Why Suddenly Gold Chains are Everywhere
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Spend enough time walking around the periphery of Central Park and you’ll begin to notice certain styles seemingly native to the area. There’s the woman in a full runway look popping into a deli to grab a carton of oat milk, the young professional who has forgone a briefcase for an overstuffed Zabar’s bag. Turn your eye to the younger crowd, however, and you’ll spot a style that’s currently ubiquitous uptown but has its origins in more far-flung corners of the city. Ladies and gentlemen, Blair Waldorf and Holden Caulfield have gone cugine.
In Italian-American enclaves, the word cugine (which actually means cousin) has come to describe the kind of guy who’s got a guy. If the image of Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, or James Gandolfini comes to mind, that would be because movie mobsters have made wearing their uniform an art form, and in the last few years those Goodfellas-inspired looks have been everywhere, from camp-collar shirts to mesh knit polos. The part of the look that seems to have the most staying power with the uptown boys, however, is the simple gold chain.
The way it’s worn seems to depend on the specific tribe to which a teenager belongs. Dalton kids have been seen sporting chains over sweatshirts from the Ivy League schools they’re planning to attend; members of the Horace Mann cross country team were recently rocking chains and athletic gear while jogging en masse. But how did the private school crowd catch on? I ask a friend whose kids go to Saint Ann’s and who recently bought a gold chain for her 13-year-old. She just shakes her head. “Who knows? Kids these days are so cool. I just don’t bother asking why they want certain things anymore.”
What we’ve been watching could have something to do with it. Uncut Gems, the 2019 Diamond District caper made by Columbia Prep grads Josh and Benny Safdie, has been influencing mood boards since it came out, and who wasn’t rewatching The Sopranos during lockdown? In a world where the red sauce–joint nostalgia of Carbone has spawned an empire, is it such a surprise that fashion is relying on similar references? One Upper East Side mother says, “These are kids who have grown up seeing diamonds on basketball players and pearls on Harry Styles, so I’m not surprised that gold chains have found their way to the uptown mainstream.”
Status pieces are nothing new, even for the teenage set, but fashion stylist Cat Pope, whose studio is on Madison Avenue, notes that this trend feels different from simply sporting any shiny new piece of jewelry. “What’s interesting is how they’re being worn in a way to look borrowed,” she says. “ ‘Is it your boyfriend’s?’ Or, even better, your grandmother’s?”
Social media stars who lovingly explore cugine culture have been part of the revival as well. Nicolas Heller, better known as New York Nico, says, “I have three simple gold chains that I never take off. No charms or anything on them. I started wearing them because they look good on my super-hairy chest.”
However the chains are worn, they need to be worn with swagger. As Mark Brucato, the Brooklyn-born, Queens-raised Instagram personality who goes by Lil Mo Mozzarella, who often sports a gold chain with a ruby charm, says, “If you’re gonna do it, you gotta do it right. Know what I mean?”
This story appears in the December 2022/January 2023 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
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