Out of all the jewellery I own and wear, I probably love earrings the most. Maybe because wearing pierced earrings was hard won. I finally managed to convince my mother that pierced ears weren’t the devil’s work when I was around 12. Loads of girls (boys didn’t really do it back then) I knew had pierced ears. Somehow my liberal, imaginative mother had gotten it into her head that I’d get major infections if I got my ear lobes pierced (mind you, it also took until around age 13 before she would buy bikini underwear because she was convinced it would always fall down … don’t ask).
In any case, I was finally able to convince her (you needed [I think written] parental permission way back then) and went off with a friend to do the deed.
Over time, I added several more ear pierces (about 20 years ago I reverted to just using those first two, but I can still feel the other four, which remind me of my wilder being in the late 1980s into 1990s).
When I was younger every day I put in six earrings, and wore rings, various necklaces and sometimes even a couple of bracelets. I jangled. And I was very happy with my ritual. Now, the only thing that always gets worn is earrings. I don’t leave my bedroom without having put earrings in. I may pick a necklace as well, etc, but it’s always earrings. Can’t leave the house without earrings. Feel naked if I do.
So, I get my hair cut short. Low and behold, all of a sudden it makes much more of a difference which earrings I wear given whatever clothes I have put on that day. Whereas with longer hair my earrings were chosen based on a whim out of the jewellery box, with short hair frequently that doesn’t work.
So, choosing earrings has become much more like choosing perfume for a given day – I have to take more factors into consideration than just “oh, those look like they’ll do today”.
Some things I’ve noticed.
- Post or stud earrings work best now. I’ve also noticed that when I wear these I tend to reach for slightly more ‘refined’ or austere fragrances, such as Mitsouko and Shalimar. I tried my new beloved Masque Milano Madeleine and Lutens Arabie gourmand combo one day and it was just too … blousy, overdone, … I don’t know … but not appropriate. I’m still wearing that, but I have to think more about it.
- Whereas I used to wear dangling earrings a lot more, I now look more carefully at earring shape and the extent of dangle vs clothing choices. Dangle days work better with heavier, sweeter perfumes. NB: There is also the issue of stone colour in drop earrings now vs clothes colours which I’d never really paid much attention to in the past (I guess because the earrings were mostly hidden by hair and a poor choice didn’t really stand out).
- I have a pair of small gold hoop earrings which used to get lots of outings. No longer. I find much of the time now the hoops look dated and boring though with longer hair they looked chic.
I now really really want to try the Byredo Mumbai Noise Patty wrote about recently, as something so strange and out there might well work with things as they now are. I’ve got some samples of more out there, masculine leaning stuff coming and will report back at some point on how they fit with hair.
So, how about you? Are you into earrings? How many pierces (if you have pierced ears) per ear? Did you do it when you were younger or was it a later thing? What sorts of jewellery do you wear, and is there anything (beyond engagement/wedding rings) that almost never gets taken off?
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