When Sebastian Stan rolled up to the Met Gala's in an all-black suit, long black coat and wrap-around sunglasses—looking like a Millennial Keanu Reeves in The Matrix—he also arguably helped usher in a new jewelry trend for men.
Once in front of the bank of photographers, the actor swept his shoe-grazing coat aside to reveal a trio of Art Deco-era Cartier vintage diamond brooches artfully affixed to his cummerbund. That same night, actor Troy Sevan showed off an exquisite Emmanuelle Tarpin brooch hooked to his pant's waistband.
The pair certainly aren't the first to wear brooches on their waist—it's a style chic women have dabbled in over the years. But it is a new twist on the lapel-brooch craze we've been witnessing on Hollywood's red carpets for a few years now. The bejeweled brooch is officially free to roam.
"On red carpets this year we’ve seen celebrities wear multiple brooches, or a brooch and necklaces, even a baseball hat covered in brooches," says Ashley Davis, consultant and director at Jewels Aficianado. "Wearing several brooches on a cummerbund is one more way to push the envelope. While that styling trick in particular may or may not proliferate, wearing brooches in creative and unexpected ways will. Brooches have taken on a new life in contemporary styling as men’s fashion gets more creative."
Style and beauty journalist Melissa Magsaysay says the trend is unsurprising, considering how far men's fashion has come in recent years.
"Men's fashion has practically eclipsed women on the red carpet at this point and what we saw at the Met Gala was no exception," she says. "Brooches on cummerbunds are a whimsical and unexpected placement, but one that makes so much sense. The cummerbund is truly the most antiquated part of a tuxedo and to liven it up and modernize it both practically and aesthetically by adding a gorgeous vintage brooch reinvigorates its purpose —and creates an entirely new way to explore the way men wear jewelry."
Top: Buccellati brooch, courtesy of Buccellati
