A quick browse through any online jewellery store reveals a surprising social trend — men are now, apparently, wearing engagement rings too.
If the sales pitch is to be believed, the days when diamond sparklers were presented only to betrothed women are well and truly over.
The modern Australian man now wears one too.
“Men’s engagement rings are now very popular,” the website for family-owned Queensland jeweller Gillett’s says.
Gillett’s — which sells an array of men’s engagement rings ranging in price from $820 to $3400 — also clarifies how the new jewellery should be worn, and which finger they should be worn on once the man in question is married.
“Men’s engagement rings are now often worn either together with a wedding ring, or worn on the wedding ring finger until the wedding day, when the engagement ring is then worn on another finger or the right hand.”
Male engagement rings from bluenile.com.au.
Male engagement rings from Gillett’s.
Astonishingly, this is not a trend confined to Australia. Men’s engagement rings are widely available across the US and UK and some celebrities are ever getting on board — Canadian singer Michael Bublé wore one for several months when he was engaged to Argentinean actress Luisana Lopilato.
The insistence that this is a growing trend leftGuardianjournalist Rupert Myers outraged enough to write a column on the topic this week.
Myers insists we should be wary of “man-gagement” rings because while they advertising material speaks of love and commitment, the whole concept is nothing more than a “canny attempt by the diamond industry to double its earnings”.
“I was forced to consider whether this was merely a natural result of the evolution of metrosexuality, or a canny attempt by the diamond industry to double its earnings,” Myers writes.
“Of course men should purchase and wear whatever makes them feel happy, and couples should celebrate their love however they feel most important to them, but we should remain suspicious of anyone claiming to be selling us an expensive shiny solution to a problem that we didn’t really know existed.
“That’s how fortunes are made, but not necessarily progress.”
