“There was a period of time in the late Sixties and Seventies when men, especially men in rock, wore jewelry,” accessories designer Eddie Borgo says wistfully. “And it really added to the impact of the images.” He should know—a classic-rock aficionado, Borgo recently spent months poring over film and photos of pop fashion plates Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and David Bowie while preparing the launch of his men’s line. Borgo, whose slightly tough, streetwise vibe made his women’s bijoux an instant hit, has designed pieces for men before, but so many female fans coveted them that they ended up on more girls than guys. This collection, he stresses, is for the men. “It’s about male icons, both in terms of the people who inspired them and the things that I chose to reinterpret,” he says, “like the signet ring, the tie clip, the cuff link.” Many items pay direct homage to rock’s image-makers, such as a spiky sterling silver necklace (below) that’s a dead ringer for one sported by Bowie, while others, including lightning bolt cuff links, are more subtle riffs on music’s glammest era. The designer even managed to work in some pearls, in the form of rosary necklaces and bracelets—an allusion to his Catholic upbringing. “I was talking to [music photographer] Mick Rock about the first time he saw Iggy Pop perform,” Borgo recalls. “He said he’d never heard music like that before, that people were throwing things at him, and he was bleeding and it was awful but also beautiful—you couldn’t look away. You don’t get that reaction without taking a risk. I hope that same kind of energy comes through in my pieces.”
