Breaking Up with Earrings

In a recent New York Times Thursday Style section, there was an article about breaking up with clothing brands.  Some of the people cited in the article stopped wearing a certain brand because their lifestyles outgrew it or the brand changed its image or the brand just didn’t suit their bodies anymore.  I read the piece and instantly identified with the sentiment, as I’m sure most women could at some point in their life.

My experience with this has been more about a perceived quality level as opposed to a specific brand or store.  I’ve never been a short/tight/low-cut kind of gal so I haven’t had to worry about maturing out of a type of clothing.  But after I got to a certain point in my career, it felt unseemly to be walking around in inexpensive synthetics or poorly made brands.  My company gave me a title and salary so I needed to look like I could command respect (even if I couldn't really).

I’ve had more of a “maturing out of” experience with jewelry – specifically earrings.  I used to love big, long, dangling earrings, and the bigger the better.   I’ve always had longish hair and I loved the look of the earrings dancing the can-can while my hair served as the velvet curtains behind them.  I always thought such earrings were a bit coquette-ish, a subtle come hither, if you will.   In hindsight, I think its safe to say that scant few straight men have ever noticed a women’s earrings, let alone attributed any message to them.  I may have perceived long earrings to be the jewelry equivalent of footwear's “FMPs” (F*#k Me Pumps), but I’m probably alone there. 

I will still go as long as 2 or so inches, but only if they are exquisitely crafted with a sleek refined look.  My two current favs from Fotini Jewelry Designs:

Long, but sleek and refined.

Longish but not overpowering and goes with everything.

  


Still, even if it is only in my head, here are some of the beautiful earrings I no longer feel comfortable wearing.  I love the look of these babies below, but to me they are like stilettos for the ears – best saved for a woman interested in the attention they attract and the statement they make. (This first gorgeous pair below is, no joke, over 3" long!!)

Gorgeous, but like a stilleto for the ear.

Also, lovely but very very busy.