Men's Necklaces & Pendants

From simple chains to daring dangles, men’s necklaces and their accompanying pendants can make a bold statement. Whether obscured from view, neatly tucked under a shirt, or worn prominently across one’s chest, men’s necklaces today revive an ages-old tradition.

Throughout the history of humankind, men have worn suspensions around their necks. In the earliest days, these strands were more utilitarian, with those incorporating decoration typically employing organic materials, such a stones or shells. As time progressed, the necklace became a means of more elaborate decoration. Renaissance royals and aristocrats often wore bejeweled chains with elaborate links. This practice grew with the nearly simultaneous advent of the portable clock, which, in its early days, was suspended on a strand and worn around the neck.

In recent centuries, the wearing of gem encrusted necklaces is mostly reserved for the remaining royalty of Europe during ceremonial events, but men still enjoy wearing a more streamlined strand, particularly if it comes steeped in a bit of this alluring history.

Quick Facts

• Male members of the Maasai people of Kenya wear necklaces as part of their everyday dress to reinforce their membership
• Hans Holbein the Younger’s iconic painting, “The Ambassadors," 1533, features a remarkably elaborate necklace and pendant dangling on the neck of Jean de Selve Dinteville, then the French Ambassador to the English royal court
• Actor John Travolta turned heads for the heavy-gauge chain bib necklace he wore to the 2014 Academy Awards