Can Gentlemen Wear Sparkles?

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In style terms, Christmas can be a time of contrasts. On the one hand we have Christmas parties and black tie dinners, both of which are wonderful opportunities for showing off bespoke tailoring. On the other hand, however, December tends to bring with it an abundance of novelty jumpers, hats, ties and socks.

You probably won’t be surprised to read that we are not big fans of novelty clothing. We believe in dressing well for December, just as we do for the other eleven months of the year. That being said, we’re not adverse to adding a few festive accessories, so long as they’re tasteful.

If you’re looking for a way to add a bit of Christmas magic to your best suit, we suggest sticking to classic jewel tones of red and green. Ties, shirts, sweaters and pocket squares in these rich colours can be a wonderfully subtle way to incorporate the season into your wardrobe.

Of course, some of you may want to take things a little bit further. Christmas is most definitely the time of year for glitter, and many seasonal ladies wear garments are saturated with it. Classic tones of silver, bronze and gold are particularly popular, and when it’s done right it can look very striking.

So if the ladies can do it, can we?

Some of the most well known fashion houses say we can. Both Dolce and Gabbana and Saint Laurent have sent sparkly suits down their catwalks (Dolce and Gabbana in 2010 and Saint Laurent earlier this year). 

There’s also been a big seasonal trend for so-called ‘glitter beards’, where gentlemen cover their beards with sparkles. This certainly seems to go down well on Instagram, but we’re not sure we’d want to be tasked with getting the glitter out of your tailoring once December is over!

And thus, like most things, we suppose the answer is probably: yes, gentlemen can wear sparkles, so long as it’s in moderation.