CESAR CORRALES
Principal dancer of the Royal Ballet
I wear jewellery from a religious perspective. I’m connected to Oshun, the orisha [deity] of love, beauty, fertility and rivers. Gold is sacred to Oshun, which originates from the Cuban religious practice Yoruba.
Wearing jewellery is a form of protection for me. I never buy it myself, the things I wear are gifts either from my mother or from my fiancée Francesca [Hayward, also a principal of the Royal Ballet]. I style everything with my gold pieces.
Sometimes, I have to take things off in rehearsal because they can catch on clothing. But wearing jewellery gives me a boost of confidence. When you move you feel it moving with you, and that’s calming.
The necklace I’m wearing today is by [London-based brand] Alighieri and was a gift from Francesca. I have attached a Marian cross from my mum to it. I was always attracted to chains when I was young. I remember when my mum got me my first chain and I always wanted to have it out on show, I think I was about eight years old. People would say, “Keep your chain in, it’s for you,” but I was always a bit of a flashy person in that respect.
I have become known both here at the Royal Ballet and before when I was with the English National Ballet for wearing my jewellery. The only time I can’t wear it is when I’m on stage but if I could, I would. Just before I go on stage, in my dressing room, I touch it.
My way of dressing is similar to how my father dressed, he wore big open V-necks and so that has become my style too. Though he is quite a weird Cuban, because when I think of a Cuban person, I think of a lot of jewellery, but my dad was never a big jewellery person. I’ve always been inspired by the way men wear their jewellery on the island. I feel very connected to the way dancers there wear it; the way it hangs on the body and it gives off a certain swagger.
ROBERT MURPHY
Director of RCM Galerie, writer
I’m not interested in brand names but rather things I find that have a particular style or that have a certain meaning to me. I like to have things that I don’t see anybody else has. Secretly, everyone wants a Rolex but I’d prefer something more personal.
I’m not really a bracelet or necklace kind of guy and my style is not very flamboyant, but I have a jewellery box of watches and cufflinks. The first watch I owned was a gift from my mother. It’s from the 1940s and of no real value but I saw it when I was 16 in an antiques store. It’s made by Gruen, with a bevelled face, and it’s more of an evening watch. I wear it when I go to formal occasions and I’m in a dinner suit or black tie.
I have a pair of cufflinks cut out of a coin that my mother also gave me and a great pair by Dunhill that were my grandfather’s. To wear a cufflink is a hidden flamboyance, a secret pleasure. We don’t dress up as much these days so it’s a bit of a ceremony to open the jewellery box and select your cufflinks as part of getting dressed, which I like. Sometimes, if I need to feel pulled together for a day of serious thinking I will get dressed up. A nice shirt, a coat and a nice pair of cufflinks. I feel more precise than if I am just wearing a jumper.
It’s quite a spur-of-the-moment thing in terms of what goes with what. I have a Van Cleef & Arpels ’70s watch that I got at auction with a wooden face, which I would probably wear with wooden cufflinks by Belmacz.
I like artist-made jewellery. It’s personal, unique and usually comes from a relationship that we’ve had with the artist. We worked with [Belgian sculptor] Pol Bury at the gallery so I have a pair of cufflinks by him. I have many things by Belmacz because I admire [founder] Julia [Muggenburg]. I love her style and I like the idea of buying things from people we know and friends who inspire us.
LONNIE HOLLEY
Artist, musician, filmmaker
I haven’t stopped wearing jewellery since the early ’80s. People don’t look at me quite as strangely as they used to. I started wearing it not for style but to protect my arms and hands while I was working. I use saw blades and sharp objects to cut into stone and other materials, and I started covering my left arm with bracelets and my fingers with rings to keep from getting cut or having callouses. Over time, those protective devices became more meaningful and my hands developed their own personality.
I haven’t really ever thought of the things I wear as jewellery. I’ve never thought about how I style it. Almost everything I own has a story. I wear a ring that belonged to my grandmother. I have pieces people have given me that I’ve reworked into something artistic. Most of my work is about making something new out of something else.
I look for jewellery everywhere I go. If I’m in a flea market or a thrift store or a junk shop. Or in the streets. I don’t believe things have to be precious to become precious. I have things made from shoe buckles, automobile parts, and one ring I wear I bought in Sweden from a craftswoman on the street.
I think Erykah Badu wears jewellery well. As does my friend Joe Minter. He’s a great artist. He made the cover for my last album, Oh Me Oh My. He often wears a big chain around his neck to represent the struggle of our people all the way back to slavery. That’s some heavy jewellery. And it weighs a lot, too.
I don’t have any pieces I keep for special occasions — I mostly wear the things I have all the time. It’s not much fun to go through airport security with me! Though without jewellery I feel naked, out of place and not myself.
PAUL MPAGI SEPUYA
Artist and photographer
In middle school I remember getting a necklace with a little cross on it. In high school, I pierced my ears, always wore silver and had a kind of gay teenager ’90s rave necklace. I also had some steel and red faux snakeskin bracelets, but I didn’t really wear any jewellery for a while, until recently.
I made some pictures with my friend Vishal [Jugdeo] in about 2017, and he had a really lovely thin gold rope chain necklace. I was drawn to its line. Around this time, at a flea market I bought a necklace for the first time in years.
My jewellery day-to-day is mostly minimal. I wouldn’t show up to my studio wearing crazy jewellery. I usually wear a silver bracelet, sometimes I wear gold ones, they’re vintage. I wear a similar silver link ring that I bought a couple of years ago at Assembly New York, which has moved to different fingers.
Favourites in rotation for when I go out include a bracelet from [Berlin-based brand] GmbH that features little hands, a [pearl] necklace that my friend Edgar Mosa made and cool necklaces by London-based Felix Gumbsch, which have lambs or stars on them. There is also a recycled bead, glass, pearl and stone necklace from Wales Bonner that I got when I traded some work with [founder] Grace because I wanted a necklace to wear with some other things of hers to a LACMA [Art+Film] Gala.
Today, I have on two silver necklaces, one from Varon in Mexico City and the other is vintage. No shade to those who like a lot of jewellery but when people are clacking around it drives me crazy [laughs]. I’m much more drawn to when someone wears one or two simple things, rather than something you notice from across the room.
GUY REMMERS
Actor
My interest in style started at school, observing people wearing their uniform in expressive ways. If I wasn’t an actor, I would be in fashion. Walking in the recent Burberry show was like my two worlds merging — it felt like being in a play with fashion. Suddenly, I was in the green room with Richard E Grant, Lesley Manville and Jason Isaacs.
The jewellery I wear definitely has to be in synergy with the clothes I have on. My initial jewellery inspiration was a gold signet ring that my friend Sam had; I then got one from eBay. It’s classic. I’ve worn it so much it’s broken.
I have a jewellery uniform now and if I’m not wearing those things, I feel like a bit of me is missing. I wear two rings and a bracelet every day, all on my left hand. On my little finger, I wear a ring by my friend Octi [Ransom’s brand Octi], which is cast from lemon peel, an onyx ring on my index finger and a silver bracelet by [German label] Gottlob World. I’m thinking of getting another one as I think you could definitely wear a few of these at once.
I have a gold chain my mum gave me, which I wear most days. It’s really short, I don’t like droopy chains. Another chain I have that is more for occasions is also by Octi — it’s much chunkier. It’s also short and whenever I wear that, it sparks conversations. It’s a great piece to add a bold statement to simpler outfits.
On the red carpet, I take Rose’s [Forde, his stylist] lead and we tweak my personal jewellery accordingly. When I am working, costume and jewellery definitely plays a role. In The Buccaneers my character wears two rings and, like my own pieces, I became attached to those and didn’t feel quite in character without them.
NILS WANDERER
Countertenor, artist
You will rarely see me without jewellery. I have about a hundred different pieces and wearing them feels like an extension of myself and makes me happy. When I’m getting dressed, it normally starts with jewellery.
Offstage, I might wear big golden arm loops and chains with a hoodie and baggy jeans, or a necklace with a beautiful suit — I like to break styles or to clash them. For a party, it could be leather heels and a choker, as long as the look feels right to me. I love when people embrace jewellery and fashion, when it’s done with authenticity.
If something is just about showing off that would make me feel uncomfortable. Jewellery is also a symbol of freedom as a queer man, because there are places, and times, when I feel like I’m wearing something not just because I love it but because it’s a political statement.
I love wearing black, I love gold, I wear that combination both privately and onstage. I often wear big chains. I like pieces that are masculine — heavy, like armour.
The first piece of jewellery I owned was a small ring from my grandma, when I was 10. It’s fragile. I wear it every day. She died a month ago; her ring gives me a lot of energy. It’s funny because I wear flashy jewellery sometimes, but people always notice this tiny ring.
I am drawn to antique jewellery, something with a story, because in my job I’m always connected to history, to storytelling. My godmother, who was an art collector, gave me two clip-on earrings. They look like coins, one side is Aphrodite, the [Greek] goddess of love, the other is Apollo, the god of music and light, the two things in life that completely rule over me. I wear them at every concert.
