I’ve recently begun exploring my own jewelry box again, after several years of wearing the same pieces every single day.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that—my beloved earrings and necklaces, all bestowed with special meaning, found their places on my ears and neck, and that’s where they stayed, easy and low-maintenance but still really, really good-looking. But after years of giving the term “everyday jewelry” its literal due, I’m rediscovering the fun in playing dress-up again.
In this act I’m finding something I have known for years proving itself all over again: Jewelry completes even the simplest attire in a way nothing else can. I could don my coziest (read: rattiest) sweatshirt and pile on an intentional curation of jewelry and might come out looking something close to polished—jewelry is that powerful. And as I’ve taken to switching things up every day, I’ve found that one item in particular can look and feel especially significant: hoop earrings.
I’ve mentioned before the transformative power of the hoop, and that sentiment has never been more valid to me personally. A mom bun and hoops at school dropoff? Chic. No one will even notice the pajama pants when my head looks perfectly complete. A nose so red and puffy from nonstop blowing, because schoolchildren give the gift of everyone else’s germs? Nothing a sweet pair of silver hoops can’t handle—surely no one noticed how badly I need a tissue. I could go on, but surely you get the picture. The hoop feels like my secret weapon, though its popularity is no secret at all.
Every year there’s a new wave of demand for hoops, and every year the wave manages to be influenced by something different. This year it’s the Mob wife aesthetic that will have the on-trend shopper searching for oversize adornments for her ears, and as my ever-stylish colleague Amy Elliott put it, “‘quiet luxury’ is not in her vocabulary.”
Me? I want all the hoops. Big ones, small ones, ones in silver and ones in gold. Ones a Mob wife might wear, and ones a Succession-esque tailored-to-a-T person might. I want them with gemstones, and diamonds, and some with none. I want to wear three, four pairs at once! I want to wear one that makes a grand statement. Yes, as of this moment, I’ve decided that hoops are most definitely my thing. 2024—the year of hoops!
I’d like to start my virtual (one day actual?) hoop collection with this pair of does-it-all danglers from Type Jewelry. They’re gold, chunky, statement-making. They’ve got diamonds, and an array of colorful gemstones. They are not quiet, but they are eclectic. They’ve got more of an egg shape than your typical pair of hoops, another defining aspect that sets them apart.
From Type’s Je T’aime collection, the earrings are available in 14k yellow, white, or rose gold, with just over a carat of diamonds and a rainbow dash of color from ruby, sapphire, and topaz. And despite what I said earlier about switching up jewels, this pair is utterly desirable for everyday wear.
Top: 6th Orbit hoop earrings in 14k yellow gold with 0.27 ct. t.w. ruby, sapphire, and topaz and 1.02 cts. t.w. diamonds, $5,600; Type Jewelry
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