Sharbari's Gold Jewelry Collection for
Men
It is only in the post-industrial revolution ethos dominated by
Victorian taboos that men were tutored to turn away from jewelry
and floral prints just as they were told it's effeminate to cry
or mind the baby.
Yet, look back at human civilization and you see popes and emperors,
American Indian warriors and African chiefs, Central Asian tribesmen
and European lords displaying jewelry on fingers, belts, ears,
necks, heads and shoes, not to speak of body paint and fine etching
on metal armor.
Likewise in India, from Mohenjodaro to the Mughals, from mythology
to religious and social ceremonies extravagant male fashions had
jewelry as an integral part.
Actually, even now, most men wear some kind of accessory, which
is usually gold. Like finger rings and tiepins and cufflinks.
As a designer of menswear Sharbari wished to reinstate the Indian
heritage in clothes, not merely as museum exhibits, but as eminently
wearable wardrobe masterpieces for the millennium men. Thus were
the Sherwani or Angrakha reinvented and the Dhoti appeared in
a new avatar. In jewelry it was the same thing: bringing back
the tradition of male jewelry.
Whether everybody wears her creation or not she will be happy
with influencing the tastes and setting trends. That is what Sharbari's
menswear did. And that is what, in this post-modern age of changing
attitudes and values, her jewelry will do.
As a designer Sharbari felt that little experimentation had
been attempted in crafting standardized uninspired pieces of accepted
male jewelry. She invented unusual new pieces and also gave a
new identity to such ritual necessities as the holy thread and
in general, experimented with the designs of the jewellery.