It’s hardly news that athletes like to flaunt their personal style through jewelry, both while competing and off duty (after all, that’s how the tennis bracelet got its name). Still, it’s notable when competitors across all sports gravitate toward the same pieces. And lately, that’s what we’ve been noticing with Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra jewelry. The iconic style, long a favorite among female athletes, has become equally popular with their male counterparts.
Used in necklace, bracelet, earring and ring designs, the four-leaf-clover motif has been around since 1968. But we seem currently to be at an inflection point for its fashionability among elite competitors. If one athlete stands out as most committed to the VC&A style, it’s Los Angeles Dodger Miguel Rojas, who wore an onyx Alhambra necklace on the field during the Yankees-Dodgers series this month. On Instagram, the shortstop has posted picture after picture of himself sporting the serendipitously Dodger-blue piece. Fellow baseballer Max Clark has been spotted bedecked with a few Alhambra bracelets, although he hasn’t been quite so bold as to take them onto the field, at least that we’ve seen.
LeBron James wore not one but three Alhambra bracelets in a photo with fellow style-setting athlete Lewis Hamilton that was posted to Instagram. And at the Paris Olympics last summer, gold medalist fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-long paired a Cartier Love bangle with a red carnelian Alhambra bracelet, Tatler Asia reported. The trend has spread further into the sports world, with popular Peloton instructor Alex Toussaint following LeBron’s lead and wearing a couple of the bracelets during his classes. While we can’t recommend sweating in such sumptuous jewelry, it’s certainly a flex.
