Fashion goes through cycles. And while it may not seem like it, men truly do care about the trends. Which is why you might be leaving the bar, club, or even a five-star restaurant with sprinkles of glitter on your body, not truly sure how it got there in the first place. The latest sartorial moment for the boys is bedazzled everything—jeans, shirts, hoodies, and hats; they’ve got it all. The men are wearing rhinestoned outfits in a very passion for fashion way that a lot of women cannot comprehend.
Every other scroll online, I’m met with diamond-encrusted, pearl-trimmed outfits worn by men doing outfit check videos. Many internetizens are deeming it a sartorial crisis! When did this era start? Why are the men obsessed with bedazzled clothes? Where do we go from here? Let’s dive into this era, so you can decide: Is there a rhinestone epidemic amongst the men?
Who Is Behind This?
A lot of men look to their favorite musical artists and athletes for style inspiration. What’s deemed cool by them slowly trickles down to the everyday man. In the early 2000s, it was Soulja Boy, Eminem, and Jay Z (to name a few). Oversized denim shorts and two-sizes-too-big white T-shirts were the aesthetic. Now, a lot of rappers are more explorative with their style. Namely rappers like Young Thug, Playboi Carti, and Lil Uzi Vert. This alternative rocker style with a splash of hip-hop has taken over sartorially. Lil Uzi Vert has always led the way for alternative fashion for men, wearing Rick Owens and other popular subversive designers whose clothing stretches incredibly far from the norm-core that is how straight men dress.
Because of this dive, we’re now seeing an influx of rhinestone-studded clothing for men. Think Ed Hardy hats and shirts from the early 2000s, but now it’s being worn with even more flair, specifically when it comes to denim jorts and flare jeans. The men are now trying to have more fun with their fashion. Can we blame them?
Who Is Wearing Them?
Literally what feels like all the men! From rappers on stage to Love Island USA, we’re seeing sparkles and glitter everywhere. The New York Knicks NBA Championship shirt is even bedazzled. Don’t believe us? Take a scroll:
Do We Want it to End?
If you ask a lot of the girls online, they’ll say yes. But straight men are allowed to explore fashion and try new things the same way women and queer men do. Now, a large issue, though, is making sure the same men choosing to lean into the rhinestone look aren’t also still perpetuating homophobia and making fun of gay men for their style choices. It’s a slippery slope; one the internet is very divided on.
Some people have been going to extremes. When seeing men in their bedazzled clothes, they’ve started to poke fun at them, leading to some men choosing to get rid of their collection altogether. It is very much a house divided: the camp on bedazzled and those against it. A lot of it is personal preference and realistically the trend will die out once men are onto the next style. But right now we’re seeing shiny pants and sparkly jackets everywhere we turn. Men are choosing to have a little more whimsy in their looks. Maybe they’ll hold onto that whimsy in other parts of their lives, too.
Aiyana Ishmael is the style editor at Cosmopolitan magazine. In her work, Aiyana focuses on the culture of fashion and how it intertwines and shapes the zeitgeist. She is an award-winning journalist from Miami, Florida, and a graduate of the historically Black university, Florida A&M. She is a 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30: Media honoree, and her debut romance novella PASSING GAME is set to release March of 2027 (831 Stories/Simon & Schuster).
