The sighting: When R&B superstar Usher took the stage for the Super Bowl halftime show, I was as busy as any other Millennial, trying to stretch out my hamstrings to avoid any “getting low” related injuries while I attempted to rock out to Usher’s Yeah the same way that I did when the song was first released in 2004.
Imagine my surprise when my dancefest was immediately interrupted by a fabulous distraction: Usher in an absolutely enormous sparkling brooch!
The jewels: Usher first appeared in a very custom sparkly all-white custom Dolce & Gabbana outfit topped by a white coat covered in patches of crystal embellishment. He then threw off the top layer and revealed a slouchy, more casual white jacket with an enormous bird brooch on the left side.
I assumed the brooch was likely a crystal piece made to accessorize the outfit, but Dolce & Gabbana’s Instagram refers to it as a phoenix pin made of diamonds and rubies. No other maker is tagged, so for now I am assuming it was made by D&G for the occasion.
There aren’t many close-up views of this piece available, but if you zoom in on the Instagram photo you can see that the bird’s body appears to be covered in rubies, while its wings, tail, and head are covered in diamonds.
Usher was also wearing two custom pieces of jewelry made by Jacquie Aiche: a long chain featuring a pendant with the letter U in a circle (see it here), and a Superbowl pinky ring with a large pearl (video here).
The trends: What’s interesting to me about Usher’s mega brooch is its size and its styling. At this point in time, a lot of men are comfortable adding a sleek brooch to the tailored lapel of a suit jacket. But to wear an extremely large brooch, tilted sideways in a casual way, on a slouchy white jacket with little tailoring is a big departure from the norm.
Could this trigger an uptick in the number of men willing to experiment with brooches in a more casual way? Will resorts this summer see a surge of dapper gents with large brooches pinned to their slouchy linen jackets? I hope so.
According to Forbes, Usher’s halftime show was watched by 30.1 million households (including mine – and we don’t even watch football), so I think we can safely assume this brooch moment achieved maximum possible exposure.
What do we think? I mean…what’s not to love?? Usher looks incredible and the symbolism of a phoenix could not be more perfect for a performer who rose to fame some time ago taking to one of the world’s biggest stages to perform a glorious retrospective homage that was “30 years in the making,” according to the promotional materials.
Judgement: 100/10 for a magnificent manbrooch moment
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