So I am building a new bike that will have a Shimano Alfine 8 speed internal gear hub. I can of course choose a shimano shifter that is compatible with that hub. Unfortunately all the shimano shifters are ugly with black plastic at least somewhere on the shifter. I am trying to build a classically styled bike where most of the hardware is silver metal (whether thats steel or billet aluminum... depends on the part). So I am curious if there are any shifters out there that could work with this hub that look classy?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

DT FtW!

2nd for Downtube. Unless it has to be held on with a band.. that's kinda ugly, IMHO. If that won't work I'd reluctantly go with a bar-end, I guess.. it's also kinda ugly though, again IMHO.

Any suggestions? I have never built a bike from the ground up before so I want to make sure I will buy something that will work with that hub.

As far as placement... bar end wont work because I am using riser bars. I could do a downtube placement... I am not opposed to that. Preferrably though it would be a thumb shifter.

riser bar and alfine hub? how about a paul thumbie and downtube shifter, mounts to flat bars

https://www.paulcomp.com/thumbies.htmls. or just find some nos thumb shifters.

The Alfine uses a specific shifter with more pull than the derailleur ones. There used to be a Nexus 8 (Alfine 8 compatible) shifter in silver, but with black levers IIRC.
Friction shifters are not recommended for Nexus hubs, as you can't see what the exact points are and you could damage the hub if shifting midway between gears.

Jtek makes a shifter, it might mount to a Paul thumbie

This is what I thought... standard shimano compatible derailleur shifters won't work

You Sir/Madam are a gentleman/lady and a scholar! lol

I contacted Jtek and they have already developed a thumb shifter version of the bar end shifter you are talking about. Its not on their website yet but it is available (email them... super nice and helpful folks), they also don't have the silver ones on their website but the bar end shifter and thumb shifter are available in silver. Unfortunately I will have to wait until mid October to get one as they have a piece of manufacturing equipment that is broken. However that's not that long of a wait and isn't a big deal for me.

Thanks again for everyone's help!

https://www.sussex.com.tw/versa.html

Versa 8 and Versa 11 are the 'brifter' style that are available. Black and silver.