
going over the top.
Thatís my personal appearance ñ my personal opinion.
And it all ñ but it depends on where youíre at in the world because many of you probably
know, Iím married to a Ukrainian and going over to that part of the world, I see a lot
more jewelry, a lot more necklaces, rings, itís accepted more and itís not seeing as
a bad thing.
Itís not seeing as a cheaper goddy thing.
Itís just a cultural thing.
So, be very aware of that.
And give ñ people over the slack.
I mean, simply because the way you dress and if youíre really conservative and you donít
think you already has any place, that doesnít mean that your opinion is the only one that
counts.
So, be very attuned that thereís a whole big world out there.
And that there are many countries where men wear a lot more jewelry and it seem is a very
normal thing.
Now, most of you all ñ this is a North American English speaking audience down in Australia,
down over in the U.K. and, you know, if youíre from anywhere else in the world and you really
like my videos there, make sure to leave a comment and Iíll always try to address, you
know, say hi to you guys but letís talk about watches.
I actually donít really wear watch.
Iíve got an iPhone so I guess everything ñ I just checked the phone normally, but
watches ñ and thatís probably why classifying them as jewelry because they use to be more
of a functional piece.
Nowadays, you see everyoneís got a cell phone and they can check the time there so watches
are kind of fallen more, I think, into jewelry.
Now when it comes to being a piece of jewelry, you have the really goddy pieces, I mean,
the one ñ the huge watch pieces that stand out.
For men, you usually see the sports watch and if itís a sports watch, leave it for
sport seriously.
I mean, yes, thatís really cool that you can dive 100 meters and itís going to be
able withstand the pressure but you donít want to be wearing that with a suit.
So if itís a big and goddy ñ in addition, if itís a big gold, even if itís a Rolex
but big and gold or silver and goddy, you donít need to be sporting that.
That is something that I think it brings down ñ it makes a bit more casual when itís really
a large piece.
The simpler with watches, the better.
Something with a leather band, a small time piece with Roman numerals or just right little
numbers.
That is going to be your most formal watch.
And in fact, if you wear anything with a black tie, with a tuxedo, it would be a watch like
that.
Although technically, you shouldnít actually wear a watch with black tie because youíre
there to enjoy the moment not to pay attention to times; thereís a little tip for you.
But, again, the simpler, the better, make sure in addition, proportions are correct.
So if you have a smaller wrist, go for a smaller watch.
If you got, I donít know, a nine-inch wrist, go for a bigger watch, you can pull it off.
All right.
Cufflinks, one of my favorite pieces of menís jewelry.
In fact, Iíve got a good friend down in Austin, Texas the shirts I make for him.
He wants cufflinks on.
Even though he doesnít necessarily wear them with jackets, he just likes that style to
small little detail.
In addition, Iíve got another client, all of his shirts, we donít put any buttons on
them.
He sends them out to the cleaners and he got tired of the cleaners basically losing and
breaking his buttons.
And so heís like, ìHey, Iíll just send them shirts with no buttons at all,î and
he actually uses studs and cufflinks to basically hold the shirt together.
So there is a very strong functional component to cufflinks.
But for most of us, theyíre going to be jewelry.
Itís going to be something that brings an accent to what we normally wear.
Now, when youíre looking at cufflinks, again, Iím a big fan of going with something understated
and simple.
You donít want cufflinks that are only one-sided unless thatís all you can afford and there
are...
...some descent-looking ones out there but you want to ñ instead look for cufflinks
that are double sided.
They donít have anything mechanical and theyíre not going to move and these are the ideal
type of cufflinks because theyíre going to look good from both sides.
I also like the simple knots.
I think thatís a great alternative.
If youíre perhaps in the industry that cufflinks arenít ñ well, most of the time I see the
big gold or the high precious metal cufflinks thatís going to be in the finance, banking
industry, some lawyers wear them as well.
But perhaps you want to have a more understated, a more approachable type of cufflink and look
at a simple knot.
And this is just, you know, made from fabric and these work really well.
But whenever you get these knots, pay attention, make sure that it actually fits into your
cufflinks.
Iíve had it so that, you know, you need to ñ actually you have to sometimes a little
bit bigger of a hole although if you end up getting these and you want to wear them with
your ñ with your shirts, you could actually, you know, you can always make that hole smaller
or larger, just take it to a seamstress or learn how to ñ sew a little bit yourself.
Itís a very easy fix.
All right.
Necktie accessories.
Now, thereís three major types of necktie accessories.
Overall necktie accessories are pretty rare.
You know, Iíve actually got a link over here Real Men Real Style to Menís Metals.
He sells some great necktie accessories.
My favorite one is going to be the tie clip.
I like this and the appropriate ñ the reason you want to wear a tie clip ñ I think itís
ñ as much of a functional piece as it is a jewelry piece.
And perhaps youíre going to be heated and you donít want your tie literally to fall
into your suit.
Thatís where a tie clip works perfectly.
And you want to put it at a point ñ I like to go ñ it depends on whether or not youíre
wearing a jacket.
If Iím not wearing a jacket, I like to wear it a point literally where itís serving a
function, you donít want to have it too low because when you go too low one, it draws
attention to your stomach area; and the other one being that ñ if itís too low, it just
ñ isnít going to look proportional.
Now, the tie chain functions very similar to the tie clip except it attaches to one
of your buttons and it actually puts a chain around.
Thatís pretty rare.
I donít see them very often.
I think theyíre perfectly fine.
Now, the tie pin.
I only recommend tie pins because theyíre going to be piercing the tie to be using with
loosely woven ties so if youíve got a tie that can bounce back in the sense that it
will open up no problem and be able to accept that pin without damaging the tie, then theyíre
perfectly fine.
But if youíre going to be putting this into a tightly net soak tie, I donít advice that.
Over time, itís going to damage the tie.
Iím not a big fan of, you know, I mean, especially if youíre spending $100 on a necktie, you
donít want to be damaging that with tie pin.
Rings.
Okay.
Wedding rings, always appropriate.
See?
I wear mine.
And many of you probably wonder why do I wear on the right hand.
Well, I was married in the Eastern Orthodox Church to a beautiful Ukrainian woman and
over there, they wear it on the right hand side.
So, I keep it over here.
In the United States, most western countries are going to see it over here on the left
hand side.
Although we did get married in the Drive-Thru in Vegas as well so I guess I could get another
ring here but I just havenít gotten around to it.
The other one, class rings, you know, if youíre a mason or if you graduated from ñ letís
say from Texas A&M, a naval academy, West Point, a lot of these guys have class rings.
Well, I think those are situational depended.
If youíre in Houston, Texas and youíre applying for a job in the oil and gas industry, wear
your Texas A&M ring.
Itís going to probably open more doors than shut them although be careful because ñ blowing
horns, I donít really think they execute too much hate towards the aggies.
I think itís the aggies that just ñ just hate those damn lowing horns.
If you know anything about me, youíll know why thatís kind of funny.
But ñ okay, so, but when it comes to other types of rings, I mean, be attune that somebody
may look at that as a bit goddy and it may actually, I mean, if you got ñ you graduated
from Harvard and your sport in that ring, some people may just look at that as, ìWow,
this guy is really showing off.î Heís not going to fit in our company.î
So pay attention to those types of details.
Now, when it comes to all the other types of rings that you can wear though, you know,
the big gold, goddy ones, I donít know, maybe youíre a big fan of sending out letters and
having one thatís got your official seal so you could wax, seal at them.
Basically, you donít want to look like a gangster but this comes back to what I said
earlier.
Jewelry is very ñ you need to pay attention to the culture because if youíre from letís
say Bulgaria or youíre a Russian gangster or youíre from a part of the world where
rings are much more acceptable then go ahead and wear it and represent your culture but
be understand that if youíre stepping outside of your culture that it may be taken as...
...just something thatís really ñ well, itís not seen as very class so just understand
that outside of the circles where itís accepted, you need to pay attention to the visual ñ
visual meeting of this jewelry.
Okay.
Thatís all Iíve got.
Again, if youíd like to stay in touch or learn more, make sure to subscribe to our
ñ to our email subscription we put out the best information.
If you want to get in touch on a more ñ you know, you donít want to get the emails, check
at our Facebook.
Weíve got a great Facebook page and I interact with people over there.
In addition, weíre on Twitter.
You could follow us on Twitter.
Weíve got a great RSS feed and subscribe to the YouTube channel if you havenít already.
All right.
Antonio Centeno with Real Men Real Style.
Thank you and look for more for us ñ more from us soon.
Take care.
Bye-bye.