Trends

This summer (and forever) is all about hoops

A pair of gold hoops might seem an obvious choice, but with an enduring appeal and the ability to light up the face, these shining circlets are everything

June 21, 2019 By Emma de Sybel

It’s summer, though the weather might not always agree, and we need to talk about hoops. This earring style has been the fashion zeitgeist for more than a millennia, and a pair of gold hoops always bring a glow to one’s demeanour.

Not to mention that shining gold lobe adornments can subtly manoeuvre asp-like appraising female eyes (you know the type: well-coiffed scornful stick insects) away from one’s summer rainwater-spritzed frizzy locks. Yes, hoops will aid the metamorphosis of any drowned rat into a veritable Madonna.

Hoops are not some banal conversation point. Just last summer, The Financial Times deemed them to be “powerful, provocative and political”. Annabel Davidson in The Telegraph, meanwhile, championed them earlier this year as “unfathomably chic” with “eternal allure”.

So pick your forever hoops – vintage yellow gold would naturally be my suggestion, though in the spirit of a BBC announcer, I will say that other hoops are available – and get ready to return to them again and again. This is a trend that time has shown us will never fade – though this summer, hoop earrings are that little bit hotter (even when the weather’s not).

Emma de Sybell is the founder of vintage jewellery company Baroque Rocks. You can see a selection of her hand-picked treasures at The Jewellery Cut Live in September.